The English statesman Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881), supported imperialism while opposing free trade. The leader of the Conservative party, he served as prime minister in 186...
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Disraeli's novels merit renewed attention not only because of their wit, insight, breadth, and vision but because they present strikingly original imagined worlds. Like the other major Victorian novel...
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The life of Benjamin Disraeli, later Lord Beaconsfield, is a useful reminder to students of Victorian England that most generalizations about the period are worth questioning. It seemed impossible tha...
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In the following essay, Brantlinger explores the political theory expressed in Sybil, focusing on Disraeli's Tory-Radicalism and analyzing his purported acceptance of the "two-nations...
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In the essay that follows, O'Kell discusses how Disraeli's early novels reflect his attempt to forge a public identity. According to O'Kell, these early works represent Disraeli...
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In the following essay, O'Kell interprets Coningsby as an attempt by Disraeli to clarify his developing Tory ideology by "replacing the actuality of his struggle to transcend his alienat...
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In the following excerpt, Schwarz defends Henrietta Temple and Venetia against charges that the novels lack aesthetic value and are discontinuous with Disraeli's other works.
I
The only book-le...
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In this essay, O'Kell examines Sybil in terms of its political, religious, and allegorical content, distinguishing it from the psychological romances typical of Disraeli's early work.
Th...
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In the following essay, Handwerk analyzes Disraeli's rhetorical and political aims in Sybil, contending that despite the tension among the various strands of the novel, Disraeli actually put fo...
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In the following essay, Bivona argues that Disraeli's political trilogy was written in order to reinvigorate the Tory party and, particularly, to give him "a forum in which to ally ideol...
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[In this excerpt, Vincent surveys Disraeli's early novels, concluding that they have little literary value.
Disraeli's novels have never lacked intelligent, if unlikely, admirers, The gr...
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In the essay that follows, Millar and Wiebe discuss ways in which Disraeli used his writing for newspapers as a means to transmit his political views, and conclude that his "management of the p...
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