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The Napoleon of Notting Hill (Dover Books on Literature & Drama)

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This short book, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, written 100 years ago, is a futuristic fantasy, a political satire, a prophetic tale, and a comic novel, all intertwined. Published in 1904, The Napoleon of Notting Hill was G. K. Chesterton's first novel. It has been called the best first novel by any author in the twentieth century.

It has been some years since my first reading of The Napoleon of Notting Hill. Once again I find it to be enjoyable, humorous, highly entertaining, and decidedly thought provoking.

The setting is London in the year 1984, 80 years in the future. Chesterton had tired of endless predictions of futuristic technologies. His future London is identical to Edwardian London - all technological advance halted in 1904. One change is notable: the people have lost faith in political revolutions. Only slow, gradual change, akin to Darwinian evolution, was fashionable. No one was interested in voting, and consequently, democracy had withered away. A ruling monarch, a king, was selected in some capricious, random manner from the governmental class. All was well until Auberon Quin was chosen to rule as king.

As a lark, the new King designs colorful, medieval style uniforms, required dress for all governmental representatives of the London boroughs on official occasions. Reluctantly, city officials comply with the king's ridiculous wish to revitalize local patriotism. Unexpectedly, the Provost of Notting Hill, a sober young man named Adam Wayne, a man without humor, takes the King's command seriously. An attempt by other London boroughs to route a major thoroughfare through Notting Hill leads not only to acrimony, but to actual warfare.

The first chapter is Chesterton's scholarly criticism and friendly ridicule of contemporary (that is, early 1900) prophecies of scientific and technological changes, especially the more utopian futuristic projections, and is titled Introductory Remarks on the Art of Prophecy. The actual story does not commence until chapter two.

This inexpensive Dover edition includes a lengthy, interesting introduction by Martin Gardner. The artist W. Graham Robertson penned seven full page ink drawings and a map of the seat of the war.

The theme of the Napoleon of Nottingham Hill is that it is better to live a short exciting life than a long boring one. GKC would argue that the moment when you are most lucid and the world is convinced that you are mad is exactly when you are the most sane. The Napoleon of Nottingham Hill is the story of how an irrational war among London's suburbs finally gives meaning to the lives of moderns who have become so board with living. The book also explains what humor is and how man can stand proud without sinning. If you read one book by GKC, let it be this book.

Chesterton is one of the neglected giants of 20th-century English literature. This book ought to be considered a minor classic of both fantasy and political allegory. It tells the story of the consequences of a decree issued on a whim by a bored governor that London be devolved into districts corresponding roughly to its ancient boroughs, and each given municipal rituals in order to instil a sense of civic belonging. This joke takes on a life of its own, as the citizens of the "new" boroughs take the battle - eventually, literally a battle - to each other. The Napoleon of the title is Adam Wayne, an enthusiastic *citoyen* who takes the new arrangements with great seriousness - and whose territorial aggrandisement and downfall mirror Napoleon's career. The point that Chesterton intimates - in a vastly more effective, because more subtle, way than more explicitly political novelists, such as Upton Sinclair - is that small and knowable communities are a desirable and indeed virtuous focus of our loyalties, but that the aggrandisement of power and territorial ambition tend to corrupt. While fashionable literary opinion (Wells, Shaw, Wyndham Lewis and so many others) was about to take a terrible wrong turning in favour of the totalitarianism of Right or Left, Chesterton's essential and very English sense of moderation formed, and continues to express, a most effective and beautifully written counterpoint.

Not Chesterton's best work, this quirky debut novel is still a must-read for anyone who appreciates the "Prince of Paradox" and his quirky sense of humor. It begins with a humorous overview of some of the more ridiculous social theorists of the day. (Science fiction fans will surely get a kick from a brief mention of H. G. Wells and his far-fetched visions.) Then we observe London society in 1984, changed very little from the early twentieth century, because the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn down the human spirit to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn ius randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a mideival carnival for his own amusement.

One man, Adam Wayne, takes the order to heart. He sets out to organize the neighborhood of Notting Hill, drafting an army to fight invaders from other streets who are trying to run over his corner of London. At first Wayne's behavior baffles everyone, but eventually his dedication to the cause proves infectious, with delightful results. At a thin 174 pages (including illustrations), the story goes by in a flash. Comedy galore, along with plenty of offbeat characters and bizarre unfolding events.

As I said, it's not Chesterton's best book. The writing is somewhat rough, particularly in two large leaps of time between chapters. Moreover the characters are abusrd in ways that don't add up too much; the brilliance of later works like "The Man who Was Thursday" and "The Club of Queer Trades" is that everyone's behavior makes perfect sense in the context of the story. But "The Napoloen of Notting Hill" is still well worth reading.

