MR AND MRS DISRAELI: A STRANGE ROMANCE
Book ID/图书代码： 00200014B73727
English Summary/英文概要： Deep in the archives of the Bodleian Library lies a tattered scrap of paper with newlyweds’ scribbles on it. It is a table, listing the qualities of a couple. One column reads ‘Often says what he does not think’, ‘He does not show his feelings’, ‘He is a genius’; the other ‘Never says what she does not think’, ‘She shows her feelings’, ‘She is a dunce’. The writing is Mary Anne Disraeli’s: the qualities listed contrast her with her husband, Benjamin Disraeli, one of the most foremost politicians of the Victorian age.
The daughter of a sailor, on her second marriage and 12 years older than her husband, Mary Anne was highly eccentric, liable to misbehave and (worse still) overdressed for grand society diners. Her beloved Diz was of Jewish descent, a mid-ranking novelist and frequently mired in debt. He was fiercely protective and completely devoted to his wife. She too, was devoted to him, and they were both devoted to the idea of being devoted. They wrote passionate letters to one another through their courtship and their marriage, spinning their unconventional tale into a romance worthy of the novels they so loved.
Reading between the lines of a great cache of their letters and the anecdotes of others in chilly Oxford reading rooms, Daisy Hay shows how the Disraelis rose to the top of the social and political pile. Along the way, we meet women of a similar station and situation whose endings were far unhappier than Mary Anne’s, acting as a counterpoint to her fairy-tale ending as the landed Angel of the Prime Minister’s House.
In an age were first ladies are under ever-increasing pressure to perform and conform, MR AND MRS DISRAELI offers a portrait of one who refused to do either, in a society which demanded she do both.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 牛津大学图书馆图书档案的深处隐藏着一张破烂的小纸片，上面有对新婚夫妇的涂鸦。它是张表，列出来了一对夫妻应有的品质。有一条写着“常提醒他从不考虑的”、“他的感情不会外露”、“他是个天才”；另一条上写着“她不愿意想你你别提”、“她感情外露”、“她是个傻瓜”。作者是玛丽•安妮•迪斯雷利：列出来的品质是她和她丈夫本杰明•迪斯雷利的对比，他是维多利亚时代接触的政治家。
玛丽是水手的女儿，是二婚而且比丈夫大了12岁，她性情古怪，容易失控，（更糟糕的是）在上流社会宴会中会妆容过度。她心爱的丈夫是犹太血统，一个经常深陷债务的中层小说家。他绝对爱护，完全忠于自己的妻子。她也绝对爱护自己的丈夫。二人也对这样的忠诚也绝对的忠诚。在他们的恋爱和婚姻中，他们互相写下了热烈的书信，把他们扭曲而反常的故事变成了他们如此喜欢的浪漫小说。
在凉爽的牛津图书馆阅读残存在字里行间的书信和他人写下的佚事，黛西•海伊展示了迪斯雷利如何升至社会上流和政坛。在这个过程中，我们看到的同种处境和状态的女性的结局远没有玛丽•安妮的幸福——作为一个她自己童话结局中的天使，降临在总理府邸之中。
在一个第一夫人压力不断增加，需要循规蹈矩的时代，面对社会对她的要求。迪斯雷利夫妇呈现出的却是一副拒绝接受形象。（LNL）
Awards/获奖情况：
About the Author/作者介绍： 黛西•海伊是位年轻的浪漫主义者，她因The Shelleys和Byron and Other Tangled Lives获得由英国国家学术院颁发的罗斯玛丽•布拉德肖奖，而且在莱斯纪念奖上被高度推崇。
Daisy Hay is the author of Young Romantics: The Shelleys, Byron and Other Tangled Lives, for which she was awarded the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize by the British Academy and highly commended by the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
Format:
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
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