# Tell me about G.K. Chesterton **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605 "2005-12-01T20:18:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/21 "2005-12-02T14:11:04Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Beware of the late Father Brown stories. As **Ukulele Ike** said, the first book is best. By the time of the sixth book, the stories were tendentious and preachy in the wrong ways. Not very good mysteries either. Sixth book? I thought there were only five? At least, that’s all I have in my [Complete Father Brown](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014009766X/qid=1133532554/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9825451-3654454?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/22 "2005-12-02T14:12:25Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > He did more than that, even. The character Fiddler’s Green is a portrait of Chesterton. Supposedly, John Dickson Carr’s detective character Gideon Fell is also modeled after Chesterton. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/23 "2005-12-02T14:34:25Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Sixth book? I thought there were only five? At least, that’s all I have in my [Complete Father Brown](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014009766X/qid=1133532554/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9825451-3654454?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). The sixth one is so bad they wouldn’t even reprint it! Sorry, just a memory glitch. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/24 "2005-12-02T15:30:52Z")
As a teenager, I loved the works of Jorge Luis Borges. Somewhere, I had read that Borges was a fan of Chesterton’s works, particularly some of the Father Brown mysteries (Borges probably read them in the original English; despite his modesty on the subject, his English comprehension was supposedly excellent.) Anyway, based on Borges’ recommendation, I purchased a book of Father Brown mysteries, but then lost the book before I had a chance to read much (I’d left it on a train.) So, fifteen years later, I will get back to Chesterton, thanks to you Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/25 "2005-12-02T18:42:30Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > There are a surprising number of people with solid literary credentials (who often don’t agree much with Chesterton’s religious beliefs) who think that _The Man Who Was Thursday_ is one of the great novels of the twentieth century. Just a comment on this book–I almost gave up on it because, for all of its plot twists, it seemed slapdash and superficial–a spy novel with no deep point. The last chapter blew me away–one book I’m very glad I didn’t give up on. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/26 "2005-12-02T20:52:05Z")
Just don’t start with _The Man Who Knew Too Much_ --the sheer accumulation of ignorance, anti-semitism and racism still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, after almost 20 years. I personally like the essays better than any of the fiction, although I disagree with pretty much all of his religious beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/27 "2005-12-03T01:49:05Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Okay, at the risk of being off-topic, I have a question for Gaiman fans: > > I have _Anansi Boys_ (got it for $9.95 from [Zooba.com](http://Zooba.com), so it wasn’t too expensive), but I want to know: Assuming I’m going to read both books eventually, should I go ahead and read _Anansi Boys_ now or should I get & read _American Gods_ first? I’ve actively avoided anything about ANANSI BOYS too successfully to know whether it’s especially relevant to the events/characters introduced by Gaiman in AMERICAN GODS. If the two books have nothing to do with each other, it doesn’t really matter. But basing it on my tendency to read series/books in the order the writer writes/publishes them – I say AMERICAN GODS, then ANANSI BOYS. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/28 "2005-12-03T04:07:01Z")
I came across one of his essays when I was in high school that assured me that I could never be completely honest with what I wrote in my private journal. Even if I locked the doors and windows and secured absolute privacy and security, I still would censor myself. Forty-five years have passed since I read that essay. Dammit! The man put a curse on me. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/29 "2005-12-03T04:15:17Z")
I started ploughing through Chesterton about six months ago and I love his books. _The Man Who was Thursday_ was terrific, but _The Club of Queer Trades_ is my favorite so far. His appeal lies in two things. First, he had the ability to question everything, and to look at all aspects of society from a skewed perspective. Second, he was a very careful wordsmith. He paid close attention to every paragraph he wrote, and so his books are uniformly entertaining. They never sag or slow down. Notable quotes: “The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” “I sentence you to three years in jail under the firm, and solemn, and God-given conviction that what you truly deserve is three months at the seaside.” "Carlyle said that men were mostly fools. Christianity, with a surer and more reverent realism, says that they are all fools. This doctrine is sometimes called the doctrine of original sin. It may also be described as the doctrine of the equality of men. " “Of course I say that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction is the creation of the human mind, as is therefore congenial to it.” “His life was happy, as is the life of most professional students, but it wasn’t what you would call exhilirating.” “Thieves respect property. They only wish for the property to become theirs so that they may respect it more fully.” ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/30 "2005-12-03T13:25:48Z")
I’ll add that he has a very enjoyable book of critical comments about Charles Dickens. However, as others have noted, he was a devout Catholic and a rabid anti-semite, and that colors a lot of what he has to say. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605/31 "2005-12-03T16:53:13Z")
There’s a good collection his of essays edited by Alberto Manguel, titled _One Lying in Bed and Other Essays_. It’s got selections from _Heretics_ and _Orthodoxy_ in it, as well as a lot of his literary essays. Good collection. _Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-g-k-chesterton/333605.md?page=1)