ABSTRACT

First published in 1981, this book attempts to approach a better understanding of Disraeli the man through his life as a novelist. It is not a series of literary criticisms, rather an attempt to see how ‘fiction’ and the act of ‘fictionalising’ played an important part in Disraeli’s life. The author discusses how Disraeli’s novels in terms of how they reflected various stages of his life and development while assuming no knowledge of the, now mostly out-of-print, books on the part of the reader. This book fills the gap between the standard and comprehensive political biographies and the few literary analyses that appeared the twenty years prior to its publication.

chapter 1|18 pages

Dance on a Tight-Rope

chapter 2|18 pages

Sleight-of-Hand Tricks

chapter 3|18 pages

Rivers of Diamonds

chapter 4|18 pages

Fortune and Fancy

chapter 5|18 pages

Animal Magnetism, or Unknown Tongues

chapter 6|20 pages

Inhabitants of Different Planets

chapter 7|18 pages

Spells of Social Sorcery

chapter 8|18 pages

The Frame of Age