DISRAELI the NOVELIST
956
An Abstract of a Thesis
PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
BY
IRVING CHELLIS STORY
September, 1926
C
Few readers or critics have studied Disraeli's novels suf-
ficiently to appreciate their excellence as social criticism or as
works of fictional art.
Vivian Grey (1826-7), the author's first novel, is the work of
a boy, but that boy has already the wit and individuality of genius.
As a picture of society, the author's insufficient knowledge of his
subject makes it a failure, and the plot after the first third of the
book degenerates into a travelogue. But the novel continues to
live because its hero is an entertaining portrait of the witty, ener-
getic, ambitious, entirely worldly character that made one portion.
of that complex personality, Benjamin Disraeli.
Contarini Fleming (1832), Disraeli's second novel of impor-
tance, is a study of the poetic side of the author's character. It is
a portrait of the Disraeli who loved bright colors, adventure, and
the Orient. At the same time, it rarely lacks the Disraelian irony.
Furthermore it contains the first statement of Disraeli's belief in
the superiority of the Jew. It is largely a one-character story,
and the plot ends in a travelogue, but the travelogue is based on
the author's own trip around the Mediterranean, and the whole
novel is a unified study of character development. It also includes
some excellent descriptive prose. The incidents are varied; the
characters pleasing; and the author's own personality gives a
final touch of interest to a well written novel.
Alroy (1833), Disraeli's one historical romance, is the story
of an unsuccessful revolt of a twelfth century Jew against the
caliph of Bagdad. It is akin to the Arabian Knights in incidents
and setting, and Talmudic in its mysteries. Its peculiar prose
poetry is at its best effectively exotic; the settings are gorgeous;
and there is excellent comedy in the dialogue of a band of robbers.
The story contains plenty of action developed in a logical plot
to an effective climax in the beheading of the defiant hero. The
fighting escape of the rebel Abidan is worthy of D'Artagnan.
Alroy has caught the glamor and mystery of the East, and it car-
ries the clash of arms and the thrill of adventure. It is one of the
few successfully Oriental novels in English literature.
In the early 30's, Disraeli also wrote two short satires, Ixion
and The Infernal Marriage. In these he presents modern society
in the guise of Greek myths with a resulting incongruity remark-
ably effective. The picture in the latter of the two of life in the
Elysian Fields as "an aristocratic immortality" is particularly
effective. Ixion is a single episode told mainly in dialogue, and
perfectly constructed. The Infernal Marriage is not as unified,
for it is incomplete, but it is superior in its greater variety and
breadth. Both, however, are the perfection of fine and polished
satire. They are short, and they have not the earnestness of
greater works; but for lively dialogue, for sparkling wit, and for
cool, light-hearted irony, they have no superiors.
The one other important novel of Disraeli's first literary period
is Henrietta Temple (1836). This "charming love story" (Ten-
nyson) is the most orthodox novel in technique, prose style, and
subject matter that Disraeli wrote. The story is lively and prob-
able; the plot is well handled; the characters, though lacking the
Dickensian humanity, are interesting. The love story is written
with true emotion, and the rest of the novel with Disraelian wit.
The greatness of the novel belongs to the character Count Mira-
bel, wit, dandy, and practising optimist, who appears in the last
half of the book to increase the interest and to disentangle the
plot. Drawn from Disraeli's friend, "the inimitable Count
D'Orsay," he is a perfect example of the vive la bagatelle type.
His conversation sparkles like the best in Sheridan's comedies.
Other effective passages in the novel are Disraeli's eulogy of
the joys of being in love and his monody on the terrors of being
in debt. Altogether, Henrietta is one of the best written of Dis-
raeli's novels.
After seven years in Parliament Disraeli returned to fiction
in 1844 with Coningsby, a novel written to criticize existing politi-
cal conditions and to state his own political theories. These theo-
ries are based on the belief that "Power and the People are both
divine." Their ideal is "a free monarchy ruling an educated
people represented by a free and intellectual press." This ideal
is presented to the reader through the dialogue of the young hero
with his friends, and he in turn derives it through study and
through listening to the famous Sidonia.
Sidonia, an English Jew, is Disraeli's greatest character crea-
tion. He has the wealth of Rothschild, the wisdom of Solomon,
and the power of expression of Disraeli. His speeches to Con-
ingsby on the appeal of monarchial government, on the greatness
of the Jewish race, on the influence of the individual, and on the
divinity of youth include some of the most inspirational passages
of English prose.
