Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle (1795-18
Thomas Carlyle, 1795- 1881.

He was a Scottish historian and essayist.  Strongly influenced by German philosophy and literature, his early works include translations of Goethe and Sartor Resartus (1833-1834), a rather odd book which is mainly concerned with philosophical reflections on the appearance of things.   This was followed by "Heroes, Hero-Workship" and the "Heroic in History" (1841).  "Chartism" (1839) and "Past and Present" (1843) and soon many began to hail him as the greatest social critic of the age. Carlyle hated the modern materialistic age and condemned the exploitation of the poor in the Industrial Revolution.  However, his adoration of 'great men' and subsequent hatred of democracy have a sinister undertone for modern readers.  His prose style is described by his admirers as exuberant, highly individualistic and dazzlingly eclectic; others suscribe to the critic Dwight Macdonald`s view that his prose ('Carlylese') represents the death of the English language in the gutter. (From Brockhampton Reference)