Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton [Paperback]

G. K. Chesterton (Author), Lawrence Clipper (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 650 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898703670
• ISBN-13: 978-0898703672
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,815,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Chesterton, April 20, 2000

By 

GimmeSomeD (boston, ma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton (Paperback)

In my opinion, the essay is the literary form where Chesterton's brilliance shines the brightest, and so these Illustrated News collections make for great reading. This volume, containing the columns from 1929-1931, is one of my favorites because he deals with a greater diversity of topics than, say, during the WWI years.

Chesterton was never afraid to poke fun at his own self or reputation, and in one of the first and funniest essays in the collection, titled " If I Was a Preacher," he remarks that a Utopia would be a place where he would be gagged and rendered speechless. He moves on in subsequent columns to confront the ideas of the era: the rise of Darwinism and scientism, the emergence of psychology and sociology as serious science, gender politics, prohibition, etc. Among the personalities he remarks on are H.L. Mencken, Clarence Darrow, Abraham Lincoln, T.S. Eliot, and Albert Einstein. Chesterton is especially entertaining when writing about modernism, and the myopia of a society which considered itself superior just because it was modern. There are a dozen or so essays on that alone. They make interesting reading because they are so applicable to the 21st century world, too.

For example: in a column here from August 1931, GKC satirizes the "modern" logic that says that marriage vows went out with Victorian dresses; he reasons that Socratic ideals must have gone out with long tunics, or that Spinoza's mathematics no longer made sense when he took off his shirt. Even those long familiar with Chesterton will find provocative and surprising reading here.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too Bad It Had to End!, March 1, 2006

By 

Brad Shorr "Brad Shorr" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton (Paperback)

This is the last volume in the Ignatius Chesterton Collected Works series. The material here differs a bit from earlier volumes of his ILN essays, in that he jests a bit less often, and more noticeably, he hammers and hammers on one theme: the sloppy, superficial, lazy and irrational thinking that he sees underlying every popular trend in Western culture. Regardless of his subject--feminism, American culture (too materialistic, but as truly a democratic nation as ever there was), education, communism--Chesterton is relentless in pointing out the absurd arguments and conclusions of his opponents. I thought the two most striking trends he observes throughout these years were--

1. A world that is devolving from Puritanism to paganism, and seeing a resurgence in religion at the same time. This is interesting because the cultural clash between secular and religious elements in the West today developed out of this period.

2. An American culture that is overwhelming European culture because of its size, energy, and commercial success. GKC is concerned that America's "commercial optimism" will devalue more important aspects of Western thinking and values.

But GKC has so much to say about everything, it's hard to summarize his observations. On September 27, 1930, he reflected on his 25th anniversary with the ILN. He concludes that essay with a great expression of his most fundamental beliefs--

"For I have always believed, in a sense not understood by either Puritan or Pagan, in the Simple Life. Only it is a simplicity of the heart and not of the dress or diet, and the essence of it is thanks. The new Puritan will not give thanks for wine or drink it, and the new Pagan will drink it without giving thanks..."