The Place of Heroes in History

The contemporary author Paul Johnson, known for his books and articles in the field of history and social sciences, was originally a journalist and for long the editor-in-chief of the much credible weekly magazine of New Statesman.
Paul Johnson has published numerous books among which are The Birth of the Modern World, Modern Times, and Intellectuals.
His The Birth of the Modern World is an analysis of the events which led to the modern world, whereas Modern Times explores some aspects of the history of the twentieth century.
Paul Johnson was introduced into the Persian-speaking world by his Intellectuals, a much controversial work which retells the life chronicle of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Henrik Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway, Bertolt Brecht, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Lillian Hellman, etc.
Paul Johnson examines a certain type of intellectualism in his Intellectuals, unveiling the truth behind the life of such intellectuals and their approach towards the simplicities and complexities of life. Exploring the intricacies of character and private life of a number of intellectuals, Johnson`s book portrays how the intellectuals could be enslaved by their human weaknesses and hallucinations more than the other members of human race.
Heroes, a book on heroism during the ages, is the life account of men and women who have played a part in history, those individuals who have left an imprint upon the historical and cultural account of not only their birthplace but of also beyond, the international sphere.
The introduction of the book Heroes, entitled as “What is a Hero?” reads as follows: “In the Western Desert of Egypt, some twenty miles from the nearest road, you come across solitary tombs of stone, weathered by the wind”. “They may be 3000 or even 4000 years old and testify to the veneration once felt for the dead” for whose memory these mausoleums had been erected. “The names have long since been obliterated by time and weather, but a certain sanctity hovers around the spot still”.
In his A Journey to the Western Island, Dr. Johnson records his visit to Iona and particularly the cemetery which he believes to house the ancient Scottish kings and the famous individuals of the era. In awe of the place, Dr. Johnson comments: “by whom the subterraneous vaults are peopled is unknown”. The sight of these many numerous graves engenders the thought that the dead laid to rest in these graves did not expect to be so soon forgotten.
I, too, have visited Iona and have reflected upon the sepulchers of these unknown notabilities. Such places stir the imagination and lead one to meditate the fate of human race. I have seen such shrines in Greece as well, some going back to before the Greeks. Paying homage to these mausoleums, Homer defines hero as “a name given to men of superhuman strength, courage, or ability, favored by the gods; and at a time regarded as intermediate between gods and men”.
Royal tombs have always held an intrigue for me: the Great Fourth dynasty pharaohs, for example, or the tombs of the Holy Roman emperors in the Palermo Cathedral, or Henry VI`s mausoleum. The bodies of the French kings would once be laid to rest in the royal abbey of Saint Denis, their hearts being kept separately in reliquaries. These graves were, however, desecrated during the Revolution; their precious items were being sold off for cash and some graves were even plundered. The shriveled heart of Luis XVI thus ended up at Stanton Harcourt, where it was sacrilegiously eaten by a Cambridge professor. The remains of the English kings have fared better in the Westminister Abbey, which still houses intact the remains of its founder, King Edward and many of his successors. There lie in graves alongside the kings, the ordinary people. The abbey is crowded with tombs of admirals and generals. From the time of Chaucer, it became a custom to bury the poets and writers in one corner.
However, those laid to rest at Westminister Abbey are not necessarily Christian believers. The abbey is the final resting place of even Charles Darwin, the notable man of skepticism.
In Paris, the ancient church of Sainte-Geneviève, the patron saint of the city, was founded by Clovis, re-built by Luis XVIII, and later in 1971 transformed by the revolutionaries into the a vault of secular heroes and renamed the Panthéon. The abbey, reconstructed in 1885 as a place of sanctity, oscillated repeatedly in the nineteenth century between being a church or a temple. The said church lost its sanctity in 1885 to receive the body of Victor Hugo and many other notable figures of France. The Panthéon, a cemetery in fact, is regarded as an old junk shop of the dead of any faith.
In his book Heroes, Paul Johnson discusses a number of heroes and heroines who are still awe-inspiring, have a place of honor, or can inspire the mercy of the public. Johnson reserves a higher place for the heroines; not only for their loyalty, but also for their heroism, and popularity.
Heroes covers themes such as “What is a Hero?” the marks of heroism, Heroism in the Age of Enlightenment? Heroism sent to the gallows, and “Any Future for Heroism?”

Elhām Fathi
Translated By: Katayoun Davallou

 Bokhara Bimonthly, No. 80