was filled with contradictions with which the hero had to deal. All heroes will be flawed. Their heroism lay in their creative energy in the face of these difficulties, not in their moral perfection. To sneer at such a person for their failings is the philosophy of those who seek comfort in the conventional. Carlyle called this "valetism", from the expression "no man is a hero to his valet". Reception and legacy University of British Columbia professor Michael K. Goldberg writes:The gospel of heroes met resistance from nineteenth-century liberalism for ignoring the masses; from Engels, at least, among nineteenth-century Marxists for being too religious and mystical; from some segments of the established church for being too radical; and later from some twentieth-century democrats for being too tyrannical.Two reviews which appeared in the Christian Remembrancer in 1843 provide representative reactions to On Heroes. Archbishop of York William Thomson denounced Carlyle's syncretism, writing: "It is not a Christian Book." In response, theologian Frederick Denison Maurice defended Carlyle's emphasis on truth over semblances, as well as his ability to challenge and test the sincerity of readers that disagree with him. Whether positively or negatively, the impact of the book was felt by all. Richard Garnett wrote that it was "echoed by all the best minds of [the] day". Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in 1883 that it was "a very beautiful little book." These lectures of Carlyle's are regarded as an early and powerful formulation of the Great Man theory of historical development. Friedrich Nietzsche agreed with much of Carlyle's hero worship, transferring many qualities of the hero to his concept of the . Elizabeth Barrett Browning referenced the work in the 5th book of Aurora Leigh (1856). George Bernard Shaw took inspiration from On Heroes in his plays Arms and the Man (1894), The Man of Destiny (1897), Man and Superman (1905), and Back to Methuselah (1920). Mahatma Gandhi read "The Hero as Prophet" in his studies of Islam and "learnt of the Prophet's greatness and bravery and austere living." See also Heroes in historical studies Representative Men – a similar series of lectures, given by Carlyle's American contemporary Ralph Waldo Emerson Parallel Lives – classic work by Ancient Greek biographer Plutarch, outlining the lives of elite individuals and the virtues they represented. Bibliography References External links online facsimile at google books online edition Project Gutenberg 1841 non-fiction books