Kenelm Chillingly was first published in 1873 in three volumes by William Blackwood, while also being serialised in Blackwood’s Magazine at the time of Bulwer-Lytton’s death in January 1873. The eponymous protagonist of the novel is a young man from an upper-class, wealthy family, who feels slightly uncomfortable and out of place amongst his family. Kenelm is educated by a tutor with the belief that the young man will later have a career in politics or law. However, Bulwer-Lytton seems to imply that due to a genetic inheritance of traits, Kenelm is too intelligent, noble and moral to pursue that life. The author presents him as disgusted and contemptuous of the fame offered by that life, depicting him as a representative of a romantic past of honour, chivalry, respect and selfless patriotism.
Bulwer-Lytton is unrelentingly critical of the morals and principles associated with the increasingly dominant trade form of capitalism, which he believes has permeated every facet of human activity and destroyed or weakened bonds and public interactions that exist outside of the capital/labour relationship. The author is particularly critical of what he views as a pernicious divide between a person’s private character and their public conduct. He highlights this inconsistently through his portrayal of men that are members of Parliament, where Bulwer-Lytton shows how private belief in an act or motion is completely sublimated to a desire to advance and protect a career at any cost. The author also demonstrates how this lack of integrity and moral rectitude is exemplified in journalists and cultural critics.