The Critical Response to Thomas Carlyle’s Major Works

Born in 1795, Thomas Carlyle was one of the preeminent figures of Victorian letters. Carlyle was widely reviewed, discussed, praised and criticized during his lifetime, primarily because of his masterful biographies, histories and extended essays, all forms deemed more canonical in the 19th century. His Sartor Resartus (1833-34) anticipated the spiritual crisis of the Victorian period, engaged the ideas of German philosophers, and was influential in shaping American Transcendentalism and the works of such authors as Emerson and Thoreau. Carlyle’s historical writings were consistently praised for their vigorous style, their vividness and their accuracy. Although opinion about him and assessments of his work have fluctuated greatly in the years since his death in 1881, interest in his writings has seldom waned. This volume presents some of the most inaccessible and some of the best critical opinion dealing with four of Carlyle’s major works that are arguably most representative of his thought. These include Sartor Resartus (1833-34), The French Revolution (1837), On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1841) and Past and Present (1843). Through reviews and essays, this reference work summarizes the critical response to Carlyle’s writings from their initial appearance to the present day. The volume emphasizes early reviews while the selections of critical articles from the 19th and 20th centuries reflect mature assessments of Carlyle and include pieces that are not well known or easily accessible. The volume begins with an introductory essay that discusses Carlyle’s response to his reviewers, and it closes with a bibliography of major studies.