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/lit/ - Literature

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22842531 No.22842531 [Reply] [Original]

I have just got to GK Chesterton on my reading list and I cant remember why he's on there or what work I was planning on reading. It looks like he wrote a lot of works on a huge variety of topics so would any anons give me some recommendations on a few books of his to read so I can gain a decent understanding of his thoughts and writings?

>> No.22842561

Start with The Man Who Was Thursday, then read the pair Heretics and Orthodoxy. The Defender is in the same vein and very good. His biographies of saints are also good. I'm not a fan of Father Brown, bit I've only read a few.

>> No.22842563

>>22842561
Perfect. Just what I needed. Thank you.

>> No.22842565

>>22842531
Orthodoxy is what I'm reading. Explains his criticism of the modern types of thinkers, and what lead to his conversion to Catholicism. One of the major points is his criticism of optimists and pessimists as they are understood in the modern age: https://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/orthodoxy/ch5.html

I'm only halfway through, so I can't give you a wholistic view or claim anything for sure.

>> No.22842571

>>22842531
I got Everlasting Man and couldn't stand more than a few pages. I expected some comfy Jesus /lit/ but got incoherent ramblings about muh atheists. Who cares.

>> No.22842586

>>22842565
Okay, that looks interesting. I think I will do what other anon recommended, read Thurday and then read some of his theological works.

>> No.22843313

im planing on reading The Man Who Was Thursday asap myself

>> No.22843317
File: 215 KB, 960x1200, in defense of sanity.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
22843317

>>22842531

>> No.22843390

>>22843313
I'm gonna start reading this today, followed by Napoleon of Notting Hill which looks fun. Basically about a guy who starts an urban guerilla warfare campaign against the local council.

>> No.22843741

>>22842531
I enjoyed his Miscellaneous Essays, a short collection you can listen to for free on LibriVox (it's maybe an hour and a half or two hours long?--The exact number escapes me).

>> No.22843753

>>22842531
In Defense of Sanity is an excellent edition of his selected essays. I'd start there. Gives you a good overview of Chesterton's general worldview -- his aesthetics, his religious opinions, his thoughts on tradition, on morality. For fiction, The Man Who Was Thursday is also a good starting place, as is any collection of the Father Brown mysteries. The poetry can be skipped.

>> No.22843766

>>22843753
>>22842531
https://www.chesterton.org/a-piece-of-chalk/
I would actually start with this exact essay, OP. A writer as prolific and varied as Chesterton has any number of starting points, but this is a great place. A word of caution; Chesterton loves paradox and inversion, which makes his essays wonderful reading in small doses, but when you read one after the next after the next you begin to build a tolerance of sorts. He starts to tire you. I'd read a few essays, then some fiction, then back to the essays, etc. Don't worry about "forgetting" what you previously read -- except for longer works like Heretics or Orthodoxy, the essays can be read in short spurts. He earned his living as a journalist and didn't expect his readers to have read what he wrote previously, so each essay encapsulates one or two small aspects of his thought. His autobiography is entertaining, but not a good starting place. I'd save that for when you've read a bit of Chesterton.

>> No.22844341

>>22842531
His most popular works relating to Christianity (if that's what you're interested in) are Heretics, Orthodoxy, and The Everlasting Man. You can usually get them in a collection.

>> No.22844595

I just read the man who knew too much, the first story at least, and had to force myself to get through it. as a story it sucked, full of implausible nonsense. But I guess it was actually an allegory or something? what was the point

>> No.22844622
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22844622

>>22844595
>he read GK for the novels

>> No.22844636

>>22844622
w-what should be read?

>> No.22844701

>>22844636
Others in the thread have pretty much laid it out. His essays along with his longer nonfiction works are his strongest stuff. Only commit time to his novels if you actually enjoy them otherwise you might as well opt for C.S Lewis. He btfo's him in that regard.