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Summary: A delightful collection... (Vol. X of the series)
Review: Chesterton lovers and lovers of poetry in the classical English forms will enjoy this collection of poems by one of the 20th century's greatest stylists, G.K. Chesterton. After a section of juvenalia, the poems are arranged by broad subject. My only complaint with the volume is that it is not complete, and that Ignatius Press has not yet released Part 2 of the Collected Poetry. But you will find many things in this volume in no other collection of Chesterton's poetry, including his poem about Notre Dame football. So if you enjoy Chesterton, or poetry, or both, check out this book.
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Summary: "Abandon Hopelessness, All Ye Who Enter Here!"
Review: G. K. Chesterton on Charles Dickens. If you love one, you are probably genetically determined to love both. So why haven't you read this book yet? What are you waiting for, a personal haunting from the ghosts of London humorists past? Like all Chesterton's bios, this one is not so concerned with dates and influences, and not always even with its nominal subject. But Chesterton delights in Dickens, and does manage to stick to the point most of the time. And watching Chesterton go off on a philosophical tangent can be just as much fun as watching Dickens allow his plot to get hijacked by one of his own characters. He may be fuzzy on mundane facts, but he is always clear-headed and often lucid or even brilliant when it comes to human nature and ultimate truths. In the end, Chesterton finds a way through to a vantage that is worth visiting. Here are a few sample insights from the first chapter: "Dickens had all his life the faults of the little boy who is kept up too late at night." "The bores in his books are brighter than the wits in other books." "'I am a fond father,' he says, 'to every child of my fancy.' He was not only a fond father, he was an overindulgent father. . . they smash the story to pieces like so much furniture." (Chesterton pointing out that another writer gets carried away sometimes! I like that.) This may be the best of Chesterton's biographies, and one of his best books. I did learn a few "facts" about Dickens, but mostly got to know him a lot better. If you're a newcomer to Chesterton, the talk below about him being a "fuzzy dreamer" for whom a "miss is as good as a hit" may be true in regard to biographical detail. But don't dismiss him as a thinker to be taken seriously, until you've read and thought deeply about Everlasting Man. There is an intellect incisive and sharp as any modern precision instrument. Author, Jesus and the Religions of Man d.marshall@sun.ac.jp
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Summary: Is G K Chesterton Himself a Dickens Character?
Review: To begin with, G K Chesterton loved Charles Dickens so much that he wrote several books and numerous essays about him. Both men loved what is most characteristically English. Dickens, on the one hand, created hundreds of characters who remain etched in our memory as being somehow quintessentially English. On the other, GKC was himself like a Dickens character, perhaps Mr. Dick in David Copperfield (who could not get the idea of King Charles I's severed head out of his mind). Chesterton was probably the inventor of fuzzy logic. What he says usually makes sense, but he is notorious for being too sloppy to check up on the exactness of quotes and facts. If you are a stickler for facts, you will probably not like Chesterton. But if you are a bit of a dreamer who thinks that a near miss is as good as a direct hit, he's the man for you. Dickens and Chesterton were among the greatest optimists of our time: Dickens because he felt that people who were good and kind were always rewarded, Chesterton because he felt that there was a God who forgave small transgressions. So when you read the books and essays in this volume, you will not come away with any new-found knowledge about the great Victorian novelist; but you will become party to an agreeable conversation and greatly enjoy the company.
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