It really amazes me that G.K. Chesterton isn't read much today, and it really bothers me when I see a list of the "classics" of the 20th century because every list cantains a multitude of works inferior to this novel.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill is set in the future (though the novel isn't futuristic, if that makes any sense at all) in a world where democracy has ceased and human emotion has almost ceased. That is, until a man with a sense of humore is randomly picked to be king. He decides (as a joke) to revive the patriotism and fashions of the 1700's in England. The country goes along with it and takes it all as a joke except for Adam Wayne, the provost of Notting Hill. He begins a war within the city which revives life in the nation.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill is told in an exuberant and comical style. You do laugh out loud at some of the situations and wit portrayed by Chesterton's pen. There is a lot of depth to the book. The king, Auberon Quinn, is symbolic of "laughter," and Adam Wayne is symbolic of "love." Chesterton uses them for his commentary on how the common man should live life. Plus, there is so much more that Chesterton comments on within these few pages which I couldn't begin to go into here.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill is an amazing novel. Any serious student of literature should read it. The Napoleon of Notting Hill is also just a fun story. Hopefully, people will once again begin to read G.K. Chesterton, and The Napoleon of Notting Hill will gain the respect that it deserves.

Rather than summarise the plot of this book, I will try to convey the flavor and appeal of it. "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" is a whimsical and humorous tale, and yet not frivolous. Chesterton's wit is delightful, but repeatedly and unexpectedly you will find a joke that catches you with humor at first and then drives home the point, artfully and naturally. Chesterton asserts through his characters that commonplace things are noble, but far from merely stating this, he makes you _feel_ it. "Napoleon" is a prose work, but written with such grace and art as to carry poetic power. The dialogue of the President of Nicarague especially is capital stuff. An example: "You have good authority," answered the Nicaraguan. "Many clever men like you have trusted to civilisation. Many clever Babylonians, many clever Egyptians, many clever men at the end of Rome. Can you tell me, in a world that is flagrant with the failures of civilisation, what there is particularly immortal about yours?"

"The Napoleon of Notting Hill" is probably the most absurd novel I've ever read. The author, G K Chesterton, was a colorful, verbose and highly eclectic British intellectual. He supported the Boer and the Irish, opposed the suffragettes, and collaborated with Guild Socialists, only to become entangled with the notorious Catholic fundamentalist Hilaire Belloc. I honestly admit that I don't quite understand the man!

Still, there seem to be some unifying themes in Chesterton's voluminous writings. The most obvious is traditional Christianity, first in the form of Anglicanism, later as Catholicism. The reader shouldn't be surprised if some of the characters in his novels turn out to be angels, the Devil, or God himself. Second is a kind of populism. Chesterton emphasizes common sense, the opinions of the common man, the everyday life of the common people, etc. As one of the characters in "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" puts it: "The human being, the common man, whom mere geniuses like you and me can only worship like a god". In his economic writings, he idealizes the peasantry. In other contexts, Chesterton says that life in the city is intrinsically interesting, and calls on realist writers to relate to it. Finally, there is a search for authenticity, as opposed to the artificial greyness of modernity and the tyranny of the Zeitgeist. Somehow, Chesterton believed that this authenticity could be found among ordinary people, hence making a connection to his populism.

All three themes are present in "The Napoleon of Notting Hill", published in 1904 and one of Chesterton's earliest novels. Both the setting and the plot are completely absurd, although the absurdity is revealed to have a point at the very end of the story. The setting is a futuristic Britain. The nation is a dictatorship, but nobody seems to care. Free speech is outlawed, but nobody notices, since nobody has anything important to say anyway! The standard of living is quite high, and the police have been abolished, since there is no crime. The king or dictator is choosen at random by lot. The whole world has been globalized, except Nicaragua. In other words, this society of the future is a parody of the greyness, dullness, lethargy and creeping statism Chesterton saw (or think he saw) in Britain during his own lifetime.

The plot revolves around two characters, king Auberon Quin and the seeming lunatic Adam Wayne. Upon his unexpected ascension to the throne, Auberon decides to resurrect the traditions of the Middle Ages as a sick joke for his own higher amusement. He divides London into independent boroughs, forces the mayors (or provosts) to wear ridiculous medieval attire, orders them to create mock armies, and so on. Unfortunately for the king, one person takes the whole thing seriously: Adam Wayne, the Lord High Provost of Notting Hill, the smallest and least significant borough in London. Before long, Wayne starts an absurd war with the other boroughs, and eventually succeeds in establishing "the empire of Notting Hill". Throughout the novel, we are lead to believe that Wayne is raving mad, and his actions certainly seem to parody nationalism and local patriotism. Only at the end is it revealed that Wayne is actually "the good guy", perhaps even an angel from Heaven. Both Quin and Wayne are overthrown by the people, but they join fortunes and wander off together.

The message of the novel is that nationalism and localism, which looks absurd to modern eyes, aren't artificial but real, more real than the dull greyness of the modern. Local patriotism is authentic, is part of what humanity is really all about. Chesterton was a "Little England nationalist" and called for extensive decentralization.

Another point raised by the novel concerns the relationship between humour and seriousness. The futuristic society described by Chesterton is frankly boring, but when Auberon attempts to protest this state of affairs, he can do little else than frivolity. Indeed, our "postmodern condition" is characterized both by conventional, mass boredom and frivolous mass entertainment. The two things aren't antipodes, but twins. This is Auberon's problem in the novel. Wayne's problem is seemingly the opposite: he takes even the absurd deadly seriously, and hence turns into a cultish fanatic. In the end, however, it turns out that Wayne knows the solution to the problem: humans need to be both humorous and serious, and there is no contradiction between authentic laughter and authentic seriousness. It may sound like a bland message, until you start watching TV!

However, