Disraeli

8 hrs. 41 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author André Maurois

Narrator Igor Mushkatin

Description

The novel by French writer André Maurois (1885–1967) is devoted to the life of Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), a prominent statesman of Victorian England.

Beginning with an interest in romanticism and Byron, writing several sensational novels, Disraeli—through the help of friends and women—made a brilliant parliamentary career and rose to the forefront of the Conservative Party. He served twice as Prime Minister. His name is associated with the acquisition of shares in the Suez Canal, the success of English policy at the Berlin Congress in 1878, and the war in Afghanistan. The Conservative Party honors Disraeli as one of the creators of the British Empire.

It is known that while Prime Minister, having read in a newspaper that the Sultan of Egypt was selling shares of the Suez Canal, Disraeli, without finishing his morning coffee, ran to the bank, took out a loan from the government budget of 4 million pounds sterling, and bought 100% of the shares—thus bringing England significant profit from canal tolls.

His ancestors were Spanish Jews who fled to England from the Inquisition. His father, Isaac Disraeli, was a writer and bibliophile. Disraeli studied under his father. In 1821 he entered into an apprenticeship at a lawyer and immediately revealed brilliant abilities. He became interested in literature early. After the unpublished novel “Ayemes Papillon,” he wrote “Vivian Grey” in 1828—a story of the fashionable and political adventures of a young ambitious man. Literary success opened the doors to Disraeli’s access to high-society salons, where he learned political intrigue and found material for his novels. A clear practical mind, resourcefulness, wit, irresistible personal charm, ambition, and iron persistence help Disraeli form connections in high circles; travels to the East (Turkey, Asia Minor, Palestine) enrich his imagination and broaden his horizons, and a beneficial marriage finally frees him forever from financial difficulties. After four unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament (first as a Liberal, relying on O’Connell), Disraeli changes his program and in 1837—finally—gets elected from the Tory Party. In Parliament, he delivers speeches that once caused a sensation in favor of the Chartists, groups around himself landed aristocracy, and is the soul of the “Young England” party; then, he becomes leader of the opposition, and in 1852 becomes minister, in 1868 Prime Minister.