Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology Ontology (from the Greek ὄν, genitive ὄντος: of being and -λογία, -logia: science, study, theory) is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics,, poetry, play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, biography, Christian apologetics Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views. Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul of Tarsus, including writers such as Origen and Augustine, fantasy and detective fiction.

Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox".[1] Time Time is an American news magazine. A European edition (Time Europe, formerly known as Time Atlantic) is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition (Time Asia) is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition. The South Pacific edition, magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."[2] For example, Chesterton wrote the following:

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.[3]

Chesterton is well known for his reasoned apologetics Early Christian writers who defended their faith against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists and even some of those who disagree with him have recognized the universal appeal of such works as Orthodoxy Orthodoxy is a book by G. K. Chesterton that has become a classic of Christian apologetics. Chesterton considered this book a companion to his other work, Heretics. In the book's preface Chesterton states the purpose is to "attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe and The Everlasting Man The Everlasting Man is a two-part history of mankind, Christ, and Christianity, by G. K. Chesterton. Published in 1925, it is to some extent a conscious rebuttal of H. G. Wells’ Outline of History, which embraced the evolutionary origins of humanity and denied the divinity of Jesus. Whereas Orthodoxy detailed Chesterton's own spiritual journey,.[2][4] Chesterton, as a political thinker, cast aspersions on both liberalism Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equality. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as constitutions, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, free trade, and the separation of church and state and conservatism Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and opposes rapid change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism and seek a return to "the way things were." The first established use, saying:

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.[5]

Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" The word orthodox, from Greek orthodoxos "having the right opinion", from orthos + doxa ("opinion" or "praise", related to dokein, "to think"), is typically used to mean the adherence to accepted or traditional and established norms, especially in religion Christian, and came to identify such a position with Catholicism more and more, eventually converting to Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. The Church's leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches (called from Anglicanism Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. Anglicanism forms one of the principal traditions of Christianity, together with Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy, Chesterton's "friendly enemy" according to Time, said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius".[2]

Contents

Life

Chesterton at the time of his engagement, 1898

Born in Campden Hill in Kensington Kensington is a district of west London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington, London, Chesterton was educated at St Paul's School St Paul's School is a boys' independent school, founded in 1509 by John Colet, located on a 45 acre site in the London suburb of Barnes. It was one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, originally located in the City of London. Since 1881 St Paul's has had its own preparatory school, Colet Court,. He attended the Slade School of Art Slade School of Fine Art is a world renouned art school situated in Bloomsbury, Central London, and is one of the University College London's most outstanding departments. Slade consistantly ranks as among the premier Art and Design institutions in the UK in order to become an illustrator and also took literature classes at University College London University College London is a constituent college of the University of London, based primarily in Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden but did not complete a degree at either. In 1896 Chesterton began working for the London publisher Redway, and T. Fisher Unwin, where he remained until 1902. During this period he also undertook his first journalistic work as a freelance Fields where freelancing is common include journalism, book publishing, journal publishing, and other forms of writing, editing, copy editing, proofreading, indexing, copywriting, computer programming, web design and graphic design, consulting, tour guiding and translating art and literary critic. In 1901 he married Frances Blogg, to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. In 1902 he was given a weekly opinion column in the Daily News The News was founded in 1846 by Charles Dickens, who also served as the newspaper's first editor. It was conceived as a radical rival to the right-wing Morning Chronicle. The paper was not a commercial success. Dickens edited 17 issues before handing over the editorship over to his friend John Foster, who had more experience in journalism than, followed in 1905 by a weekly column in The Illustrated London News Printer and newsagent Herbert Ingram moved from Nottingham to London in early 1842. Inspired by how the Weekly Chronicle always sold more copies when it featured illustrations, he had the idea of publishing a weekly newspaper which would contain pictures in every edition. He originally considered having it concentrate on crime, as per the later, for which he would continue to write for the next thirty years.

