Editing Benjamin Disraeli (section)

===Literary===
[[File:Sybil.jpg|thumb|Title page of first edition of ''[[Sybil (novel)|Sybil]]'' (1845)|alt=The cover of a book, entitled "Sybil; or, the Two Nations"]]
Disraeli's novels are his main literary achievement.<ref name=stewart>O'Kell, Robert. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2933312 "''Disraeli's Novels Reviewed, 1826–1968'', by R. W. Stewart"], ''Nineteenth-Century Fiction'', June 1976, pp. 84–85</ref> They have from the outset divided critical opinion. The writer R. W. Stewart observed that there have always been two criteria for judging Disraeli's novels—political and artistic. The critic Robert O'Kell, concurring, writes, "It is after all, even if you are a Tory of the staunchest blue, impossible to make Disraeli into a first-rate [[novelist]]. And it is equally impossible, no matter how much you deplore the extravagances and improprieties of his works, to make him into an insignificant one."<ref name=stewart/>

Disraeli's early "silver fork" novels ''[[Vivian Grey]]'' (1826) and ''[[The Young Duke]]'' (1831) featured romanticised depictions of [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic life]] (despite his ignorance of it) with character sketches of well-known public figures lightly disguised.<ref name=gale>[http://www.enotes.com/benjamin-disraeli-essays/disraeli-benjamin "Benjamin Disraeli 1804–1881"], '' Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism'', eNotes, accessed 25 August 2013</ref> In some of his early fiction Disraeli also portrayed himself and what he felt to be his [[Lord Byron|Byronic]] dual nature: the poet and the man of action.<ref name=b53>Bradford, p. 53</ref> His most autobiographical novel was ''Contarini Fleming'' (1832), an avowedly serious work that did not sell well.<ref name=b53/> The critic William Kuhn suggests that Disraeli's fiction can be read as "the memoirs he never wrote", revealing the inner life of a politician for whom the norms of Victorian public life appeared to represent a social straitjacket—particularly with regard to what Kuhn sees as the author's "ambiguous sexuality".<ref>Kuhn, pp. 5, 12 and 125</ref>

Of the other novels of the early 1830s, ''Alroy'' is described by Blake as "profitable but unreadable",<ref>Blake (1967), p. 787</ref> and ''The Rise of Iskander'' (1833) and ''The Infernal Marriage'' and ''Ixion in Heaven'' (1834) made little impact.<ref>Blake (1967), pp. 107–108</ref> ''Henrietta Temple'' (1837) was Disraeli's next major success.<ref name=b143/> It draws on the events of his affair with Henrietta Sykes to tell the story of a debt-ridden young man torn between a mercenary loveless marriage and a passionate [[love at first sight]] for the eponymous heroine.<ref name=b143>Blake (1967), pp. 143–144</ref> ''Venetia'' (1837) was a minor work, written to raise much-needed cash.<ref>Bradford, pp. 91–93</ref>

In the 1840s Disraeli wrote a trilogy of novels with political themes. ''[[Coningsby (novel)|Coningsby]]'' attacks the evils of the [[Reform Act 1832|Whig Reform Bill of 1832]] and castigates the leaderless conservatives for not responding. ''Sybil; or, The Two Nations'' (1845) reveals Peel's betrayal over the [[Corn Laws]]. These themes are expanded in ''Tancred'' (1847).<ref>Richard G. Weeks, "Disraeli as political egotist: a literary and historical investigation." ''[[Journal of British Studies]]'' 28.4 (1989): 387&ndash;410. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/175437 online]</ref> With ''Coningsby; or, The New Generation'' (1844), Disraeli, in Blake's view, "infused the novel genre with political sensibility, espousing the belief that England's future as a world power depended not on the complacent old guard, but on youthful, idealistic politicians."<ref name=gale/> ''Sybil; or, The Two Nations'' was less idealistic than ''Coningsby''; the "two nations" of its sub-title referred to the huge economic and social gap between the privileged few and the deprived working classes. The last was ''Tancred; or, The New Crusade'' (1847), promoting the [[Church of England]]'s role in reviving Britain's flagging spirituality.<ref name=gale/> Disraeli often wrote about religion, for he was a strong promoter of the Church of England. He was troubled by the growth of elaborate rituals in the late 19th century, such as the use of incense and vestments, and heard warnings to the effect that the ritualists were going to turn control of the Church of England over to the Pope. He consequently was a strong supporter of the [[Public Worship Regulation Act 1874]] which allowed the archbishops to go to court to stop the ritualists.<ref>[[Richard Shannon (historian)|Richard Shannon]], ''The Age of Disraeli, 1868-1881: The Rise of Tory Democracy'' (1992) pp. 199&ndash;210</ref>

''[[Lothair (novel)|Lothair]]'' was "Disraeli's ideological ''[[Pilgrim's Progress]]''",<ref>Schwarz, p. 128</ref> It tells a story of political life with particular regard to the roles of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. It reflected anti-Catholicism of the sort that was popular in Britain, and which fueled support for [[Italian unification]] ("Risorgimento").<ref>Diana Moore, "Romances of No-Popery: Transnational Anti-Catholicism in Giuseppe Garibaldi's The Rule of the Monk and Benjamin Disraeli's Lothair." ''Catholic Historical Review'' 106.3 (2020): 399&ndash;420 [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/762416/summary online].</ref> ''Endymion'', despite having a Whig as hero, is a last exposition of the author's economic policies and political beliefs.<ref>Bradford, pp. 287–289 (''Lothair''); and 380–383 (''Endymion'')</ref> Disraeli continued to the last to pillory his enemies in barely disguised caricatures: the character St Barbe in ''Endymion'' is widely seen as a parody of [[Thackeray]], who had offended Disraeli more than thirty years earlier by lampooning him in ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' as "Codlingsby".<ref>Blake (1967), pp. 191–192; and Bradford, p. 381</ref><ref name=merritt/>{{refn|James D. Merritt advanced an alternative theory in 1968, proposing [[Thomas Carlyle]] as Disraeli's target.<ref name=merritt>James D. Merritt, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2932319 "The Novelist St. Barbe in Disraeli's Endymion: Revenge on Whom?"], ''[[Nineteenth-Century Fiction]]'', June 1968, pp. 85–88</ref>|group= n}} Disraeli left an unfinished novel in which the [[priggish]] central character, Falconet, is unmistakably a caricature of Gladstone.<ref>Blake (1967), pp. 739–741</ref>

Blake commented that Disraeli "produced an epic poem, unbelievably bad, and a five-act blank verse tragedy, if possible worse. Further he wrote a discourse on political theory and a political biography, the ''Life of Lord George Bentinck'', which is excellent&nbsp;... remarkably fair and accurate."<ref>Blake, Robert in Hartley, p. 1</ref>