On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History

By: Thomas Carlyle

Narrated by: James Gillies

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Though uncompromising, polemical and argumentative, Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) made a lasting impact on 19th-century culture as a multi-talented man of letters. And though his lengthy history of the French Revolution proved his major scholarly legacy, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History remains perhaps his most popular and accessible work. It presented his deep-seated belief that ‘Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here’.

It is with this bold declaration that Carlyle opened the collection of six lectures that comprise ‘On Heroes’. Initially delivered in 1840, he published them a year later in an expanded form, and the book’s popularity gave him the broader national presence to which he aspired. The six lectures covered a wide range of man’s activities, but of particular interest were the categories, as much as the individual figures.

Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity: Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.

Lecture II. The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam.

Lecture III. The Hero as Poet. Dante, Shakespeare.

Lecture IV. The Hero as Priest. Luther. Reformation: Knox; Puritanism.

Lecture V. The Hero as Man of Letters. Johnson, Rousseau, Burns.

Lecture VI. The Hero as King. Cromwell, Napoleon: Modern Revolutionism.

These categories challenged opinions from the outset: Carlyle’s fundamental approach, breaking away from an overbearing militaristic description of the hero figure in history, was revolutionary. He chose to take a more radical view, less hide-bound by the conventional constraints of his day, placing the poet, the philosopher and the revolutionary where, in popular imagination, the conqueror and the champion held sway. This was reflected further in the individuals he chose to represent the categories. If modern-day sensibilities may take a less emphatic ‘Great Men’ approach to history, Carlyle’s original work continues to provide an engaging template for contemporary revision.

Public Domain (P)2021 Ukemi Productions Ltd

interesting but very slow and dry

this theory is something cool, but this book drags so much. this took me about 3 weeks to finish because of how boring it was.

Intelligent, Articulate, But a Bit Meandering

Carlyle makes the case for several figures of history as heroes. I enjoyed the book mostly for his use of language and for bits of wisdom typical of the author. The narrator is excellent and I will look for more by him.

Highly academic, great reader… dull subject matter

Since coming across a little antique volume of this book several years ago, I’ve been intrigued. The image in the front of the book captivated me, reminded me of the Ted Talk “Your elusive creative genius” by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. I thought it would be a historical treatise on how people down through the ages have reverenced the great men of their time - as deity / prophet / king, etc. And, perhaps it was but after the first couple sections, my attention languished sorely. It took me back to college days where I would dutifully read texts, but knew nothing was penetrating.

When Carlyle wrote on Woden, or Mohammed all I could think is this is from an academic man, writing from his study by the fire. It tells nothing of the pagan rituals, or the blood bath of holy war. His writings felt devoid of morality. The writing felt philosophical, and so far removed from the actual life breath of the men he sought to write about. I kept thinking I needed to read on Wikipedia just who Carlyle was. Was he a man of faith? Or simply a man of his time. English to the core. Lauding Shakespeare as more valuable than India to the British Empire.

Probably the most interesting tidbit was the funny story about Luther throwing ink at an apparition. I read online that whether true or not, there are quite a few ink stains on the walls of places he is said to have lived. Must needs keep profiting off a good story!

It’s horribly dull, the reader is amazing. But the book, it’s a ramble all over the place. By the end I was listening at 1.3 speed. I would say probably the most you could credit this work as is a time capsule of British thought on these subjects in that era. I should have not finished it (especially since my thoughts wandered in and out so much!), but I always feel I must stick it out once committed.

I still think that picture at the front so interesting, I find between it and the Ted Talk a wonderful key has been given to unlocking some of the mystery surrounding how man has viewed the idea of inspiration, and how that view has shifted down through the ages.

Update: I read on Wikipedia / New World Encyclopedia that Carlyle was Scottish but lived in England. “Coming from a strictly Calvinist family, Carlyle was expected by his parents to enter the ministry. However, while at the University of Edinburgh he lost his Christian faith. Nevertheless Calvinist values remained with him throughout his life.” This makes a lot of sense given the tenor of his writing.