G. K. Chesterton: Difference between revisions

[[File:GKC.jpg|frame|<small>"[[Father Brown|His head was always most valuable when he had lost it. In such moments he put two and two together and made four million]]."</small> ]]

 

{{quote|''"He is so happy! I can almost believe he has found God."''|'''[[Franz Kafka]]'''}}

Chesterton had a great influence on many writers, especially in the early twentieth century. He was for many years president of The Detection Club, an organization for writers of [[Mystery Fiction]] (the oath of which, devised by GKC, demanded that members write only [[Fair Play Whodunnit|Fair Play Whodunnits]]); such writers as [[Agatha Christie]], Fr. Ronald Knox, and [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] were co-members. Chesterton's fellow Roman Catholics Hilaire Belloc ([[Heterosexual Life Partners|Chesterton and Belloc]] were collectively nicknamed the [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Chesterbelloc]] by Chesterton's "friendly enemy" [[George Bernard Shaw]]) and [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] were admirers, and GKC's apologetic writings (especially ''Orthodoxy'' and ''The Everlasting Man'') helped inspire [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] to (re-)convert to Christianity. Golden Age mystery author John Dickson Carr was such a strong admirer that he modeled his most famous character, Dr. Gideon Fell, on Chesterton's appearance. More recently, [[Neil Gaiman]] modeled a character in ''[[The Sandman]]'' after him, got his inspiration for [[Neverwhere|London Below]] from ''The Napoleon of Notting Hill'' (as he relates [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/6915542/Neil-Gaiman-introduces-Neverwhere.html here]), and Gaiman and [[Terry Pratchett]] dedicated ''[[Good Omens]]'' "To G.K. Chesterton: A Man Who Knew What Was Going On."

 

* ''[[Father Brown]]'' stories

* ''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]''

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* [[Above Good and Evil]]: The claim of the Communist in "The Unmentionable Man" (in ''The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond.'')

* [[Alliteration]]: Chesterton loved this trope.

* [[Bored with Insanity]]: Andrew Home in "The Conversion of an Anarchist".

** As well as Gabriel Syme in ''The Man Who Was Thursday''.

** Which may have something to do with the fact that [[Author Appeal|Chesterton's beloved wife was a redhead]].

** Although [[Alliterative Name|Gabriel Gale,]] the protagonist of ''The Poet and the Lunatics'', is blond.

* [[Mad Mathematician]]: In "The Moderate Murderer" in ''Four Faultless Felons'', Tom Traill's tutor, Hume, affects bizarre behaviour as a means to focus the underdeveloped boy's attention.

* [[Magicians Are Wizards]]: ''Magic''

* [[Meaningful Rename]]: In ''The Return of Don Quixote''.

* [[New Era Speech]]: Three contrasting ones ''by the same character'' in ''The Ball and the Cross''.

* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: ''The Ball and the Cross''.

* [[Stage Magician]]: The Conjuror in ''Magic''

* [[Sword Cane]]: Carried by GKC himself. He brainstormed by [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|poking at the couch cushions in his office with it.]]

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: [[Deadpan Snarker|Commented on]] in the poem "Commercial Candour":

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authors of Quote]]

[[Category:Mystery Story Creator Index]]

[[Category:Authors]]