This collection of thirty-seven essays by G. K. Chesterton was first collected in 1929 and constitutes the cream of introductions and prefaces he had contributed by that date. Some of them, such as his startling essay on Job, are well known, but most of them have not seen the light of day since this volume drifted into obscurity. Some of these pieces are about people as well known as Matthew Arnold or Dr. Johnson, and the bulk of these are on literary figures; but others may veer on to such topics as Magna Carta or drinking songs. When Chesterton began writing for the Illustrated London News, his editors asked him not to write on religion or politics; he casually mentioned that there are no other subjects and quietly went about his business. These essays are like that. Each is fraught with one or the other topic--fraught because they are in danger of making us think.
Here is a special two-in-one book that is both by G.K. Chesterton and about Chesterton. This volume offers an irresistible opportunity to see who this remarkable man really was. Chesterton was one of the most stimulating and well-loved writers of the 20th century. His 100 books, and hundreds of essays and columns on a great variety of themes have made G.K. Chesterton the most widely quoted writers of modern times. Here is Chesterton in his own words, in a book he preferred not to write, but did so near the end of his life after much insistence by friends and admirers. Critic Sydney Dark wrote after Chesterton died that "perhaps the happiest thing that happened in Gilbert Chesterton's extraordinarily happy life was that his autobiography was finished a few weeks before his death. It is a stimulating, exciting, tremendously interesting book. It is a draught--indeed, several draughts one after the other--of human and literary champagne.
Covering topics ranging from literature to philosophy, history to social criticism, this is a snapshot of thought on 20th-century Europe (and the world) by one of Europe's sharpest wits and ablest pens. With chapter titles ranging from "The Miser and His Friends" to "The Red Reactionary," from "The Separatist and Sacred Things" to "The New Theologian" and "The Romantic in the Rain," this volume includes 39 brief sketches of individuals, each one of whom illustrates an aspect of contemporary society. Social, historical, and religious thought all figure prominently in this book, making it of great use in any study of the literary, religious, and social aspects of early 20th-century England and Europe generally. It will be of interest to students and scholars of the essay in English literature. It is a fine introduction to Chesterton's social criticism, which remains unique for its willingness to criticize some of the uncomfortable truths about capitalism without straying toward an inhuman bureaucratic socialism.
This volume contains Chesterton's commentaries and reflections on what he saw on his travels in America and Rome, plus an appendix on how America saw Chesterton. On January 10, 1921, Gilbert and Frances Chesterton began a three month tour of the United States. During their first stop in the City of New York, Chesterton examined the lights of Broadway and proclaimed: "What a glorious garden of wonders this would be to anyone who was lucky enough to be unable to read." In his writing on America, Chesterton shows a remarkable ability for sympathetic appreciation of the principle traits of America. He would acquire an uncanny clear-sightedness about many things in America that it would not be an exaggeration to call clairvoyant. One greatness recognized another greatness, and one can say that Chesterton truly knew something profound about America. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, Chesterton's travels included Jerusalem, Ireland, North America and Rome. This volume contains his reflections on his 1921 and 1930-31 tour of North America and his 1929 trip to Rome. Readers will enjoy the great man's impressions of city skyscrapers, rural America, the politics of Washington, as well as his views of Pope Pius XI, the Eternal City, Mussolini and Fascism. The introduction to this volume was written by Dr. Robert Royal, Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C. The appendix was compiled by the late Chairman of the Northeastern Chapter of the G.K. Chesterton Society, Mr. Robert Knille. The appendix gives the newspaper accounts of Chesterton's 1921 trip to America. It contains generous excerpts of the speeches, interviews and comments G.K.C. made during his tour. Most of the material provided has never appeared in book form.
British writer GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON (1874-1936) expounded prolifically about his wide-ranging philosophies-he is impossible to categorize as "liberal" or "conservative," for instance-across a wide variety of avenues: he was a literary critic, historian, playwright, novelist, columnist, and poet. This 1910 book is a unified work about all the broad array of worries that trouble the world, but it can be read in essaylike chunks. Discovering Chesterton's inimitable take on: . Wanted, an Unpractical Man . The Free Family . The Wildness of Domesticity . Oppression by Optimism . Wisdom and the Weather . The Unmilitary Suffragette . The Romance of Thrift . The Higher Anarchy . The Truth About Education . The Need for Narrowness . The Staleness of the New Schools . The Empire of the Insect An excellent introduction to the world of G.K. Chesteton, this is a volume as pertinent today as it was a century ago.
The Trees of Pride is a classic text from G.K. Chesterton is a collection of detective stories including the following titles: I. THE TALE OF THE PEACOCK TREES II. THE WAGER OF SQUIRE VANE III. THE MYSTERY OF THE WELL IV. THE CHASE AFTER THE TRUTH Gilbert Keith Chesterton, (29 May 1874 - 14 June 1936), was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox".Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories--first carefully turning them inside out. Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown, [5] and for his reasoned apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognised the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man.[4][6] Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and came to identify this position more and more with Catholicism, eventually converting to Catholicism from High Church Anglicanism. George Bernard Shaw, his "friendly enemy", said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius."[4] Biographers have identified him as a successor to such Victorian authors as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Cardinal John Henry Newman, and John Ruskin. Chesterton was born in Campden Hill in Kensington, London, the son of Marie Louise, née Grosjean, and Edward Chesterton.[8][9] He was baptised at the age of one month into the Church of England, [10] though his family themselves were irregularly practising Unitarians.[11]According to his autobiography, as a young man Chesterton became fascinated with the occultand, along with his brother Cecil, experimented with Ouija boards. Chesterton was educated at St Paul's School, then attended the Slade School of Art to become an illustrator. The Slade is a department of University College London, where Chesterton also took classes in literature, but did not complete a degree in either subject
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