Isaac D'Israeli and the invention of the literary character

Abstract

Isaac D'Israeli's work on the literary character offers a distinctive analysis of the relation between the literary and history in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain. He argues that character can be constructed and shaped by literary activity. The literary character also has common traits across the ages and can be seen as a trans-historical ideal that has tangible, empirical effects. Isolated and part of a solitary community, the literary character is marked by an inherited disinheritance and dislocation from its own time and place. D'Israeli's account of the literary character suggests the need to re-think the relation between the literary and history.