Venetia

Benjamin Disraeli

Summary

"Venetia" was published in 1837, in the year of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne and Disraeli’s first election to Parliament. Disraeli was in desperate financial straits when he wrote "Venetia", in part because "Henrietta Temple", although his most successful novel since "Vivian Grey", did not produce anything like the revenue he required to pay his debts’. 

"Venetia" traces the eponymous heroine's development from romantic idealist into social pragmatist against a backdrop of British industrialisation.
Although "Venetia" did not surpass the success of "Henrietta Temple", it received quite favourable reviews.

At first glance, it seems that "Venetia" does not contain any political themes or hidden autobiographical details, except for reverence for Lord Byron, but when one takes a closer look at the plot and the authorial commentary, it appears that Disraeli still writes in a veiled way about himself and his changing political loyalties. "Venetia" is the last of Disraeli’s exalted early novels and marks symbolically his rejection of Byron’s Whiggish radicalism and his sexual ambivalence.

"Venetia", which occupies a unique place among semi-biographical studies of Byron and Shelley, can be read as Disraeli’s Byronic roman-à-clef and a nostalgic homage to the great Romantic rebel poets. Disraeli presents himself in the novel as a progressive Conservative who still retains his fascination with Byron and Shelley but realises that he must give up his former Romantic radicalism and eccentric behaviour in order to win the support of the Tories before his entry into politics.

Available since: 12/04/2019.

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