Thomas Carlyle - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

7/28/2019 Thomas Carlyle - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

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Thomas Carlyle

Photo by Elliott & Fry circa 1860s

Born 4 December 1795

Ecclefechan, Dumfries and

Galloway, Scotland1

Died 5 February 1881 (aged 85)

London, England

Occupation Essayist, satirist, historian

Literarymovement

Victorian literature, Romanticism

Thomas CarlyleFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 5 February 1881) wasa Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and

teacher during the Victorian era.[1] He called economics "thedismal science", wrote articles for theEdinburghEncyclopedia, and became a controversial social

commentator.

[1]

Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was expectedto become a preacher by his parents, but while at theUniversity of Edinburgh he lost his Christian faith. Calvinistvalues, however, remained with him throughout his life. Hiscombination of a religious temperament with loss of faith intraditional Christianity, made Carlyle's work appealing tomany Victorians who were grappling with scientific andpolitical changes that threatened the traditional social order.He brought a trenchant style to his social and political

criticism and a complex literary style to works such as TheFrench Revolution: A History (1837). Dickens used Carlyle'swork as a primary source for the events of the FrenchRevolution in his novelA Tale of Two Cities.

Contents

1 Early life and influences2 Writings

2.1 Early writings2.2 Sartor Resartus2.3 The French Revolution2.4Heroes and Hero Worship2.5 The Everlasting Yea and No2.6 Worship of Silence and Sorrow2.7 Frederick the Great2.8 Later work

3 Private life3.1 Marriage

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Birthplace of Thomas Carlyle

3.2 Later life3.3 Death3.4 Biography

4 Influence5 Works6 Definitions7 Notes

8 Bibliography9 See also10 External links

Early life and influences

Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire.[1] His parentsdeterminedly afforded him an education at Annan Academy, Annan,where he was bullied and tormented so much that he left after three

years.[2] In early life, his family's (and his nation's) strong Calvinistbeliefs powerfully influenced the young man.

After attending the University of Edinburgh, Carlyle became amathematics teacher,[1] first in Annan and then in Kirkcaldy, whereCarlyle became close friends with the mystic Edward Irving.(Confusingly, there is another Scottish Thomas Carlyle, born a few yearslater and also connected to Irving, through his work with the Catholic

Apostolic Church.[3])

In 18191821, Carlyle returned to the University of Edinburgh, where hesuffered an intense crisis of faith and conversion that would provide the material for Sartor Resartus ("TheTailor Retailored"), which first brought him to the public's notice.

Carlyle developed a painful stomach ailment, possibly gastric ulcers (which pseudo-medicine of the time

attributed to this "crisis of faith"[4]), that remained throughout his life and contributed to his reputation as acrotchety, argumentative, and somewhat disagreeable personality.

His prose style, famously cranky and occasionally savage, helped cement a reputation of irascibility.[5]

He began reading deeply in German literature.[1] Carlyle's thinking was heavily influenced by German Idealism,

in particular the work of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. He established himself as an expert on German literature in aseries of essays for Fraser's Magazine, and by translating German writers, notably Goethe (the novel WilhelmMeisters Lehrjahre).[1] He also wroteLife of Schiller(1825).[1]

In 1826, Thomas Carlyle married Jane Baillie Welsh, herself a writer, whom he had met in 1821, [1] during hisperiod of German studies. In 1827, he applied for the Chair of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews University but

was not appointed.[6] His home in residence for much of his early life, after 1828, was a farm in Craigenputtock,a house in Dumfrieshire, Scotland where he wrote many of his works. [1] He often wrote about his life atCraigenputtock, "It is certain that for living and thinking in I have never since found in the world a place sofavourable.... How blessed, might poor mortals be in the straitest circumstances if their wisdom and fidelity to


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Craigenputtock House 1829

heaven and to one another were adequately great!".

At the Craigenputtock farm, Carlyle also wrote some of his most distinguished essays, and he began a lifelongfriendship with the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson.[1] In 1834, Carlyle moved to the Chelsea sectionof London, where he was then known as the "Sage of Chelsea" and became a member of a literary circle whichincluded the essayists Leigh Hunt and John Stuart Mill.[1]

In London, Carlyle wrote The French Revolution: A History (3 volumes, 1837), as a historical study concerning

oppression of the poor, which was immediately successful. That was the start of many other writings in London.

Writings

Early writings

By 1821, Carlyle abandoned the clergy as a career and focused on making a life as a writer. His first attempt atfiction was "Cruthers and Jonson", one of several abortive attempts at writing a novel. Following his work on atranslation of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship,[1] he came to distrust the form of the realistic noveland so worked on developing a new form of fiction. In addition to his essays on German literature, he branched

out into wider ranging commentary on modern culture in his influential essays Signs of the Times andCharacteristics.

