Thomas Carlyle Resartus

Book excerpt: The essays in this volume represent some of the most recent reconsiderations of the living legacy of Thomas Carlyle from both established and upcoming Carlyle scholars. Readers will have the opportunity to explore the richness of Carlyle's ideals, including the ones which challenge modern sensibilities the most. The essays examine carefully the complexities, difficulties, and contours of Carlyle's political and social vision. They also sample the breadth of Carlyle's thought, along with that of Jane Welsh Carlyle, his wife and fellow intellectual traveler, covering topics from political philosophy and cultural critique to education, historiography, biography, and the vagaries of editing. His roles as a political thinker and professional historian are investigated in depth, in addition to his better-known position as a critic of Victorian mores. Thomas Carlyle truly emerges "resartus" or re-tailored, ready to speak with renewed hope to the weighty concerns of the present. --Book Jacket.