First published 2016
This collection presents the complete correspondence between Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson spanning nearly four decades. The letters begin in 1834 when Emerson, then thirty, had already recognized Carlyle's genius before the Scottish writer gained widespread fame. Carlyle had emerged from the intellectual doldrums of the 1820s through his articles on German literature in the Edinburgh and Foreign Quarterly Review, plus his essays on Burns, Voltaire, and his paper "Characteristics." These works revealed a master's hand and a spirit aligned with the unexpressed aspirations of his generation. While Byron, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats had dominated the early century, the 1820s marked a period of unusual dullness in English thought. Carlyle's writing displayed convictions rooted in principles, with words that represented genuine realities. His influence grew slowly, receiving little recognition from contemporaries initially. The correspondence captures two minds grappling with the literary and philosophical currents of their era.
Genres: biography, literary-criticism, historical, american, non-fiction, 19th-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: correspondence, intellectual-discourse
Setting: United States, United Kingdom
Period: 1834-1872
202 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform