Sybil (novel)

Sybil, or The Two Nations is an 1845 novel by Benjamin Disraeli. Published in the same year as Friedrich Engels's The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, Sybil traces the plight of the working classes of England. Disraeli was interested in dealing with the horrific conditions in which the majority of England's working classes lived — or, what is generally called the Condition of England question.

This article is about the novel by Benjamin Disraeli. For the non-fiction book about Shirley Ardell Mason's treatment for dissociative identity disorder, see Sybil (Schreiber book).
Sybil; or, The Two Nations
First edition title page
AuthorBenjamin Disraeli
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesYoung England trilogy
GenreFiction
PublisherHenry Colburn
Publication date
1845

The book is a roman à thèse, or a novel with a thesis — which was meant to create a furor over the squalor that was plaguing England's working class cities.

Disraeli's novel was made into a silent film called Sybil in 1921, starring Evelyn Brent and Cowley Wright.

Disraeli's interest in this subject stemmed from his interest in the Chartist movement, a working-class political reformist movement that sought universal male suffrage and other parliamentary reforms. (Thomas Carlyle sums up the movement in his 1839 book Chartism.[1]) Chartism failed as a parliamentary movement (three petitions to Parliament were rejected); however, five of the "Six Points" of Chartism would become a reality within a century of the group's formation.

Chartism demanded:

  1. Universal suffrage for men
  2. Secret ballot
  3. Removal of property requirements for Parliament
  4. Salaries for Members of Parliament (MPs)
  5. Equal electoral districts
  6. Annually elected Parliament

Characters
  • Sybil Gerard
  • Charles Egremont
  • Lord Marney
  • Lord Henry Sydney
  • Lord de Mowbray
  • Rigby
  • Taper
  • Tadpole
  • Lady St. Julians
  • Marchioness of Deloraine
  • Baptist Hatton
  • Aubrey St. Lys
  • Sidonia
  • Devilsdust
  • Dandy Mick
  • Walter Gerard (Sybil's father)
  • Stephen Morley
  • Mr. Mountchesney

See also

Bibliography

Editions

There is no critical edition of Disraeli's novels. Most editions use the text of Longmans Collected Edition (1870–71).[2]

  • Disraeli, Benjamin Sybil. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987) ISBN 0-14-043134-9. Edited with an introduction by Rab Butler and notes by Thom Braun.
  • Disraeli, Benjamin Sybil. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) ISBN 0-19-283693-5. Edited with an introduction and notes by Sheila Smith.

Works of criticism
  • Braun, Thom Disraeli The Novelist. (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1981) ISBN 0 04 809017 4.

References
  1. Carlyle, Thomas. "Chartism" – via Wikisource.
  2. Disraeli, Benjamin (1987). Braun, Thom (ed.). Sybil. Penguin. p. 17. ISBN 0-14-043134-9.


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