Sign-In
Cart
The Young Duke
Paperback
Publisher: Indoeuropeanpublishing.com
Published: Jul 12 2024
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.73
Height: 0.68 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Young Duke - a moral tale though gay is the third novel written by Benjamin Disraeli who would later become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Despite its moderate success, Disraeli came to dislike the novel which was a hindrance to his political career.
Disraeli started writing The Young Duke in late 1829, completing it in March 1830, as a means to finance his upcoming Grand Tour.
Disraeli's father, the novelist Isaac D'Israeli, expressed surprise at his son's choice of subject matter for the novel exclaiming, 'The Young Duke! What does Ben know of dukes?' Disraeli had reservations about the book and considered scrapping it. Nevertheless it was published and, despite a negative review in The Quarterly Review, was both well received and reasonably successful, yielding its author 500. Over time, however, Disraeli's reservations grew such that he subsequently bowlderised it for the 1853 edition, in an advertisement for which he wrote that, Young authors are apt to fall into affectation and conceit, and the writer sinned very much in this respect.
A review of the 1866 edition appearing in The Spectator concludes that although we know of no more successful writer and that The Young Duke contains a gleam of true power (i.e. the gambling scenes) the general level is infinitely below - conceited, trivial, supercilious, dull.
Modern reviews are slightly less damning. Disraeli's biographer, Robert Blake, writes of the novel that, It is indeed an enjoyable book despite all its absurdities of manner and diction..and [its] improbable plot...The style is artificial, full of far-fetched witticisms, convoluted antitheses, elaborate epigrams.
The Young Duke contains content critical of features of its author's future lifestyle, thus hindering Disraeli's subsequent political career. Ironically one of these was the concept of a Grand Tour (The travelling career of the young Duke may be conceived by those who have wasted their time, and are compensated for that silliness by being Men of the World) which in Disraeli's case was to be financed by the proceeds from the book. Disraeli is also critical of aristocratic dinner parties and the people who attend them.
The Young Duke is also the first of Disraeli's novels to include comment on politicians of the day such as Robert Peel, Lord Grey and the Duke of Wellington. Such sections were more prominent in Disraeli's novels at the peak of his literary career in the 1840s.
To the extent that the novel contains political opinion, it comprises its sympathetic treatment of the Catholic Emancipation movement and the view that the English aristocracy needs to be rejuvenated by its younger members so as to effectively discharge its leading role in the government of the country. (wikipedia.org)
About the author:
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, DL, JP, FRS (21 December 1804 - 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or Tory democracy. He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been born Jewish.
...(wikipedia.org)
4 different editions
Also available
Also from
Disraeli, Benjamin
Tancred (Complete): Or The New Crusade (Complete Edition Of Three Volumes)
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield; Volume 2
Kebbel, Thomas Edward
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield; Volume 1
Disraeli, Benjamin
Kebbel, Thomas Edward
Hardcover
Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, Collected From His Writings and Speeches
Disraeli, Benjamin
Hardcover
Wit and wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, earl of Beaconsfield: collected from his writings and speeches
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The calamities and quarrels of authors; with some inquiries respecting their moral and literary characters, and memoirs for our literary history
Disraeli, Isaac
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The calamities and quarrels of authors: With some inquiries respecting their moral and literary characters, and memoirs for our literary history. Vol.
Disraeli, Benjamin
Disraeli, Isaac
Paperback
Novels and Tales by the Earl of Beaconsfield: With portrait and sketch of his life
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
An Inquiry Into the Plans, Progress, and Policy of the American Mining Companies
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Amenities of Literature, Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature
Disraeli, Isaac
Disraeli, Benjamin
Hardcover
The Works of Benjamin Disraeli: Venetia, V. 2. the Letters of Runnymede
Arnot, Robert
Gosse, Edmund
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The Works of Benjamin Disraeli: Endymion; Volume 1
Gosse, Edmund
Disraeli, Benjamin
Arnot, Robert
Paperback
An Inquiry Into the Plans, Progress, and Policy of the American Mining Companies
Disraeli, Benjamin
Hardcover
Count Alarcos A Tragedy: A nobleman's descent into the abyss of transition.
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The Works of Benjamin Disraeli: Tancred; Volume 2
Gosse, Edmund
Disraeli, Benjamin
Arnot, Robert
Hardcover
Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of Glasgow, Novemeber 19, 1873
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The Works of Benjamin Disraeli: Coningsby; Volume 1
Gosse, Edmund
Disraeli, Benjamin
Arnot, Robert
Hardcover
Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of Glasgow, Novemeber 19, 1873
Disraeli, Benjamin
Hardcover
The Works of Benjamin Disraeli: Coningsby; Volume 1
Arnot, Robert
Gosse, Edmund
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The Works of Benjamin Disraeli: Tancred; Volume 2
Arnot, Robert
Gosse, Edmund
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Vindication of the English Constitution in a Letter to a Noble and Learned Lord
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Vindication of the English Constitution in a Letter to a Noble and Learned Lord
Disraeli, Benjamin
Hardcover
Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield; Volume 2
Disraeli, Benjamin
Kebbel, Thomas Edward
Hardcover
Selected speeches: Arranged and edited with introd. and explanatory notes by T.E. Kebbel
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Selected speeches: Arranged and edited with introd. and explanatory notes by T.E. Kebbel
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield; Volume 1
Kebbel, Thomas Edward
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The Calamities and Quarrels of Authors: With Some Inquiries Respecting Their Moral and Literary Characters, and Memoirs for Our Literary History; Volu
Disraeli, Isaac
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
The Calamities and Quarrels of Authors: With Some Inquiries Respecting Their Moral and Literary Characters, and Memoirs for Our Literary History; Volu
Disraeli, Isaac
Disraeli, Benjamin
Hardcover
Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, Collected From His Writings and Speeches
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Novels and Tales by the Earl of Beaconsfield: With portrait and sketch of his life
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Novels and Tales by the Earl of Beaconsfield: With portrait and sketch of his life
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Novels and Tales by the Earl of Beaconsfield: with portrait and sketch of his life - Vol. 9
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Novels and Tales by the Earl of Beaconsfield: With portrait and sketch of his life
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Novels and Tales by the Earl of Beaconsfield: With portrait and sketch of his life
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Sybil or the Two Nations: A tale of romanticism in a world of dirty politics & class discrimination.
Disraeli, Benjamin
Paperback
Also in
Classic Fiction
James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 1 (Loa #26): The Pioneers / The Last of the Mohicans / The Prairie
Cooper, James Fenimore
Hardcover
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, a Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Bruccoli, Matthew J.
Baughman, Judith
Paperback
The Princess Bride Deluxe Limited Edition: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Paperback
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paperback
The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by the Author: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Hardcover
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Hardcover
The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Revised and easy-to-read)
Vermilye, Alan
Bunyan, John
Paperback
Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stoker, Bram
Shelley, Mary
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paperback