Sartor Resartus

His first major work, Sartor Resartus ("The Tailor Retailored") wasbegun in 1831 at his home (provided for him by his wife Jane Welsh,from her estate), Craigenputtock,[1] and was intended to be a new kind ofbook: simultaneously factual and fictional, serious and satirical,speculative and historical. It ironically commented on its own formal

structure, while forcing the reader to confront the problem of where'truth' is to be found. Sartor Resartus was first published periodically inFraser's Magazine from 1833 to 1834.[1] The text presents itself as anunnamed editor's attempt to introduce the British public to DiogenesTeufelsdrckh, a German philosopher of clothes, who is in fact afictional creation of Carlyle's. The Editor is struck with admiration, but for the most part is confounded byTeufelsdrckh's outlandish philosophy, of which the Editor translates choice selections. To try to make sense ofTeufelsdrckh's philosophy, the Editor tries to piece together a biography, but with limited success. Underneaththe German philosopher's seemingly ridiculous statements, there are mordant attacks on Utilitarianism and thecommercialization of British society. The fragmentary biography of Teufelsdrckh that the Editor recovers froma chaotic mass of documents reveals the philosopher's spiritual journey. He develops a contempt for the corrupt

condition of modern life. He contemplates the "Everlasting No" of refusal, comes to the "Centre ofIndifference", and eventually embraces the "Everlasting Yea". This voyage from denial to disengagement tovolition would later be described as part of the existentialist awakening.

Given the enigmatic nature ofSartor Resartus, it is not surprising[citation needed] that it was first received withlittle success. Its popularity developed over the next few years, and it was published in book form in Boston1836, with a preface by Ralph Waldo Emerson, influencing the development of New EnglandTranscendentalism. The first English edition followed in 1838.

The French Revolution


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In 1834, Carlyle moved to London from Craigenputtock and began to move among celebrated company. [1]

Within the United Kingdom, Carlyle's success was assured by the publication of his three-volume work TheFrench Revolution: A History in 1837.[1] After the completed manuscript of the first volume was accidentallyburned by the philosopher John Stuart Mill's maid, Carlyle wrote the second and third volumes before rewriting

the first from scratch.[2][4]

The resulting work was filled with a passion hitherto unknown in historical writing. In a politically chargedEurope, filled with fears and hopes of revolution, Carlyle's account of the motivations and urges that inspiredthe events in France seemed powerfully relevant. Carlyle's style of writing emphasised this, continually stressingthe immediacy of the action often using the present tense.

For Carlyle, chaotic events demanded what he called 'heroes' to take control over the competing forces eruptingwithin society. While not denying the importance of economic and practical explanations for events, he sawthese forces as 'spiritual' the hopes and aspirations of people that took the form of ideas, and were oftenossified into ideologies ("formulas" or "isms", as he called them). In Carlyle's view, only dynamic individualscould master events and direct these spiritual energies effectively: as soon as ideological 'formulas' replacedheroic human action, society became dehumanised.

On a side note, Victorian writer Charles Dickens used Carlyle's work as a primary source for the events of theFrench Revolution in his novelA Tale of Two Cities.

Heroes and Hero Worship

These ideas were influential on the development of Socialism, but like the opinions of many deep thinkers of

the time are also considered to have influenced the rise of Fascism.[7] Carlyle moved towards his later thinkingduring the 1840s, leading to a break with many old friends and allies, such as Mill and, to a lesser extent,Emerson. His belief in the importance of heroic leadership found form in his book On Heroes, Hero-Worship,and the Heroic in History, in which he compared a wide range of different types of heroes, including Odin,Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon, William Shakespeare, Dante, Samuel Johnson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robert

Burns, John Knox, Martin Luther and the Prophet Muhammad. These lectures of Carlyle's are regarded as anearly and powerful formulation of the Great Man theory.

The book was based on a course of lectures he had given. The French Revolution had brought Carlyle fame, butlittle money. His friends worked to set him on his feet by organizing courses of public lectures for him,drumming up an audience and selling guinea tickets. Carlyle did not like lecturing, but found that he could do it,and more importantly that it brought in some much-needed money. Between 1837 and 1840, Carlyle deliveredfour such courses of lectures. The final course was on "Heroes." From the notes he had prepared for this course,

he wrote out his book, reproducing the curious effects of the spoken discourses. [8]

The Hero as Man of Letters (Quotes):

"In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body andmaterial substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream."

"A man lives by believing something; not by debating and arguing about many things."

"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages ofbooks."

"What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest


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Thomas Carlyle, circa 1860s

Photo by Elliott & Fry

university of all is a collection of books."

"The suffering man ought really to consume his own smoke; thereis no good in emitting smoke till you have made it into fire."

"Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man whocan stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will standadversity." (Often shortened to "can't stand prosperity" as an

unknown quote.)

"Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom."

Carlyle was one of the very few philosophers who witnessed theindustrial revolution but still kept a transcendental non-materialistic viewof the world. The book included people ranging from the field ofReligion through to literature and politics. He included people ascoordinates and accorded Muhammad a special place in the book underthe chapter title "Hero as a Prophet". In his work, Carlyle declared hisadmiration with a passionate championship of Muhammad as a Hegelian

agent of reform, insisting on his sincerity and commenting 'how one mansingle-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins intoa most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades.' For Carlyle, the hero was somewhat similar toAristotle's "Magnanimous" man a person who flourished in the fullest sense. However, for Carlyle, unlikeAristotle, the world was filled with contradictions with which the hero had to deal. All heroes will be flawed.Their heroism lay in their creative energy in the face of these difficulties, not in their moral perfection. To sneerat such a person for their failings is the philosophy of those who seek comfort in the conventional. Carlyle called

this 'valetism', from the expression 'no man is a hero to his valet.[9]

All these books were influential in their day, especially on writers such as Charles Dickens and John Ruskin.However, after the Revolutions of 1848 and political agitations in the United Kingdom, Carlyle published a

collection of essays entitled "Latter-Day Pamphlets" (1850) in which he attacked democracy as an absurd socialideal, while equally condemning hereditary aristocratic leadership. Two of these essays, No. I: "The Present

Times" and No. II: "Model Prisons" were reviewed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in April 1850.[10] Carlylecriticized hereditary aristocratic leadership as "deadening," however, he criticized democracy as nonsensical: asthough objective truth could be discovered by weighing up the votes for it. Government should come from thosemost able to lead. But how such leaders were to be found, and how to follow their lead, was something Carlylecould not (or would not) clearly say. Marx and Engels agreed with Carlyle as far as his criticism of thehereditary aristocracy. However they criticized Carlyle's plan to use democracy to find the "Noblest" and the

other "Nobles" that are to form the government by the "ablest" persons.[11]

In later writings, Carlyle sought to examine instances of heroic leadership in history. The Letters and Speechesof Oliver Cromwell (1845) presented a positive image of Cromwell: someone who attempted to weld order fromthe conflicting forces of reform in his own day. Carlyle sought to make Cromwell's words live in their own termsby quoting him directly, and then commenting on the significance of these words in the troubled context of thetime. Again this was intended to make the 'past' 'present' to his readers.

The Everlasting Yea and No

The Everlasting Yea is Carlyle's name for the spirit of faith in God in an express attitude of clear, resolute,steady, and uncompromising antagonism to theEverlasting No, and the principle that there is no such thing as


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Carlyle in 1848.

Carlyle (left) depicted

with Frederick Maurice in

Ford Madox Brown's

painting Work(1865)

faith in God except in such antagonism against the spirit opposed to God. [12]

The Everlasting No is Carlyle's name for the spirit of unbelief in God,especially as it manifested itself in his own, or rather Teufelsdrckh's,warfare against it; the spirit, which, as embodied in the Mephistophelesof Goethe, is for ever denying der stets verneint the reality of thedivine in the thoughts, the character, and the life of humanity, and has amalicious pleasure in scoffing at everything high and noble as hollow andvoid.

In Sartor Resartus, the narrator moves from the "Everlasting No" to the"Everlasting Yea," but only through "The Center of Indifference," whichis a position not merely of agnosticism, but also of detachment. Onlyafter reducing desires and certainty and aiming at a Buddha-like"indifference" can the narrator move toward an affirmation. In someways, this is similar to the contemporary philosopher SrenKierkegaard's "leap of faith" in Concluding Unscientific Postscript.

Worship of Silence and Sorrow

Based on Goethe's having described Christianity as the "Worship of Sorrow", and "our highest religion, for theSon of Man", Carlyle adds, interpreting this, "there is no noble crown, well worn or even ill worn, but is a crownof thorns".

The "Worship of Silence" is Carlyle's name for the sacred respect for restraint in speech till "thought has silentlymatured itself, to hold one's tongue till some meaning lie behind to set it wagging," a doctrine which manymisunderstand, almost wilfully, it would seem; silence being to him the very womb out of which all great thingsare born.

Frederick the Great

His last major work was the epic life of Frederick the Great (18581865). In thisCarlyle tried to show how a heroic leader can forge a state, and help create a newmoral culture for a nation. For Carlyle, Frederick epitomized the transition from theliberal Enlightenment ideals of the eighteenth century to a new modern culture ofspiritual dynamism: embodied by Germany, its thought and its polity. The book ismost famous for its vivid, arguably very biased, portrayal of Frederick's battles, inwhich Carlyle communicated his vision of almost overwhelming chaos mastered byleadership of genius.