Second only to Sidonia is Lord Monmouth, the perfection of
the old time Tories who believed they ruled England by divine
right. Restrained, dignified, strong willed, Lord Monmouth's
ideals are wealth, manners, intellect, blood, and self. The clear
outline, the repose, and the completeness of this character justify
Disraeli's right to be called an artist.
Grouped around Lord Monmouth, a host of nobles, politicians,
and ladies complete a detailed study of the political aristocracy of
A
the 1830's that makes the chief excellence of Coningsby as a
novel. It pictures their social life in London and the life on their
country estates, emphasizing their dignity, their magnificence, and
their conceit. Their continual political intrigue is satirized in a
series of dialogues that center around the professional politicians,
Paper and Tadpole. These two worthies believe the country is
safe if it is paying them 1200£ a year. The backgrounds for this
society include several effective descriptions of their estates and
castles.
All this material is organized into a plot motivated by Con-
ingsby's desire to learn and then to teach the right political prin-
ciples, and to enter Parliament for their furtherance. Except for
the intrusion of exposition, chiefly an effective analysis of Eng-
lish political history, the plot is well constructed. Idealistic in its
motivation, satiric in its social study, Coningsby gains also,
through Sidonia and the author, a touch of Oriental glamor. It
is a story of ideas rather than of action, and it lacks the final
virtue of humanity; but it it a picture of real life, vividly re-
created, and in idealism, breadth, and vitality it is a work of
genius.
Sybil (1845), the second member of Disraeli's so-called tril-
ogy, is a study of the condition of the working people about 1840,
and of the political indifference that was one cause.
Its thesis is
that government must be for the people and by the aristocracy,
and the demonstration of this thesis is the story of the causes and
the failure of the Chartist riots.
Sybil's vivid pictures of life in the rural, mining, and mill
towns of northern England are still quoted by historians for their
accuracy and effectiveness. Famous scenes are the Mowbray
mining district at sunset, a street in rural Marney, and a scene
at the "tommy-shop" in Mowbray. In addition, the satirical nar-
rative of the political intrigue termed The Bedchamber Plot is
one of the best examples of the mock heroic in English fiction.
Other passages artistically effective are Lord Marney's mono-
logues on the divine rights of Tory landlords; Tummas' story of
life among the Hellcat metal worker apprentices of Wogate; Dis-
raeli's summary of the early years of Devilsdust, child of the
people; and the march of the Hellcats into Mowbray. The bitter
irony of all but the last of these scenes makes them Disraeli's
most perfect satire.
The leading characters of the novel, in addition to those men-
tioned, are Sybil Gerard, friend of the people, Disraeli's most
spiritual creation; her father, Walter Gerard, leader of the people,
Disraeli's most human creation; and Baptist Hatton, antiquar-
ian, whose intrigues secure for Sybil the Mowbray heritage stolen
from her father. Egremont, the hero, who argues in Parliament
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for the people, marries Sybil, and inherits the Marney estates,
lacks a leading personality. The chief satirical character is the
indefatigable politician, Lady St. Julians.
These characters and scenes are woven into a properly con-
structed plot that rises to an effective climax in the burning of
Mowbray Castle. It atones for its slow development and its lack
of any really central character by its accurate analysis of the de-
sires and emotions of the working class. Similarly, its occasion-
ally florid diction is more than balanced by the earnestness behind
it. Neither should be forgotten the satirical characterizations that
it adds to the aristocratic group of Coningsby.
Altogether, Sybil is an intelligent, sympathetic, and dramatic
study of the English people in the 1840's, both the workers and
the political aristocracy. As a vivid, convincing, deeply-probing
re-creation of life, it is, like Coningsby, a work of genius.
Tancred (1847) is devoted to the praise of the Semitic con-
tributions to European civilization. After several satirical ex-
amples of English provinciality, worldliness, and religious ig-
norance, Disraeli takes his hero to Syria in search of the true
religion. The last two-thirds of the book constitute a detailed
study of Semitic life, character, and ideals. It is a vivid, en-
thusiastic picture of Syrian life in the city, the desert, and the
mountains.
Against a colorful background, it presents a race ancient, dig-
nified, idealistic, and picturesque. The three leading characters
are Adam Besso, most influential Jew in Syria, a man with a soul
as grand and fine as his body; the great Sheik, his father-in-law,
ruler of the desert, a simple, dignified old aristocrat, confident in
his faith; and Besso's daughter, Eva. Eva, with her beauty, in-
telligence, emotion, and humanity, is Disraeli's greatest romantic
heroine. Her Bethany garden is his supreme romantic setting.
Another only less effective is the great Sheik's camp on the edge
of the desert.
