Sartor Resartusis a satirical novel initially published as a serial in 1831, meaning that it was published in sections in a magazine. It was written byThomas Carlyle, a Scottish essayist and philosopher. The book's title translates to ''the tailor re-tailored,'' and the book's subtitle isThe Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. The book's objective is to parodyGerman Idealism, a particular philosophical standpoint popularized by the philosopher Hegel. The novel's premise is that it is a biography of the fictional Diogenes Teufelsdröckh, which translates in English as ''God-born Devil's-dung.'' German Idealism is a challenging philosophical position to understand. It suggests that what people perceive is not what reality actually is. It was based on Immanuel Kant's work, especially his groundbreaking metaphysical workCritique of Pure Reason, but later philosophers took it further.