Carlyle called the work his Thirteen Years War with Frederick. In 1852, he madehis first trip to Germany to gather material, visiting the scenes of Frederick's battlesand noting their topography. He made another trip to Germany to study battlefieldsin 1858. The work comprised six volumes; the first two volumes appeared in 1858,the third in 1862, the fourth in 1864 and the last two in 1865. Emerson considered itInfinitely the wittiest book that was ever written. Lowell pointed out some faults,but wrote: The figures of most historians seem like dolls stuffed with bran, whosewhole substance runs out through any hole that criticism may tear in them; butCarlyle's are so real in comparison, that, if you prick them, they bleed. The work

was studied as a textbook in the military academies of Germany.[13][14]


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The effort involved in the writing of the book took its toll on Carlyle, who became increasingly depressed, andsubject to various probably psychosomatic ailments. Its mixed reception also contributed to Carlyle's decreasedliterary output.

Later work

Later writings were generally short essays, often indicating the hardening of Carlyle's political positions. Hisessay "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question" suggested that slavery should never have been abolished,or else replaced with serfdom. It had kept order, he argued, and forced work from people who would otherwisehave been lazy and feckless. This and Carlyle's support for the repressive measures of Governor Edward Eyrein Jamaica further alienated him from his old liberal allies. Eyre had been accused of brutal lynchings while

suppressing a rebellion. Carlyle set up a committee to defend Eyre, while Mill organised for his prosecution.[15]

Private life

Carlyle had a number of would-be romances before he married Jane Welsh, important as a literary figure in herown right. The most notable were with Margaret Gordon, a pupil of his friend Edward Irving. Even after he met

Jane, he became enamoured of Kitty Kirkpatrick, the daughter of a British officer and an Indian princess.William Dalrymple, author ofWhite Mughals, suggests that feelings were mutual, but social circumstances madethe marriage impossible, as Carlyle was then poor. Both Margaret and Kitty have been suggested as the original

of "Blumine", Teufelsdrch's beloved, in Sartor Resartus.[16][17]

Marriage

Carlyle married Jane Welsh in 1826. He had been introduced to Welsh by his friend and her tutor EdwardIrving, with whom she came to have a mutual romantic (although not sexually intimate) attraction. Welsh was

the subject of Leigh Hunt's charming poem, Jenny Kissed Me.[18]

Their marriage proved to be one of the most famous, well documented, and unhappy of literary unions. Over9000 letters between Carlyle and his wife have been published showing the couple had an affection for one

another marred by frequent and angry quarrels.[5]

It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry one another, and so make only two

people miserable and not four.

Samuel Butler[19]

Carlyle became increasingly alienated from his wife. Carlyle's biographer James Anthony Froude published

(posthumously) his opinion that the marriage remained unconsummated.[20]

Although she had been an invalid for some time, his wife's sudden death in 1866 was unexpected and greatlydistressed Carlyle who was moved to write his highly self-critical "Reminiscences of Jane Welsh Carlyle",

published posthumously.[21]

Later life

After Jane Carlyle's death in the year 1866, Thomas Carlyle partly retired from active society. He was appointedrector of the University of Edinburgh. The Early Kings of Norway: Also an Essay on the Portraits of John Knoxappeared in 1875. His last years were spent at 24 Cheyne Row (then numbered 5), Chelsea, London SW3


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(which is now a National Trust property[22] commemorating his life and works) but he always wished to returnto Craigenputtock.

Death

Upon Carlyle's death on 5 February 1881 in London interment inWestminster Abbey was offered but rejected due to his explicit wish to

be buried beside his parents in Ecclefechan.[21]

Biography

Carlyle would have preferred that no biography of him were written, butwhen he heard that his wishes would not be respected and that severalpeople were only waiting for him to die before they published, herelented and began to supply his friend James Anthony Froude withmany of his and his wife's papers. Carlyle's essay about his wife,Reminiscences of Jane Welsh Carlyle, waspublished after his death by Froude, who also published theLetters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyleannotated by Carlyle himself. Froude'sLife of Carlyle was published over 188284. The frankness of this book

was unheard of by the usually respectful standards of 19th-century biographies of the period. Froude's work wasattacked by Carlyle's family, especially his nephew, Alexander Carlyle and his niece, Margaret Aitken Carlyle.However, the biography in question was consistent with Carlyle's own conviction that the flaws of heroes shouldbe openly discussed, without diminishing their achievements. Froude, who had been designated by Carlylehimself as his biographer-to-be, was acutely aware of this belief. Froude's defence of his decision,My RelationsWith Carlyle was published posthumously in 1903, including a reprint of Carlyle's 1873 will, in which Carlyleequivocated: "Express biography of me I had really rather that there should be none." Nevertheless, Carlyle inthe will simultaneously and completely deferred to Froude's judgement on the matter, whose "decision is to be

taken as mine."[23]

Influence

Thomas Carlyle is notable both for his continuation of older traditions of the Tory satirists of the 18th century in

England and for forging a new tradition of Victorian era criticism of progress known as sage writing. [24]SartorResartus can be seen both as an extension of the chaotic, sceptical satires of Jonathan Swift and LaurenceSterne and as an enunciation of a new point of view on values.

Carlyle is also important for helping to introduce German Romantic literature to Britain. Although SamuelTaylor Coleridge had also been a proponent of Schiller, Carlyle's efforts on behalf of Schiller and Goethe would

bear fruit.[25]

The reputation of Carlyle's early work remained high during the 19th century, but declined in the 20th century.George Orwell called him, "a master of belittlement. Even at his emptiest sneer (as when he said that Whitmanthought he was a big man because he lived in a big country ) the victim does seem to shrink a little. That [. . .] is

the power of the orator, the man of phrases and adjectives, turned to a base use."[26] His reputation in Germanywas always high, because of his promotion of German thought and his biography of Frederick the Great.Friedrich Nietzsche, whose ideas are comparable to Carlyle's in some respects, was dismissive of his moralism,calling him an "insipid muddlehead" inBeyond Good and Evil and regarded him as a thinker who failed to free

himself from the very petty-mindedness he professed to condemn.[27] Carlyle's distaste for democracy and hisbelief in charismatic leadership was unsurprisingly appealing to Joseph Goebbels, who read Carlyle's biography


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Carlyle painted by John Everett

Millais. Froude wrote of this

painting "under Millais's hands the

old Carlyle stood again upon the

canvas as I had not seen him for

thirty years. The inner secret of the

features had been evidently caught.

There was a likeness which no

sculptor, no photographer, had yet

equalled or approached.

Afterwards, I knew not how, it

seemed to fade away."

Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.

2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle. James

McNeill Whistler, 18723. Oil on

canvas, 171 x 143.5 cm.

of Frederick to Hitler during his last

days in 1945.[25][28] Many critics inthe 20th century identified Carlyleas an influence on fascism and

Nazism.[25] Ernst Cassirer argued inThe Myth of the State that Carlyle'shero worship contributed to

20th-century ideas of politicalleadership that became part offascist political ideology.

"Sartor Resartus" has recently beenrecognised once more as a uniquemasterpiece, anticipating manymajor philosophical and culturaldevelopments, from Existentialism

to Postmodernism.[29] It has beenargued that his critique of

ideological formulas in "The FrenchRevolution" provides a goodaccount of the ways in which revolutionary cultures turn into repressivedogmatisms.

Essentially a Romantic, Carlyle attempted to reconcile Romanticaffirmations of feeling and freedom with respect for historical and politicalfact. Many believe that he was always more attracted to the idea of heroicstruggle itself, than to any specific goal for which the struggle was beingmade. However, Carlyles belief in the continued use to humanity of the

Hero, or Great Man, is stated succinctly at the end of his essay on Mohammed (in On Heroes, Hero Worship &the Heroic in History), in which he concludes that: the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; therest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame.[30]

Works

(1829) Signs of the Times The Victorian Web (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carlyle/signs1.html)(1831) Sartor Resartus Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1051)(1837) The French Revolution: A History Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1301)(1840) Chartism Google Books (http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=Z5oQAAAAYAAJ&dq=thomas+carlyle+chartism&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=hvNQ7gASM4&sig=Syb1fQgEwC4tWfQs8AWzkDqXz50&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result)(1841) On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History Project Gutenberg(http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1091)(1843) Past and PresentProject Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13534)(1845) Oliver Cromwell's letters and speeches, with elucidations, ed. Thomas Carlyle, 3 vol. (1845, oftenreprinted). online version (http://www.gasl.org/refbib/Carlyle__Cromwell.pdf) another online version(http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98993729)

Morrill, John. "Textualizing and Contextualizing Cromwell."Historical Journal 1990 33(3):629639. ISSN 0018-246X Fulltext online at Jstor. Examines the Abbott and Carlyle edit

(1849) "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question", Fraser's Magazine (anonymous), Online text


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(1850)Latter-Day Pamphlets Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1140)(1851) The Life Of John Sterling Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1085)(1858)History of Friedrich II of Prussia Index to Project Gutenberg texts (http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/metabook/fgreat.html)(1867) Shooting Niagara: and AfterOnline Text (http://www.efm.bris.ac.uk/het/carlyle/shooting.htm)(1875) The Early kings of Norway(1882)Reminiscences of my Irish Journey in 1849 Online text (http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/Historical_Documents/Carlyle_1849.html)

There are several published "Collected Works" of Carlyle:

Unauthorized lifetime editions:

"Thomas' Carlyle's Ausgewhlte Schriften", 1855-56, Leipzig. Translations by A. Kretzschmar.Abandoned after 6 vols.

