G. K. Chesterton: Encyclopedia - G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874 – June 14, 1936) was a prolific English writer of the early 20th century. He was both a popular and an influential writer during this period, inspiring many historic figures with his works. He was notably concerned in what he wrote with religious matters, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1922.

Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox". He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."

G. K. Chesterton - Life

Born in Campden Hill, Kensington, London, Chesterton was educated at St Paul's School, and later went to the Slade School of Art in order to become an illustrator. In 1900, Chesterton was asked to write a few magazine articles on art criticism, which sparked his interest in writing. He went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time.

Chesterton was a large man, standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and weighing around 21 stone (134 kg or 294 lb). His girth gave rise to one of his famous anecdotes. During World War I a lady in London asked why he wasn't 'out at the Front'; he replied 'if you go round to the side, you will see that I am'. He usually wore a cape and a crumpled hat, with a swordstick in hand, and had a cigar hanging out of his mouth. Chesterton rarely remembered where he was supposed to be going and would even miss the train that was supposed to take him there. It was not uncommon for him to send a telegram to his wife, Frances Blogg, whom he married in 1901, from some distant (and incorrect) location writing such things as, "Am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?" to which she would reply, "Home."

Chesterton loved to debate, often publicly debating with friends such as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, and Clarence Darrow. Chesterton was usually considered the winner. According to his autobiography, he and George Bernard Shaw played cowboys in a silent movie that was never released.

The homily at Chesterton's Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral, London, was delivered by Ronald Knox. Chesterton is buried in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, in the Catholic Cemetery.

On October 1, 1936, Chesterton's estate was probated at 28,389 pounds sterling.

G. K. Chesterton - Writing

Chesterton wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, 200 short stories, 4000 essays and a few plays. He was a columnist for the Daily News, Illustrated London News, and his own paper, G. K.'s Weekly. In the United States, his writings on distributism were popularized through The American Review, published by Seward Collins in New York.

Chesterton's writings consistently displayed wit and a sense of humour. He deployed paradox, while making serious comments on the world, government, politics, economics, philosophy, theology and many other topics. In this he was a follower of Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw whom he knew well; but Chesterton's style and thinking were all his own.

He was a literary and social critic, historian, playwright, novelist, Catholic Christian theologian and apologist, debater, and mystery writer. His most well-known character is the priest-detective Father Brown, who appeared only in short stories, while The Man Who Was Thursday is arguably his best-known novel. He converted to Catholicism in 1922. Christian themes and symbolism appear in much of his writing, and he often presented himself in the role of the Church's champion.

Of his non-fiction, Charles Dickens (1903) has received some of the broadest-based praise. According to Ian Ker (The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845-1961, 2003), 'In Chesterton's eyes Dickens belongs to Merry, not Puritan, England' (see Merry England); Ker treats in Chapter 4 of that book Chesterton's thought as largely growing out of his true appreciation of Dickens, a somewhat shop-soiled property in the view of other literary opinions of the time.

Much of Chesterton's work remains in print, including collections of his Father Brown detective stories. Ignatius Press is presently undertaking a monumental Complete Works.

G. K. Chesterton - The Chesterbelloc

Chesterton is often associated with Hilaire Belloc, a close friend from the Edwardian period; Shaw coined the name Chesterbelloc for their partnership, and this stuck. Though they were very different men, they had in common many beliefs, including the Catholic faith (in the end) and critical attitudes to capitalism and socialism (see distributism). G. K.'s Weekly, which occupied much of Chesterton's energy in the last 15 years of his life, was the successor to Belloc's New Witness, taken over from Cecil Chesterton, Gilbert's brother who died in World War I.