According to Chesterton, as a young man he became fascinated with the occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g. an "occult bleed" may be one detected indirectly by the presence of otherwise unexplained anaemia and, along with his brother Cecil, experimented with Ouija boards A ouija board is any flat board with letters, numbers, and other symbols, used to supposedly communicate with spirits. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. The fingers of the participants are placed on the planchette that then moves.[6] However, as he grew older, he became an increasingly orthodox Christian A Christian (pronounced /ˈkrɪstʃən/ ) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe is the Messiah (the Christ in Greek-derived terminology) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, and the son of God. Most Christians believe in the doctrine of, culminating in his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1922.[7]

Chesterton early showed a great interest and talent in art. He had planned to become an artist and his writing shows a vision that clothed abstract ideas in concrete and memorable images. Even his fiction seemed to be carefully concealed parables. Father Brown is perpetually correcting the incorrect vision of the bewildered folks at the scene of the crime and wandering off at the end with the criminal to exercise his priestly role of recognition and repentance.[citation needed]

Chesterton was a large man, standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and weighing around 21 stone The stone is a unit of measure, abbreviation st which, when it ceased to be legal for trade in United Kingdom in 1985, was defined in British legislation as being a weight or mass [sic] equal to 14 avoirdupois pounds [about 6.35 kilograms]. It was also formerly used in several Commonwealth countries.[citation needed] (134 kg or 294 lb). His girth gave rise to a famous anecdote. 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.'[8] On another occasion he remarked to his friend George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy, 'To look at you, anyone would think there was a famine in England.' Shaw retorted, 'To look at you, anyone would think you caused it.'[citation needed] P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE (pronounced /ˈwʊdhaʊs/) was an English writer whose body of work includes novels, collections of short stories, and musical theatre. Wodehouse enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and his prolific writings continue to be widely read. Despite the political and social once described a very loud crash as "a sound like Chesterton falling onto a sheet of tin."[9]

He usually wore a cape and a crumpled hat, with a swordstick A swordstick or cane-sword is a cane incorporating a concealed blade. The term is typically used to describe European weapons from around the 18th century, but similar devices have been used throughout history, notably the Japanese shikomizue and the Ancient Roman dolon in hand, and had a cigar A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern United States hanging out of his mouth. He would sometimes carry a knife A knife is any cutting edge or blade, handheld or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of rock, flint, and obsidian; knives have evolved in construction as technology has with blades being made from bronze, copper, iron, steel, ceramics, and a loaded revolver A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name. In modern revolvers, the revolving cylinder typically chambers 5 or 6. Chesterton often forgot where he was supposed to be going and would miss the train that was supposed to take him there. It is reported that on several occasions he sent a telegram to his wife, Frances Blogg, from some distant (and incorrect) location, writing such things as "Am at Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in Leicestershire, England, in the district of Harborough. It has a population of 20,785 and is the administrative headquarters of Harborough District Council. Although it is in Leicestershire, its surrounding villages are half in Leicestershire and half in Northamptonshire. The town was formerly at a cross roads. Where ought I to be?" to which she would reply, "Home."[10] Due to these memory problems and the fact Chesterton was extremely clumsy as a child, some people have speculated that Chesterton had undiagnosed developmental dyspraxia Developmental dyspraxia is a motor learning difficulty that can affect planning of movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body " It may be diagnosed in the absence of other motor or sensory impairments like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease.[11]

Chesterton loved to debate, often engaging in friendly public disputes with such men as George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy, H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary. Together with Jules Verne, Wells has been referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction", Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, atheist, socialist, pacifist, and social critic. Although he spent most of his life in England, he was born in Wales where he also died, aged 97 and Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Bobby Franks (1924) and defending John T. Scopes in the Scopes Trial (1925), in which he opposed William Jennings Bryan (statesman, noted. According to his autobiography, he and Shaw played cowboys A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a in a silent movie that was never released. Chesterton died on 14 June 1936, at his home in Beaconsfield Beaconsfield (pronounced /ˈbɛkənzfiːld/ ) is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies 25 miles (40 km) northwest of London, and 17 miles (27 km) south-east of the county town of Aylesbury. Nearby towns include Amersham to the north northeast and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire The area under the control of Buckinghamshire County Council, or shire county, is divided into four districts—Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe. The Borough of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority and forms part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but does not come under county council control. The. The homily A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word. Many people consider it synonymous with a sermon at Chesterton's Requiem Mass A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead (Latin: Missa defunctorum), is Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular formula of the Roman Missal. It is frequently, but not necessarily, celebrated in the context of a funeral in Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral in London, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster. It is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, London, was delivered by Ronald Knox Mgr. Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was an English theologian, priest and crime writer. He is buried in Beaconsfield Beaconsfield (pronounced /ˈbɛkənzfiːld/ ) is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies 25 miles (40 km) northwest of London, and 17 miles (27 km) south-east of the county town of Aylesbury. Nearby towns include Amersham to the north northeast and High Wycombe in the Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. The Church's leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches (called Cemetery. Chesterton's estate was probated Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A surrogate court decides the validity of a testator's will. A probate interprets the instructions of the deceased, decides the executor as the personal representative of the at 28,389 pounds sterling, approximately equivalent to £1.3 million in modern terms.

Writing

Chesterton wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, 4000 essays An essay is usually a short piece of writing which is quite often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition of an essay is vague,, and several plays. He was a literary and social critic, historian, playwright, novelist, Catholic theologian and apologist Early Christian writers who defended their faith against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists, debater, and mystery writer. He was a columnist for the Daily News, the Illustrated London News Printer and newsagent Herbert Ingram moved from Nottingham to London in early 1842. Inspired by how the Weekly Chronicle always sold more copies when it featured illustrations, he had the idea of publishing a weekly newspaper which would contain pictures in every edition. He originally considered having it concentrate on crime, as per the later, and his own paper, G. K.'s Weekly; he also wrote articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company. Articles are aimed at educated adults, and written by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert contributors. It is regarded as the most scholarly of encyclopaedias, including the entry on Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and he remains popular, responsible for some of English literature's most iconic characters and part of the entry on Humour in the 14th edition (1929). His best-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 was a convinced Christian long before he was received into the Catholic Church, and Christian themes and symbolism appear in much of his writing. In the United States, his writings on distributism were popularized through The American Review, published by Seward Collins in New York.

Much of his poetry is little known, though well reflecting his beliefs and opinions. The best written is probably Lepanto, with The Rolling English Road the most familiar, and The Secret People perhaps the most quoted ("we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet"). Two other much admired poems are A Ballade of Suicide and The Ballad of the White Horse.

Of his nonfiction, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study (1906) 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" ; Ker treats Chesterton's thought in Chapter 4 of that book 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.

Chesterton's writings consistently displayed wit and a sense of humour. He employed paradox, while making serious comments on the world, government, politics, economics, philosophy, theology and many other topics. When The Times invited several eminent authors to write essays on the theme "What's Wrong with the World?" Chesterton's contribution took the form of a letter:

Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton[12]

Chesterton here combined wit with a serious point – that of fallen human nature and humility.

Much of Chesterton's work remains in print, including collections of the Father Brown detective stories. Ignatius Press is currently in the process of publishing a Complete Works.

Views and contemporaries

Chesterton's writing has been seen by some analysts as combining two earlier strands in English literature. Dickens' approach is one of these. Another is represented by Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, whom Chesterton knew well: satirists and social commentators following in the tradition of Samuel Butler, vigorously wielding paradox as a weapon against complacent acceptance of the conventional view of things.

Chesterton's style and thinking were all his own, however, and his conclusions were often opposed to those of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. In his book Heretics, Chesterton has this to say of Wilde:

The same lesson [of the pessimistic pleasure-seeker] was taught by the very powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde. It is the carpe diem religion; but the carpe diem religion is not the religion of happy people, but of very unhappy people. Great joy does not gather the rosebuds while it may; its eyes are fixed on the immortal rose which Dante saw.[13]

More briefly, and with a closer approximation of Wilde's own style, he writes in Orthodoxy concerning the necessity of making symbolic sacrifices for the gift of creation:

Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde.

Chesterton and Shaw were famous friends and enjoyed their arguments and discussions. Although rarely in agreement, they both maintained good-will toward and respect for each other. However, in his writing, Chesterton expressed himself very plainly on where they differed and why. In Heretics he writes of Shaw:

After belabouring a great many people for a great many years for being unprogressive, Mr. Shaw has discovered, with characteristic sense, that it is very doubtful whether any existing human being with two legs can be progressive at all. Having come to doubt whether humanity can be combined with progress, most people, easily pleased, would have elected to abandon progress and remain with humanity. Mr. Shaw, not being easily pleased, decides to throw over humanity with all its limitations and go in for progress for its own sake. If man, as we know him, is incapable of the philosophy of progress, Mr. Shaw asks, not for a new kind of philosophy, but for a new kind of man. It is rather as if a nurse had tried a rather bitter food for some years on a baby, and on discovering that it was not suitable, should not throw away the food and ask for a new food, but throw the baby out of window, and ask for a new baby.[14]

Shaw represented the new school of thought, modernism, which was rising at the time. Chesterton's views, on the other hand, became increasingly more focused towards the church. In Orthodoxy he writes:

The worship of will is the negation of will. . . If Mr. Bernard Shaw comes up to me and says, "Will something", that is tantamount to saying, "I do not mind what you will", and that is tantamount to saying, "I have no will in the matter." You cannot admire will in general, because the essence of will is that it is particular.[15]

