On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in HistoryIn 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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answer appear beautiful become beginning believe Book British Carlyle Carlyle's century changes Chapter Christian Compare consider critics Cromwell Dante death divine Earth edition England English Essays existence eyes fact Fall feel force French Revolution German give given Goethe hand heart Heaven Hero-worship Heroes heroic History hope human included Italy John Johnson kind King Knox later lecture Letters light Literature live London look Luther Mahomet manner March matter means mind Nature never noble Norse Odin once Parliament perhaps Poet poor practice present Priest Prophet published Puritan reality reference religion seems Shakspeare shew sincere soul speak speech spiritual stand strange struggle thing thought tion true truth University whole wild worship writing written wrote