Authorised lifetime editions:

Uniform edition, Chapman and Hall, 16 vols, 1857-58.

Library edition, Chapman and Hall, 34 vols (30 vols 1869-71, 3 additional vols added 1871 and one more1875). The most lavish lifetime edition, it sold for 6 to 9 shillings per volume (or 15 the set)People's edition, Chapman and Hall, 39 vols (37 vols 1871-74, with 2 extra volumes added in 1874 and1878). Carlyle insisted the price be kept to 2 shillings per volume.Cabinet edition, Chapman and Hall, 37 vols in 18, 1874 (printed form the plates of hte People's Edition)

Posthumous editions:

Centennial edition, Chapman and Hall, 30 vol, 1896-99 (with reprints to at least 1907). Introductions byHenry Duff Traill. The text is based on the People's edition, and it is used by many scholars as thestandard edition of Caryle's works.Norman and Charlotte Strouse edition (originally the California Carlyle edition), University of CaliforniaPress, 1993-2006. Only 4 volumes were issued: "On Heroes" (1993), "Sartor Resartus" (2000), "HistoricalEssays" (2003) and "Past and Present" (2006). Despite being incomplete, it is the only critical edition of(some of) Carlyle's works.

Definitions

Carlyle had quite a few unusual definitions at hand, which were collected by the Nuttall Encyclopedia. Someinclude:

Centre of Immensities

an expression of Carlyle's to signify that wherever any one is, he is in touch with the whole universe ofbeing, and is, if he knew it, as near the heart of it there as anywhere else he can be.

Eleutheromania

A mania or frantic zeal for freedom.Gigman

Carlyle's name for a man who prides himself on, and pays all respect to, respectability. It is derived from adefinition once given in a court of justice by a witness who, having described a person as respectable, wasasked by the judge in the case what he meant by the word; "one that keeps a gig," was the answer. Carlylealso refers to "gigmanity" at large.

Hallowed Fire


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an expression of Carlyle's in definition of Christianity "at its rise and spread" as sacred, and kindling whatwas sacred and divine in man's soul, and burning up all that was not.

Mights And Rights

the Carlyle doctrine that Rights are nothing till they have realised and established themselves as Mights;they are rights first only then.

Pig-Philosophy

the name given by Carlyle in hisLatter-Day Pamphlets, in the one on Jesuitism, to the widespreadphilosophy of the time, which regarded the human being as a mere creature of appetite instead of a

creature of God endowed with a soul, as having no nobler idea of well-being than the gratification ofdesire that his only Heaven, and the reverse of it his Hell.

Plugston of Undershot

Carlyle's name for a "captain of industry" or member of the manufacturing class.Present Time

defined by Carlyle as "the youngest born of Eternity, child and heir of all the past times, with their goodand evil, and parent of all the future with new questions and significance," on the right or wrongunderstanding of which depend the issues of life or death to us all, the sphinx riddle given to all of us torede as we would live and not die.

Prinzenraub

(the stealing of the princes), name given to an attempt, to satisfy a private grudge of his, on the part of

Kunz von Kaufingen to carry off, on the night of 7 July 1455, two Saxon princes from the castle ofAltenburg, in which he was defeated by apprehension at the hands of a collier named Schmidt, throughwhom he was handed over to justice and beheaded. See Carlyle's account of this in his "Miscellanies."

Printed Paper

Carlyle's satirical name for the literature of France prior to the Revolution.Progress of the Species Magazines

Carlyle's name for the literature of the day which does nothing to help the progress in question, but keepsidly boasting of the fact, taking all the credit to itself, like French Poet Jean de La Fontaine's fly on theaxle of the careening chariot soliloquising, "What a dust I raise!"

Sauerteig

(i. e. leaven), an imaginary authority alive to the "celestial infernal" fermentation that goes on in theworld, who has an eye specially to the evil elements at work, and to whose opinion Carlyle frequentlyappeals in his condemnatory verdict on sublunary things.

The Conflux of Eternities

Carlyle's expressive phrase for time, as in every moment of it a centre in which all the forces to and frometernity meet and unite, so that by no past and no future can we be brought nearer to Eternity than wherewe at any moment of Time are; the Present Time, the youngest born of Eternity, being the child and heirof all the Past times with their good and evil, and the parent of all the Future. By the import of which (seeMatt. xvi. 27), it is accordingly the first and most sacred duty of every successive age, and especially theleaders of it, to know and lay to heart as the only link by which Eternity lays hold of it, and it of Eternity.

