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 xxi
... matter of fact , however , between 1837 and 1840 he made annual excursions to the public podium to lecture fashionable London society on literature , politics , and history.1 Carlyle's explanation was that he was " driven into that ...
... matter of fact , however , between 1837 and 1840 he made annual excursions to the public podium to lecture fashionable London society on literature , politics , and history.1 Carlyle's explanation was that he was " driven into that ...
Page xxvi
... matters that belong much more to myself this year ; which is far more interesting to me , " he said , 49 and the ... matter , and a central hypothesis about the enduring nature of hero - worship . On March 2 he wrote to John , " I am ...
... matters that belong much more to myself this year ; which is far more interesting to me , " he said , 49 and the ... matter , and a central hypothesis about the enduring nature of hero - worship . On March 2 he wrote to John , " I am ...
Page xxviii
... matter enough on paper to carry him triumphan [ t ] ly thro . ” 63 II . THE LECTURES ON HEROES Of the lectures on heroes themselves , presented in days innocent of the now - ubiquitous tape recorder , we can form only a limited impres ...
... matter enough on paper to carry him triumphan [ t ] ly thro . ” 63 II . THE LECTURES ON HEROES Of the lectures on heroes themselves , presented in days innocent of the now - ubiquitous tape recorder , we can form only a limited impres ...
Page xxxix
... matter home to one , with a strange veracity , —as if for the first time one saw it to be no fable and theory but a dire fact . I will beg for a tooth and a bullet ; authenticated by your own eyes and word of honour ! " 139 Such objects ...
... matter home to one , with a strange veracity , —as if for the first time one saw it to be no fable and theory but a dire fact . I will beg for a tooth and a bullet ; authenticated by your own eyes and word of honour ! " 139 Such objects ...
Page xlv
... matter , had written a favorable account of Cromwell in 1828 when he reviewed Henry Hallam's Constitutional History of England . Hallam was among the " fanatic " theorists Carlyle excoriated in his lecture , who believed that Cromwell ...
... matter , had written a favorable account of Cromwell in 1828 when he reviewed Henry Hallam's Constitutional History of England . Hallam was among the " fanatic " theorists Carlyle excoriated in his lecture , who believed that Cromwell ...
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