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 xxii
... speaking , he wrote , was " a thing I have always had some hankering after : it seems to me I could really Swim in that element , were I once thrown into it ; that in fact it would develope several things in me , which struggle ...
... speaking , he wrote , was " a thing I have always had some hankering after : it seems to me I could really Swim in that element , were I once thrown into it ; that in fact it would develope several things in me , which struggle ...
Page xxiii
... speak well or speak ill , or even decline to speak at all , and do nothing but gasp . " 21 At times he could not help worrying that on the day of the lecture he might have to say that " it has become entirely impossible for me to talk ...
... speak well or speak ill , or even decline to speak at all , and do nothing but gasp . " 21 At times he could not help worrying that on the day of the lecture he might have to say that " it has become entirely impossible for me to talk ...
Page xxiv
... speaking , " he revealed many of the art's " higher and nobler attributes , gathering self - possession as he proceeded . " 28 The " pecuniary net - result " of his first efforts in 1837 was £ 135 once expenses had been deducted.29 It ...
... speaking , " he revealed many of the art's " higher and nobler attributes , gathering self - possession as he proceeded . " 28 The " pecuniary net - result " of his first efforts in 1837 was £ 135 once expenses had been deducted.29 It ...
Page xxvi
... speak , " 46 but instead of retiring , he was in fact , with the series of lectures on heroes , about to advance to his greatest triumph on the public platform . The success of the lectures on heroes in 1840 was due to several factors ...
... speak , " 46 but instead of retiring , he was in fact , with the series of lectures on heroes , about to advance to his greatest triumph on the public platform . The success of the lectures on heroes in 1840 was due to several factors ...
Page xxxi
... speak " as graphically as his ' French Revolution , " " 84 or as Frederic Harrison said , roll forth " Latter - Day Pamphlets by the hour together in the very words , with all the nicknames , expletives , and ebullient tropes that were ...
... speak " as graphically as his ' French Revolution , " " 84 or as Frederic Harrison said , roll forth " Latter - Day Pamphlets by the hour together in the very words , with all the nicknames , expletives , and ebullient tropes that were ...
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