Notes

^abcdefghijklmnop "Thomas Carlyle" (bio),Dumfries-and-Galloway, 2008, webpage: dumfries-and-galloway.co.uk-carlyle (http://www.dumfries-and-galloway.co.uk/people/carlyle.htm) .

1.

^ab "Carlyle The Sage Of Chelsea"(http://marshall.thefreelibrary.com/English-Literature-For-Boys-And-Girls/82-1) .English Literature ForBoys And Girls. Farlex Free Library.

2.

http://marshall.thefreelibrary.com/English-Literature-For-Boys-And-Girls/82-1. Retrieved 2009-09-19.^Carlyle Till Marriage 1795 to 1826by DavidAlec Wilson, 1923. Available on Google Books here(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=U5OekCQOqasC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=Baron+Carlyle+of+Torthorwald&source=bl&ots=cZpdmT8Xh8&sig=QT35SkMQtchlVlWAnpjbuaPL4g4&hl=en&

3.


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ei=tzirStCQCuGgjAfrpImDCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=Baron%20Carlyle%20of%20Torthorwald&f=false) , page 4243. "As a 'double-goer',perplexing strangers in foreign parts as well as athome, the 'Apostle' was occasionally an innocent,inadvertent nuisance to 'our Tom'."

^

a

b

Lundin, Leigh (2009-09-20). "Thomas Carlyle"(http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=8890) .Professional Works. Criminal Brief.http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=8890. Retrieved2009-09-20.

4.

^ab "Who2 Biography: Thomas Carlyle, Writer /Historian" (http://www.answers.com/topic/thomas-carlyle) . Answers.com. 2009.http://www.answers.com/topic/thomas-carlyle.Retrieved 2009-09-19.

5.

^ Nichol, John. Thomas Carlyle. Charleston, SC:Nabu Press, 2004, p. 34.

6.

^ Cumming, Mark : The Carlyle encyclopedia(http://books.google.com/books?id=8Nvdx-4-CzoC&pg=PA223&dq=%22Carlyle+and+Hitler%22) , 2004.ISBN 978-0-8386-3792-0 p. 223.

7.

^ "Heroes and Hero-worship".EncyclopediaAmericana. 1920.

8.

^ Carlyle, Thomas (1869). On heroes,Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History. London:Chapman and Hall, 301.

9.

^ "Reviews from the Neue Rheinische ZeitungPolitish-konomische Revue No. 4" contained in theCollected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick

Engels: Volume 10 (International Publishers: NewYork, 1978) pp. 301310.

10.

^ "Reviews from the Neue Rheinisch ZeitungPolitisch-konomische Revue No. 4" contained inthe Collected Works of Karl Marx and FrederickEngels: Volume 10, p. 306.

11.

^ From http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Wood-NuttallEncyclopaedia/e/everlastingyea.html wherethey cite it as coming from The NuttallEncyclopdia, edited by the Reverend James Wood(1907)

12.

^ "Frederick the Great".Encyclopedia Americana.1920.

13.

^ "Carlyle, Thomas".Encyclopedia Americana.1920.

14.

^ Catherine Hall, Civilising Subjects: Metropole andColony in the English Imagination, 1830-1867,University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2002, p. 25

15.

^ Simon Heffer,Moral Desperado A Life ofThomas Carlyle, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995, p.48

16.

^ http://www.pakistanlink.com/Opinion/2006/Jan06/06/04.HTM "East Did Meet West 3", by Dr.

17.

Rizwana Rahim^ *http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/leigh-hunt18.^ Samuel Butler (Nov. 21, 1884),Letters BetweenSamuel Butler and E.M.A. Savage 18711885

(1935)

19.

^ Froude, James (1903).My Relations with Carlyle(http://books.google.com/books/about/My_relations_with_Carlyle.html?id=qHgLAAAAYAAJ) . New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.http://books.google.com/books/about/My_relations_with_Carlyle.html?id=qHgLAAAAYAAJ. On pages 21-24, Mr. Froude insinuates thatCarlyle was impotent: p. 21 : "She [Mrs. Carlyle]had longed for children, and children were denied toher. This had been at the bottom of all the quarrelsand all the unhappiness." ; p. 22 : "Intellectual andspiritual affection being all which he had to give [hiswife], " ; p. 23 : " Carlyle did not know when hemarried what his constitution was. The morning afterhis wedding-day he tore to pieces the flower-garden

at the Comeley Bank in a fit of ungovernable fury."

20.

^ ab Mark Cumming (2004). The CarlyleEncyclopedia (http://books.google.com/books?id=8Nvdx-4-CzoC&pg=PA83) . FairleighDickinson Univ Press. pp. 83.ISBN 978-0-8386-3792-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=8Nvdx-4-CzoC&pg=PA83. Retrieved 19March 2013.

21.

^ [1] (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-carlyleshouse/) ,

22.

^ Carl Edmund Rollyson (14 July 2005).BritishBiography: A Reader(http://books.google.com

/books?id=N_TvvAeto04C&pg=PA181) . iUniverse.pp. 181. ISBN 978-0-595-36409-1.http://books.google.com/books?id=N_TvvAeto04C&pg=PA181. Retrieved 19 March 2013.

23.

^ Holloway, John. The Victorian Sage: Studies inArgument. London: Macmillan, 1953. Landow,George. Elegant Jeremiahs: The Sage from Carlyle toMailer. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press,1986.

24.

^ abc Mark Cumming, The Carlyle Encyclopedia,Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 2004, pp. 200ff;223.

25.

^ Orwell, Review ofthe Two Carlyles by OsbertBurdett, The Adelphi March 1931

26.

^ Jeremy Tambling, Carlyle through Nietzsche:reading Sartor Resartus, The Modern LanguageReview, April 1, 2007

27.

^ Timothy W. Ryback,Hitler's Private Library: TheBooks that Shaped His Life, Random House, 2010.

28.

^ Richard Gravil,Existentialism, Humanities, 2007,p.35; Dietmar Bhnke, Shades of Gray: ScienceFiction, History and the Problem of Postmodernism

in the Works of Alidair Gray, 2004, p. 73; Theo d'.

29.


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Haen, Pieter Vermeulen, Cultural Identity andPostmodern Writing, Rodopi, 2006, p. 141.^ Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-worship and30.

the Heroic in History, Chapman and Hall, 1840, p.90.

Bibliography

Alice Chandler. "Carlyle and the Medievalism of the North." In:Medievalism in the Modern World.

Essays in Honour of Leslie J. Workman. Ed. Richard Utz and Tom Shippey (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998).pp. 17391.A. A. Ikeler. Puritan Temper and Transcendental Faith. Carlyle's Literary Vision (Columbus, OH:1972).Hugh A. MacDougall.Racial Myth in English History: Trojans, Teutons, and Anglo-Saxons (Montreal:Harvest House and UP of New England, 1982).F. W. Roe. The Social Philosophy of Carlyle and Ruskin (Port Washington, NY: 1978).W. Waring. Thomas Carlyle (Boston, MA: 1978).

See also

Annales School and New HistoryCarlyle's House in Chelsea, LondonCraigenputtock in DumfriesshireGreat man theoryMax Weber's charismatic authorityPhilosophy of historyOn Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History

bermenschWhig historyFamous Scots Series

Historiography of the French Revolution

External links

Works by Thomas Carlyle (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Thomas+Carlyle) at Project Gutenberg(plain text and HTML)Thomas & Jane Carlyle's Craigenputtock the official site (http://www.thomascarlyle.eu)Works by Thomas Carlyle (http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3Athomas%20carlyle%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts) at Internet Archive (original editionscanned books)Thomas Carlyle: Biography (http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/9784) by John Nichol, via ProjectGutenbergPoems by Thomas Carlyle (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=1083) atPoetryFoundation.orgThe Carlyle Letters Online (http://carlyleletters.dukejournals.org)Famous quotes by Thomas Carlyle (http://quotationpark.com/authors/CARLYLE,%20Thomas.html)Archival material relating to Thomas Carlyle (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P4915) listed at the UK National ArchivesA guide to the Thomas Carlyle Collection (http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.carlyle) at theBeinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/index.html)


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Carlisle's extraordinary influence on the opinions of Victorian society "The Occasional discourse on theNegro Question" (from 20 minutes 20 seconds) [2] (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6241513179213272889#docid=3063654748786273465) His persuasive effect on JohnRuskin, William Makepeace Thackeray, Rev. Charles Kingsley and Charles Dickens (c. 25 minutes)

Academic offices

Preceded by

William Ewart Gladstone

Rector of the University of Edinburgh

18651868

Succeeded by

The Lord Moncreiff

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Carlyle&oldid=545432685"Categories: 1795 births 1881 deaths Rectors of the University of Edinburgh Thomas Carlyle

Scottish essayists Scottish mathematicians Scottish philosophers Scottish historians

Scottish literary critics Scottish satirists Scottish translators Existentialists

People associated with Transcendentalism Historians of the French Revolution

Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Dumfries and Galloway

National Portrait Gallery, London Recipients of the Pour le Mrite (civil class) Romanticism

People of the Victorian era 19th-century philosophy Defenders of slavery

People educated at Annan Academy

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