Thomas Carlyle 
Sartor Resartus (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

Published in 1836, this pioneering mix of fiction and fact had a great influence on later writers despite having met with little success in its own time. In the novel, a nameless editor presents the life and work of a fictional German philosopher named Diogenes Teufelsdröckh who writes on the subject of clothing. Carlyle’s book satirizes the work of Hegel in particular, and German Idealism in general.

About the author

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, satirist, and political thinker. He became influential for Victorians because his writing reflected Calvinist values but also a loss of faith, which paralleled the community’s changing scientific and political views.