|
Rating:  - Where is the Chesterton of today?
A hundred years ago in England, religion was under attack for being an obsolescence, an obstruction to the realization of human potential, the province of the unenlightened.
Along came Chesterton, irrepressible optimist and genial adversary (foes GB Shaw and HG Wells were counted among his many friends) who masterfully - some would say dizzyingly - used paradox to stand the arguments of the anti-religious on their heads.
This particular volume of GKC's invaluable work has much to recommend: 1) a collection of material that nicely encapsulates the controversy (HERETICS, wherein he points out the short-sightedness of his adversaries' positions, the unmatched ORTHODOXY, which set forth his own philosophy, and BLATCHFORD, a resource containing the seeds of the foregoing two books), 2) a wonderful introduction by David Dooley that describes the context and milieu of post-Victorian England, and 3) a high-quality sewn soft-cloth binding.
The drawback to Chesterton is that, as a journalist, his work does have a noticeable connection with the time of its original publication (in this case, 1904-1908)*. What is striking is how glaringly relevant the underlying issues he addresses are to our own time.
*For those who find this distracting, there are Annotated Editions of both Orthodoxy and Heretics available through Amazon.com
Rating:  - Circle Talk at its Best
This book is both dull and magnificent. Chesterton's writing style is brilliant even though often his writing is pointless. Like a trial lawyer engaged in circle talk he says a mouthful but at the same time, although eloquent, it is a mouthful of nothing. Much like a gorgeous flower it is best to view it than ingest it. So this book too is better lightly read than seriously studied.
Rating: - Dickens's finest interpreter until after World War II
Written in 1906 and 1911 and bound as this affordable paperback, Chesterton's two volumes of Dickens criticism remain superb, and have seldom been bettered by the academic industry's vast output. Although Chesterton's addiction to paradox can challenge or annoy readers unfamiliar with his style, a brief immersion dispels the difficulty, and further reading yields a mine of insights into Dickens as man and writer unsurpassed even by the publication of J. Hillis Miller's pathbreaking book of 1958. And: whereas Miller enjoyed not only the advantages of time and distance but also his rigorous training in academic criticism and scholarship, Chesterton wrote "simply" as one of those invaluable late Victorian and Edwardian "men of letters." In addition, he took on Dickens during the first fifty years after his death in 1870, when criticizing "The Inimitable" meant jousting with a National Institution. Writing as what we would call an "amateur," Chesterton perceptively celebrates Dickens's virtues with a love unblinded by a shrewd awareness of Dickens's faults. Some readers may find Chesterton's orthodox Catholic world view annoying, particularly when it obtrudes itself occasionally into his prose. But as a "simple," lifelong "Bible" Christian, Dickens would almost certainly have considered a relgious point of departure a matter of course -- although he would also almost certainly have deplored Chesterton's occasional narrowness. Those who bear with him for a single chapter will almost certainly be seduced by his penetrating and thought-provoking analyses; amateur and professional Dickensians alike should find this volume a perfect introduction to a deeper understanding of the novels and the man.
Rating: - You can never go wrong with Chesterton
You can never go wrong with Chesterton. Chesterton can help you think, even if you're not good at it.
Rating: - Chesterton's most famous work, and some oft-forgotten gems
This volume, the first in Ignatius Press's _Collected Works_ of Chesterton series, contains what is probably G. K. Chesterton's most famous work, _Orthodoxy_.
What many people do not know is that Orthodoxy was written only at the end of a long debate in the British press. Chesterton had been making a name for himself in English journalism for attacking the Spirit of the Age in turn-of-the-century England; his critics (rather justly) claimed that it was unfair for Chesterton to attack others' beliefs without stating what he himself believed. _Orthodoxy_ was the result.
This volume allows the reader to trace the story from the beginning, in the so-called "Blatchford Controversies", through the critique of Chesterton's contemporaries in _Heretics_ to its culmination in _Orthodoxy_. _Orthodoxy_ is definitely the star of the volume, but there are treasures to be found in the other works as well. Knowing something about the figures mentioned in _Heretics_ does help, but is not strictly necessary, as their heresies are alas still with us.
In my opinion, this volume is the perfect entre into Chesterton's thought, and would make a valuable edition for anyone concerned about clear thinking in regards to life, the universe, and everything.
|
