Friendship`s Bonds – Democracy and the Novel in Victorian England Dellamora

Friendship's BondsDemocracy and the Novel in Victorian England\nAuthor(s): Richard Dellamora\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, United States\nImprint: University of Pennsylvania Press\nISBN-13: 9780812238136, 978-0812238136\nSynopsis\nWhat is the connection between citizenship and friendship in Victorian fiction? Why do Victorian writers use the portrayal of relations between mentor and protg as a way of meditating on the possibilities of democratic governance? In Friendship's Bonds, Richard Dellamora revisits the classical and Victorian dream that a just society would be one governed by friends. In the actual struggle over who should or should not be eligible for the rights of citizenship, however, the ideal of fraternity was troubled by anxieties about the commingling of populations and the possible conversion of male intimacy into sexual anarchy.\n Focusing on the writings of Benjamin Disraeli as well as those of his leading political rival, William G.