Characteristics
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1831
- Form
- Essay
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 35 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendCritical and Miscellaneous EssaysChapman and Hall, 1869The collected essays give the full text; the Harvard Classics volume 25 prints it with Carlyle's other short pieces.
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An essay written for the Edinburgh Review on the proposition that unconsciousness is the sign of health and self-examination the sign of disease. Carlyle argues that a sound body does not feel itself, that a sound faith does not argue about itself, and that the endless inquiry of his own age into its beliefs, its institutions and its literature is evidence of sickness rather than progress. He surveys the symptoms in philosophy, religion, politics and art, but refuses to end in despair: the pain of self-consciousness is the crisis of a cure, and a new faith is struggling to be born out of the wreck of the old.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Characteristics are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
