英雄的健康與病症：閱讀對話中的湯瑪斯卡萊爾

The Health and Sickness of Heroes: Reading thomas Carlyle in Dialogue

本文閱讀湯瑪斯卡萊爾應在與齊克果、杜斯妥也夫斯基、尼采、康拉德、芬德里及若斯頓索爾等作家間的對話。其對話的重點為卡萊爾思想的中心問題─英雄的健康與病症，此點也出現在這些作家的作品裡。他們共同思考健康與疾病的議題、探討崇高人格為治癒一個病態時代的處方意義，這也是探索這些作家如何進行彼此對話的指標性焦點。每位作者都提供了不同回應，特別是涉及懷疑或信仰。正因他們共有相似的思慮，他們的作品亦相互輝映。他們皆認為各自的文化病了，但對於崇高人格是否可為提供治癒時代的良方各執己見。正因有甚多的脈絡可以連結他們作品中的多元面相，故而讀者可聆聽作家之間的迷人對話。

This article argues that Thomas Carlyle should be read in dialogue with writers including Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Conrad, Findley, and Ralston Saul. The focus of the dialogue is a problem central to Carlyle's thought and found in the works of the later writers: the health and sickness of heroes. The shared preoccupation with the health and sickness of culture and the significance of greatness in prescribing a cure for the diseased signs of the times is a promising focus for exploring the dialogue among these writers. Each of the authors offers a different response to the nature of greatness, especially as it relates to skepticism or belief. Because they share similar concerns, their works are mutually illuminating. They all agree that their respective cultures are sick, but disagree over whether or not greatness offers any cure for the illness. Listening to the dialogue among them is fascinating because of the many threads linking various aspects of their works.