As a story, Tancred is an enthusiastic romance of war, love,
mystery, and adventure in strange lands. Its most effective epi-
sode is the Rabelaisian feast of the Lebanon tribes at Fakredeen's
castle in the mountains. Its lack of a climax is atoned for by its
completeness as a social study.
The most effective of the English episodes are the elaborate
celebration of Tancred's coming of age; the mock heroic narrative
of Mrs. Guy Flouncey's ball, and the comedy dialogue on cookery
as a fine art. Each one is supreme in its field. Another great
passage is the two-page description of Jerusalem. Finally there
is the emphasis on the strategic international situation of Syria.
Behind all is the personality of the author, never more completely
unfolded.
Poorly constructed though it is, Tancred is the most vivid.
combination of satire, comedy, romance, and idealism that has
been contributed to English fiction. It is the only novel to em-
phasize properly the importance of the Oriental contribution to
civilization.
After 23 years of political life, Disraeli returned to literature
in 1870 with the best novel, artistically, that he has written.
Motivated by a Catholic intrigue that is overcome by the influ-
ence of the patriotic Brenthams, Lothair is the story of a rich
young nobleman's search for a life object. Attracted first to
Catholicism by the beautiful and spiritual Clare Arundel; then
persuaded by "the divine Theodora," a modern Athena whose
songs have inspired armies, to fight for Republican Italy; he
finally returns to his own land and church, and to the beautiful,
rational, and sympathetic Lady Corisande. His two years' search
provides a detailed, accurate, and entirely objective picture of the
brilliant, magnificent, self-assured, and superficial London aris-
tocracy of the 1860's.
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It includes the polished Duke of Brentham, who thanks God
his family is worthy of him; the Catholic Lady St. Jerome, who
receives "with extreme unction;" the supreme churchman, Cardi-
nal Grandison, drawn from Manning; the pagan artist, Mr.
Phoebus; the strong-willed, narrow-minded sportsman, the Duke
of Brecon; and the omnipresent bachelor jester, Hugo Bohun.
The two great characters are that Greek Joan of Arc, Theodora
Campion, inspiration of artists and of the secret societies that
are fighting Catholicism, and that sincere, energetic, unconven-
tional young duke, St. Aldegonde, Disraeli's most interesting and
individual creation.
The plot of Lothair is well constructed; the characters are
numerous, individual, and lively; the backgrounds are Disraeli
at his best; and the style is the brilliant, though sometimes collo-
quial, irony that only Disraeli could write. In particular, the cele-
bration of Lothair's coming of age is one long, polished burlesque,
from his initial reception by five hundred horsemen to the con-
clusion with a salvo of artillery. Furthermore, Lothair contains
many of Disraeli's best epigrams.
Lothair does not reach the heights of Tancred, nor the depths
of Sybil, nor has it the driving power of Coningsby; but it has
none of their technical defects, it shows all of Disraeli's creative
ability, and as a combination of accuracy, irony, and brilliancy, it
is one of the most effective novels of society that have ever been
written.
Endymion (1880), Disraeli's last novel, lacks the vitality and
invention of his other books. But as a disguised political memoir
of the years 1832-1855, it is valuable, especially in its earlier
pages, as a supplement to the social studies of Coningsby and
Sybil. Moreover, in addition to a host of lesser people, the char-
acters include biographical sketches, under other names, of five
great men Cardinal Manning, more favorably than in Lothair;
Lionel Rothschild and Louis Napoleon, both personal friends of
Disraeli; Prince Bismarck; and satirically treated, Thackeray.
The two most effective originals are Berengaria, Queen of Whig-
gism and of London society, Disraeli's greatest lady politician;
and Lord Roehampton, Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The death
of the latter is a rare Disraelian use of simplicity.
Other passages of interest in Endymion are Baron Sergius'
lecture on race as the key to history, and Sir Francis Scrope's
reminiscences of the House before 1832. The rise of the hero to
the premiership through the efforts of his sister and Berengaria
is Disraeli's final tribute to woman.
As fiction, Endymion is mediocre, but its analysis of political
history and its biographical sketches are of real value.
In content, Disraeli's novels offer a study of the English
aristocracy and English politics; a statement of the Jewish con-
tribution to civilization; and a presentation of the personality and
ideals of one of the most interesting and influential men of the
nineteenth century. As art, they are social studies individualized
by brilliant, energetic, idealistic characters; dramatized in spark-
ling dialogue; surrounded by vivid, frequently magnificent, back-
grounds; and intensified by satire that is always effective. In
both thought and style, they are inferior only to those of the great
masters, and they show the breadth, the vitality, and the creative
ability of genius. They deserve to be read by every individual
who studies life through literature.
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