Carlyle, Career and Genre

Abstract

Focuses on Carlyle’s attempts to find an appropriate literary genre to express his ideas. Explains why he chose a career in literature as a means of influencing society, and why his idea of the French Revolution is central to his understanding of the modern condition of uncertainty. Also discusses Carlyle’s reasons for distrusting modern literary forms, opting instead to adopt historical writing and the epic as genres appropriate for interpreting modern society.