Book Review
Title: Sartor Resartus
Author: Thomas Carlyle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: August 1, 2008 (original book publication 1836)
ISBN: 978-0199540372
Structure of the book: an Editor-Biographer writes about a German Professor-Autobiographer (Herr Teufelsdröckh). The background is that the Professor-Autobiographer left behind scattered fragments of his philosophy of life, thoughts about society, and a partial record of his life. But piecing these together is not an easy or straightforward task. “Of true logical method and sequence there is too little” and the fragments suffer an “almost total want of arrangement.” Much of the revelations are “dressed up” in multiform metaphors of clothing, what to wear, how to wear it, what clothing signals and represents, weightiness of fashions, the hierarchies of outfits, among others.
The Editor-Biographer has his work cut out for him as he sets the stage for the rest of the book: “To bring what order we can out of this chaos shall be part of our endeavor.” As a first step in sorting Professor Teufelsdröckh’s writings, he says the “work naturally falls into two parts: Historical-Descriptive, Philosophical-Speculative” though the two parts overlap and constantly run into each other. The Editor-Biographer does his best to present the Professor’s smorgasbord of philosophical, social, and political observations, asseverations, and averments. The major insights come from direct quotes of the Professor’s writings, quoted for us by the Editor. Many ancillary observations come from the Editor’s own commentary and interpretations, which play off of the Professor’s original adumbrations.
The Editor-Biographer had some personal knowledge of the Professor, such as some recollections about his idyllic childhood, being appreciated for his wit, considered intelligent, liked by his teachers, for example. But the Editor often does not understand what the Professor is trying to say, and some of what he does understand, he finds disturbing, such as a wayward cynicism that settles in during one phase of his life. The Editor presses on, piecing together the fragments, stitching up the insights and biographical detritus with his own sense of orderly pastiche.
The book is not entirely a philosophy-of-life tome, there are side stories and sub-plots. For example, there are some bits about the Professor’s childhood. There is evidence that the Professor has been unlucky in love (interesting side story), wherein he gives up on life and faith and suffers a tragic atrabiliar decline, aka the “Everlasting No.” But life ultimately wins, and the Professor recovers with many refreshing moments of uplift. Life’s sacred journey generates new hope and ultimately affirms the “Everlasting Yea.”