The Voyage of Captain Popanilla

Soon after the success of "Vivian Grey", Benjamin Disraeli published another novel in 1828, "The Voyage of Captain Popanilla" , an allegorical adventure story that describes travels of Captain Popanilla and his crew to distant lands.

"The Voyage of Captain Popanilla" contains elements of utopia, in which the author makes a confrontation between innocent and happy life in a blissful Arcadian island on the South Pacific and the principles of Benthamite utilitarianism, which Disraeli despised.

The novel is interesting for its attempt to revive the ancient genre of Menippean satire as well as its exotic setting and satirical allusions to British politics, religion, trade, literature and philosophy, as well as to British colonial expansion. Disraeli used the genre of utopian fiction — as it is so often used — for ideological polemics.