A New View of the Novel: Choosing the Name of the Hero in Jean-Christophe

One of the subjects that we rarely notice in the study of literary works is how the title of a literary work or how the names of the heros are chosen. The authors choose various names for their works and their heroes, and sometimes they choose the name of the main hero as the title of their work. Most of the time, the name of the hero is chosen accidentally, but sometimes the author follows an intention. One of the authors who has paid special attention to the choice of the title of his work and the names of the heroes, is Romain Rolland, the French writer of the novel Jean-Christophe. He has chosen the name "Jean-Christophe Kraft" as his hero. In this article, we try to find the reasons why Rolland has chosen this name in order to find proper answers for the following questions: Has he tried to produce sense through his choice? What are the factors that may affect the making of meaning in his choice? Ultimately, the object of this analysis and synthesis is to make the reader familiar with one of the essential and effective elements of a novel; the name of the hero.