G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton
ISBN-10
0746312105
ISBN-13
9780746312100
Series
G.K. Chesterton
Category
Literary Criticism
Pages
136
Language
English
Published
2012
Publisher
Northcote House Pub Limited
Author
Michael D. Hurley

Description

A revaluation of the vast and vastly varied work of G.K. Chesterton through a literary reading of his philosophy, and a philosophical reading of his fiction. Novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, historian, journalist, Christian apologist, literary and social critic, G.K. Chesterton was one of the most protean and prolific writers of his age, perhaps of any age. Bernard Shaw called him a 'colossal genius.' This study determines the scale and quality of that genius, and considers why he has failed to gain the 'permanent claim on our loyalty' that T.S. Elliot believed he deserved. Interest in Chesterton today tends to be divided between those who enjoy his stories as an end in themselves, and those who argue his unique contribution to metaphysics. By comparing the ethical sympathies and literary style of his work across different genres, Michael D. Hurley brings Chesterton's divided selves together: to show how his achievement as a writer and a thinker are inseparable, and why his philosophy must therefore be read aesthetically, and his fiction read philosophically.

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