Both, however, have been accused of anti-Semitism in their work; in Chesterton's case this can amount to guilt by association. (For Belloc's case see discussion in that article.) Bernard Levin, a leading British columnist who frequently quoted Chesterton, wrote (The Case for Chesterton, 26 May 1974 in The Observer) brought up some of his light verse, and said The best one can say of Chesterton's anti-semitism is that it was less vile than Belloc's; let us leave it at that. Joseph Pearce (Wisdom and Innocence p.445) wrote that It is clear that such verses may cause offence, but it is equally clear they were not intended to. The point is still contested [1]. Against Chesterton are also cited remarks in The New Jerusalem (1920), [2]. Chesterton was, in a real sense, a Zionist. He was not, however, a Zionist without conditions. The following is from the introductory remarks in that book:

Further discussion comes from comments about Jews being responsible for both the USSR's communism and the USA's unbridled capitalism (1929). John Gross in The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters (1969) commented:

Editorial policy in the latter days of G. K.'s Weekly was moving towards a right-wing position. Attitude to Mussolini (whom he interviewed, see the Maisie Ward biography) in the 1930s is close to the point; Chesterton made somewhat favourable remarks about contemporary Italy in his Autobiography (1935). Right at the end of his life G. K.'s Weekly in editorial comment on the invasion of Abyssinia seemed to go further (but the evidence is that this was not Chesterton writing, and that he was upset by the incident).

G. K. Chesterton - Influence

• Chesterton's The Everlasting Man contributed to a young atheist named C. S. Lewis being converted to Christianity.
• Chesterton's biography of Charles Dickens was largely responsible for creating a popular revival for Dickens' work as well as a serious reconsideration of Dickens by scholars. Considered by T.S. Eliot, Peter Ackroyd, and others, to be the best book on Dickens ever written.
• Chesterton's Orthodoxy has become a religious classic.
• Chesterton's novel The Napoleon of Notting Hill was a favorite of Michael Collins who would later go on to lead the movement for Irish independence. It has also been suggested that same book influenced George Orwell in the writing of Nineteen Eighty-Four (The Napoleon of Notting Hill being partially set in 1984), however Orwell himself gave no indication that this was the case.
• Chesterton's work has inspired lyricists like Daniel Amos's Terry Scott Taylor from the 1970s to the 2000s. Daniel Amos mentioned Chesterton by name in the title track from 2001's Mr. Buechner's Dream.
• His physical appearance and apparently some of his mannerisms were a direct inspiration for the character of Dr. Gideon Fell, a well-known fictional detective created in the early 1930s by the Anglo-American mystery writer John Dickson Carr.
• The author Neil Gaiman has stated that The Napoleon of Notting Hill was an important influence on his own book Neverwhere. Gaiman also based the character Gilbert, from the comic book The Sandman, on Chesterton.
• Ingmar Bergman considered Chesterton's little known play Magic to be one of his favourites and even staged a production in Swedish. Later he reworked Magic into his movie The Magician in 1958. Also known as Ansiktet the movie and the play are both roughly similar although the two should not be compared. Both are essentially the work of two authors with widely different world views.

Some conservatives today have been influenced by his support for distributism. A. K. Chesterton, the right-wing journalist and the first chairman of the National Front, was a cousin.

See also

• G. K. Chesterton's books
• Christian apologetics (field of study concerned with the defence of Christianity)

G. K. Chesterton - Literature and biographies on Chesterton

• Ward, M., Gilbert Keith Chesterton Sheed & Ward, 1944
• Michael Coren, "Gilbert - the Man Who Was G. K. Chesterton'".
• Joseph Pearce, "Wisdom and Innocence - A Life of G.K.Chesterton", Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1996. ISBN: 0-340-67132-7
• Marshall McLuhan wrote an article on G.K. Chesterton, titled "G.K. Chesterton: A Practical Mystic" (Dalhousie Review 15 (4), 1936).
• Chesterton's writings have been praised by such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Frederick Buechner, Evelyn Waugh, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Karel Čapek, Paul Claudel, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Sigrid Undset, Ronald Knox, C. S. Lewis, Kingsley Amis, W. H. Auden, Anthony Burgess, E. F. Schumacher, Neil Gaiman, Orson Welles, Dorothy Day and others.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "G. K. Chesterton", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki