On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History

Informationen zum Autor David R. Sorensen is professor of English at Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia. Brent E. Kinser is associate professor of English at Western Carolina University. Klappentext Based on a series of lectures delivered in 1840, Thomas Carlyle's On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History considers the creation of heroes and the ways they exert heroic leadership. From the divine and prophetic (Odin and Muhammad) to the poetic (Dante and Shakespeare) to the religious (Luther and Knox) to the political (Cromwell and Napoleon), Carlyle investigates the mysterious qualities that elevate humans to cultural significance. By situating the text in the context of six essays by distinguished scholars that reevaluate both Carlyle's work and his ideas, David Sorensen and Brent Kinser argue that Carlyle's concept of heroism stresses the hero's spiritual dimension. In Carlyle's engagement with various heroic personalities, he dislodges religiosity from religion, myth from history, and truth from "quackery" as he describes the wondrous ways in which these "flowing light-fountains" unlock the heroic potential of ordinary human beings. Zusammenfassung Thomas Carlyle's "On Heroes! Hero Worship! and the Heroic in History" considers how heroes are created and conveys his ideas on the importance of heroic leadership. In six reevaluative essays! the authors argue that Carlyle's concept of heroism actually repudiates its own authoritarian roots and stresses the hero's spiritual dimension.

Product details

• Authors: Thomas Carlyle
• Assisted by: Brent E. Kinser (Editor), Kinser Brent E. (Editor), David R Sorensen (Editor)
• Publisher: Yale University Press Ltd
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 30.06.2013
• Subject: Non-fiction book
• EAN: 9780300148602
• ISBN: 978-0-300-14860-2
• Pages: 448
• Dimensions (packing): 14.5 x 21.5 x 2 cm
• Series: Rethinking the Western Tradition
• Subjects: HISTORY / Social History; Social & cultural history; HISTORY / Essays; Social and cultural history; Literary essays