On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in HistoryUniversity of California Press, 1993 M06 7 - 622 pages In his 1840 lectures on heroes, Thomas Carlyle, Victorian essayist and social critic, championed the importance of the individual in history. Published the following year and eventually translated into fifteen languages, this imaginative work of history, comparative religion, and literature is the most influential statement of a man who came to be thought of as a secular prophet and the "undoubted head of English letters" (Emerson). His vivid portraits of Muhammad, Dante, Luther, Napoleon—just a few of the individuals Carlyle celebrated for changing the course of world history—made On Heroes a challenge to the anonymous social forces threatening to control life during the Industrial Revolution. In eight volumes, The Strouse Edition will provide the texts of Carlyle's major works edited for the first time to contemporary scholarly standards. For the general reader, its detailed introductions and annotations will offer insight into the author's thought and a reconstruction of the diverse and often arcane Carlylean sources. |
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Page xxiii
... kind enough to cover me under a tub . . . and to go your ways all with my blessing ! " 22 After the lecture he recalled his " furious determination " not to " break down , " 23 that his tongue had been as " dry as charcoal " and that he ...
... kind enough to cover me under a tub . . . and to go your ways all with my blessing ! " 22 After the lecture he recalled his " furious determination " not to " break down , " 23 that his tongue had been as " dry as charcoal " and that he ...
Page xxvii
... kind of worship . " 52 The rapidity with which the plan for the lectures took shape in Carlyle's mind did little to facilitate their actual production . During the third week of March he was still " revolving and tumbling about among my ...
... kind of worship . " 52 The rapidity with which the plan for the lectures took shape in Carlyle's mind did little to facilitate their actual production . During the third week of March he was still " revolving and tumbling about among my ...
Page xxxvi
... kind of Essay on the Civil Wars , . not to write a history . . 111 Macbeth , 1.4.11-12 . 112 Henry Fielding , Joseph Andrews , 182 . 113 Wylie , Carlyle , 387 . 114 " German Poetry " ( 1831 ) , Essays 2 : 362 . 115 " Diderot " ( 1833 ) ...
... kind of Essay on the Civil Wars , . not to write a history . . 111 Macbeth , 1.4.11-12 . 112 Henry Fielding , Joseph Andrews , 182 . 113 Wylie , Carlyle , 387 . 114 " German Poetry " ( 1831 ) , Essays 2 : 362 . 115 " Diderot " ( 1833 ) ...
Page xxxix
... kind of truth for me ; Danton suffered dreadfully , on physiognomic survey ; alas , his energy looks too like that of some Game Chicken or Dutch Sam , true heroism never dwelt in such a tabernacle . I fear Thiers has quite misled me ...
... kind of truth for me ; Danton suffered dreadfully , on physiognomic survey ; alas , his energy looks too like that of some Game Chicken or Dutch Sam , true heroism never dwelt in such a tabernacle . I fear Thiers has quite misled me ...
Page xlii
... kind of thing " his audience was hearing.156 Muhammad's claim of " supreme Prophethood " dragged " along with it such a coil of fables , impurities , intolerances , as makes it a questionable step for me here and now to say , as I have ...
... kind of thing " his audience was hearing.156 Muhammad's claim of " supreme Prophethood " dragged " along with it such a coil of fables , impurities , intolerances , as makes it a questionable step for me here and now to say , as I have ...
Contents
vii | |
ix | |
xv | |
xxi | |
Note on the Text | lxxxi |
On Heroes HeroWorship and the Heroic in History | 1 |
Notes | 227 |
Works Cited | 393 |
Textual Apparatus | 419 |
Index | 487 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alexander Carlyle American edition Arab beautiful believe Books Boswell Boswell's British Burns Carlyle wrote Carlyle's century Christian copy-text Cromwell Cromwell's Dante Dante's death earnest Earth Edda Emerson England English Essays Etin Euphuisms eyes fact false falsehood French Revolution Froude genuine German Gibbon God's Goethe heart Heaven Heimskringla Hero as Divinity Hero as Poet Hero-worship heroic heroism History of Literature human Inferno Johnson Joseph Neuberg Jötuns kind King Knox Korán lecture Letters Literary live London look Luther Macaulay Mahomet Mirabeau modern Muḥammad Napoleon Nature noble Norse Novalis Odin Old Norse Paganism Parliament Poetic Edda poor portrait Priest Prose Edda Protestantism Puritan Qur'an Reformation religion Rousseau rude Sartor Scepticism Scotland Shakspeare silent sincere soul speak speech spiritual struggle TC to John things Thomas Carlyle Thor thought tion true truth University variants Voltaire whole wild withal word worship writing