Thomas Carlyle

This memoir by free-thinking American preacher Moncure Conway of his friend was published soon after Carlyle's death in 1881.

Moncure Daniel Conway (Author)

9781108045346, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 February 2012

274 pages, 9 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.35 kg

Moncure Daniel Conway (1832–1907), the son of a Virginian plantation-owner, became a Unitarian minister but his anti-slavery views made him controversial. He later became a freethinker, and following the outbreak of the Civil War, which deeply divided his own family, he left the United States for England in 1863. He gained a reputation as the 'least orthodox preacher in London', and was acquainted with many figures in the literary and scientific world, including Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. This memoir of Thomas Carlyle, another friend, was published in 1881 soon after Carlyle's death. Carlyle had not wanted to be the subject of a biography, and reluctantly authorised J. A. Froude to write one, but Conway rushed into print this somewhat hagiographical account because he was concerned, with reason, about the damage Froude's frank biography (published in 1882–4 and also reissued in this series) might do to Carlyle's reputation.

Preface
Part I. Thomas Carlyle
Part II. By the Grave of Carlyle
Part III. Letters of Carlyle
Part IV. Letters addressed to Mrs. Basil Montagu and B. W. Procter by Mr. Thomas Carlyle.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]