Thomas Carlyle, Fascism, and Frederick: From Victorian Prophet to Fascist Ideologue

<p>The Victorian Author Thomas Carlyle was in his day a meteoric voice but his popularity and reputation declined significantly due in part to his link to fascism. In the politically polarized era of the Second World War, academics and propagandists dubbed him a fascist or Nazi in both defamation and approval. Fascist scholars pressed Carlyle into service as a progenitor and prophet of their respective totalitarian regimes. Adolf Hitler, in his final days, assuaged his fears of his imminent fall with readings from Carlyle's History of Frederick the Great. This fascist connection to the once esteemed “Sage of Chelsea” marks the apogee of his defamation. The following thesis sets Carlyle's decline in its historical context and demonstrates the presentist view scholars persistently take as they approach their subject. It further compares and contrasts the various fascist regimes, their distinct tenets, and their variegated ideologies that become evident in their interpretation and mobilization of the deceased Victorian's works.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MA

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• McCollum, Jonathon C.

• Thomas Carlyle
• Adolf Hitler
• Nazism
• Fascism
• History

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1439

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-2438