This style of argumentation is what Chesterton refers to as using 'Uncommon Sense' — that is, that the thinkers and popular philosophers of the day, though very clever, were saying things that were nonsensical. This is illustrated again in Orthodoxy:

Thus when Mr. H. G. Wells says (as he did somewhere), "All chairs are quite different", he utters not merely a misstatement, but a contradiction in terms. If all chairs were quite different, you could not call them "all chairs."[16]

Or, again from Orthodoxy:

The wild worship of lawlessness and the materialist worship of law end in the same void. Nietzsche scales staggering mountains, but he turns up ultimately in Tibet. He sits down beside Tolstoy in the land of nothing and Nirvana. They are both helpless — one because he must not grasp anything, and the other because he must not let go of anything. The Tolstoyan's will is frozen by a Buddhist instinct that all special actions are evil. But the Nietzscheite's will is quite equally frozen by his view that all special actions are good; for if all special actions are good, none of them are special. They stand at the crossroads, and one hates all the roads and the other likes all the roads. The result is — well, some things are not hard to calculate. They stand at the cross-roads.[16]

All healthy men, ancient and modern, Western and Eastern, hold that there is in sex a fury that we cannot afford to inflame; and that a certain mystery must attach to the instinct if it is to continue delicate and sane.[17]

Incisive comments and observations occurred almost impulsively in Chesterton's writing. In the middle of his epic poem The Ballad of the White Horse he famously states:

For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad.[18]

Another contemporary and friend from schooldays was Edmund Bentley, inventor of the clerihew. Chesterton himself wrote clerihews and illustrated his friend's first published collection of poetry, Biography for Beginners (1905), which popularized the clerihew form. He was also godfather to Bentley's son, Nicolas.

Ontology

"Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all." – Orthodoxy, Chapter III: The Suicide of Thought, 1909

"It is the reality that is often a fraud." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

"I would always trust the old wives' fables against the old maids' facts." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

"My first and last philosophy, that which I believe in with unbroken certainty, I learnt in the nursery. ... The things I believed most then, the things I believe most now, are the things called fairy tales. They seem to be the entirely reasonable things. They are not fantasies: compared with them other things that are fantastic. ... Fairyland is nothing but the sunny country of common sense." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

"In fairy land we avoid the word 'law'; but in the land of science they are singularly fond of it." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

"Granted, then, that certain transformations do happen, it is essential that we should regard them in the philosophic manner of fairy tales, not in the unphilosophic manner of science and the 'Laws of Nature.' When we are asked why eggs turn into birds or fruits fall in autumn, we must answer exactly as the fairy godmother would answer if Cinderella asked her why mice turned into horses or her clothes fell from her at twelve o'clock. We must answer that it is MAGIC. It is not a 'law,' for we do not understand its general formula." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

"All the terms used in the science books, 'law,' 'necessity,' 'order,' 'tendency,' and so on, are really unintellectual .... The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in the fairy books, 'charm,' 'spell,' 'enchantment.' They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. A tree grows fruit because it is a MAGIC tree. Water runs downhill because it is bewitched. The sun shines because it is bewitched. I deny altogether that this is fantastic or even mystical. We may have some mysticism later on; but this fairy-tale language about things is simply rational and agnostic." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

"But the cool rationalist from fairyland does not see why, in the abstract, the apple tree should not grow crimson tulips; it sometimes does in his country." – Orthodoxy, Chapter IV: The Ethics of Elfland, 1909

The Chesterbelloc

See Also G. K.'s Weekly.

Chesterton is often associated with his close friend, the poet and essayist Hilaire Belloc. George Bernard Shaw coined the name Chesterbelloc for their partnership, and this stuck. Though they were very different men, they shared many beliefs; Chesterton eventually joined Belloc in his natal Catholicism, and both voiced criticisms towards capitalism and socialism. They instead espoused a third way: 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 Chesterton and Belloc faced accusations of anti-Semitism during their lifetimes and subsequently.[19] In The New Jerusalem, Chesterton made it clear that he believed that there was a "Jewish Problem" in Europe, in the sense that he believed that Jewish culture (not Jewish ethnicity) separated itself from the nationalities of Europe.[20] He suggested the formation of a Jewish homeland as a solution, and was later invited to Palestine by Jewish Zionists who saw him as an ally in their cause. The Wiener Library (London's archive on anti-semitism and Holocaust history) has defended Chesterton against the charge of anti-Semitism: "he was not an enemy, and when the real testing time came along he showed what side he was on."[21]

List of major works

Main article: G. K. Chesterton bibliography

Influence

See also

Literature and biographies on Chesterton

References

  1. ^ Douglas, J.D.G.K. Chesterton, the Eccentric Prince of Paradox, 24 May 1974.
  2. ^ a b c Orthodoxologist Time October 11th, 1943 retrieved 10-24-2008
  3. ^ The Man Who Was Thursday/Chapter IVThe|Man Who was Thursday, ChapterIV
  4. ^ Douglas, J.D.G.K. Chesterton, the Eccentric Prince of Paradox, 24 May 1974. "Like his friend Ronald Knox he was both entertainer and Christian apologist. The world never fails to appreciate the combination when it is well done; even evangelicals sometimes give the impression of bestowing a waiver on deviations if a man is enough of a genius."
  5. ^ Illustrated London News (1924-04-19)
  6. ^ Autobiography, Chapter IV
  7. ^ G.K. Chesterton's Conversion Story
  8. ^ A. N. Wilson, Hilaire Belloc, Penguin Books. 1984.
  9. ^ THE WORLD OF MR. MULLINER, by P. G. Wodehouse
  10. ^ Ward, Maisie. Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Chapter XV. Sheed & Ward. 1944.
  11. ^ Biggs, Victoria "Caged in Chaos" Chapter I Jessica Kingsley 2005
  12. ^ cited in Yancey, Philip. 2001. Soul Survivor p. 58.
  13. ^ Chesterton. G.K. Heretics, Chapter 7.
  14. ^ Chesterton, G.K. Heretics, Chapter 4.
  15. ^ Chesterton, G.K. Heretics, Chapter 20.
  16. ^ a b Chesterton, G.K. Orthodoxy, Chapter 3.
  17. ^ Chesterton, G.K. The Common Man, Rabelaisian Regrets.
  18. ^ Chesterton, G.K. The Ballad of the White Horse, Book 2.
  19. ^ Last orders,The Guardian, 9 April 2005.
  20. ^ Chesterton, G.K. The New Jerusalem, Chapter 12.
  21. ^ A Message from the President, Introduction to The Chesterton Review’s New Issue: Vol. XXXII, Nos. 3&4, Fall / Winter 2006
  22. ^ Found in A Severe Mercy
  23. ^ Found in C. S. Lewis: The Collected Letters, Vol. 2
  24. ^ The Christian Century 6 June 1962
  25. ^ Yancey, Philip. 2001. Soul Survivor, p. 45.
  26. ^ Margery Forester, Michael Collins – The Lost Leader, p.35.
  27. ^ P. N. Furbank, "Chesterton the Edwardian," in John Sullivan (ed.), G.K. Chesterton: A Centenary Appraisal (Harper and Row, 1974).
  28. ^ Martin B. Green, Gandhi: Voice of a New Age Revolution (Axios, 2009), p. 266.

External links

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Persondata
NAME Chesterton, G. K.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chesterton, Gilbert Keith
SHORT DESCRIPTION English writer
DATE OF BIRTH 29 May 1874)
PLACE OF BIRTH Kensington, London, England
DATE OF DEATH 14 June 1936
PLACE OF DEATH Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England

Categories: 1874 births | 1936 deaths | 20th-century philosophers | Alumni of the Slade School of Art | Alumni of University College London | British World War I poets | Christian apologists | Converts to Roman Catholicism | English autobiographers | English Catholic poets | English essayists | English journalists | English mystery writers | English novelists | English poets | English Roman Catholics | English short story writers | Members of the Detection Club | Old Paulines | People from Kensington | Roman Catholic theologians | Roman Catholic writers | Roman Catholics

 

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... historia que muestra algunos aspectos de la vida y obra de Gilbert K . Chesterton , el reconocido escritor britanico que cultivo, entre otros generos, ...



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Google News Search: Gilbert K. Chesterton,
Sat Jul 17 22:47:22 2010
'Gilbert K. Chesterton' Images
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Sat Jul 17 22:47:22 2010
'Gilbert K. Chesterton' Blogs
La pluma y la espada: De todo un poco, Gilbert K . Chesterton .
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La pluma y la espada: De todo un poco, Gilbert K . Chesterton .

Pabela

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:47:00 GM

Mi padre, gran lector y apasionado acerrimo de . Gilbert K. . . Chesterton. me pidio cierta vez que tuve la posibilidad maravillosa de viajar a tierras inglesas, el visitar la casa de este autor y por supuesto recopilar cuanta cosilla podia ...

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Sat Jul 17 22:47:22 2010
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