On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History

Author: (British) Carlyle
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Thomas Carlyle was a giant in the British literary scene of the 19th century. In Chinese theoretical works, he is regarded as a representative of the criticized idealist heroist view of history. During the era of intellectual darkness and the decline of diverse schools of thought, people adopted a critical attitude toward him, with few translations and publications of his works. Due to limited knowledge of his life and thoughts, the critique of his erroneous ideas remained superficial. This book collects six lectures delivered by Carlyle in 1840, discussing eleven heroic figures of six different types: divine heroes, prophetic heroes, poetic heroes, priestly heroes, literary heroes, and imperial heroes. This book had a wide influence in Europe and America, with publishers competing to publish it. The dominant ideology of this book asserts that world history is the history of great men, which undeniably reflects the idealist heroist view of history. It denies the objective role of production methods as the decisive factor in social development, exaggerates and absolutizes the role of heroic figures, and denies the masses as the creators of history. The book meticulously compiles detailed and valuable materials about heroic figures, serving as both a portrayal of their true nature and a reflection of the characteristics of social history at the time. As shown above, whether for the study of European history and literature or for understanding Carlyle's thought itself, this is a valuable work.