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 xxv
... poor figure " he believed he had made.39 Even Jane , who considered herself " a perfectly unprejudiced judge , " 40 did not think he was at his best . To Emerson , however , Carlyle boasted of a newfound confidence . " I care less about ...
... poor figure " he believed he had made.39 Even Jane , who considered herself " a perfectly unprejudiced judge , " 40 did not think he was at his best . To Emerson , however , Carlyle boasted of a newfound confidence . " I care less about ...
Page xxxviii
... poor Icon . " 131 He not only offered his own portrait of Knox in On Heroes , a verbal picture that presented a more humane and amiable Knox than that supplied by tradition , but he adopted as authentic an alternative portrait that had ...
... poor Icon . " 131 He not only offered his own portrait of Knox in On Heroes , a verbal picture that presented a more humane and amiable Knox than that supplied by tradition , but he adopted as authentic an alternative portrait that had ...
Page xliii
... Poor Oliver lies like grains of gold dust scattered under continents of cinders and rubbish . I fear much I shall never be able to collect him : our greatest man irrecoverably 158 Watt , " Carlyle on Muhammad , ” 247 , 253-54 . 159 ...
... Poor Oliver lies like grains of gold dust scattered under continents of cinders and rubbish . I fear much I shall never be able to collect him : our greatest man irrecoverably 158 Watt , " Carlyle on Muhammad , ” 247 , 253-54 . 159 ...
Page xlvi
... Poor Bozzy , whose mind Macaulay likened to one of those " creepers which the botanists call parasites , " 178 had nevertheless discerned the greatness that lay in the impoverished giant of Gough Street . Macaulay saw no " more certain ...
... Poor Bozzy , whose mind Macaulay likened to one of those " creepers which the botanists call parasites , " 178 had nevertheless discerned the greatness that lay in the impoverished giant of Gough Street . Macaulay saw no " more certain ...
Page lix
... poor rustic who shared food and shoes with Charles I or the foolish laird who became famous because he recognized a hero in the form of an eccentric writer in a garret in Gough Street . The Carlylean hero does not create history out of ...
... poor rustic who shared food and shoes with Charles I or the foolish laird who became famous because he recognized a hero in the form of an eccentric writer in a garret in Gough Street . The Carlylean hero does not create history out of ...
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