Disraeli's 'Spectre of Unsatisfied Ambition'

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/embed/9b5085eaa327fd96bd68

Disraeli's 'Spectre of Unsatisfied Ambition': Literary Celebrity in/and Political Office

Benjamin Disraeli's papers in the Bodleian Library allow for an intriguing glimpse into the public reception of his dual role as a successful novelist and eminent statesman. Analyzing a selection of these popular responses to Disraeli's dexterous cross-field migrations, Sandra Mayer (University of Vienna/Wolfson College, University of Oxford) discusses the dual commitment to art and action of celebrity writers in political office and its reverberations in nineteenth-century fan culture.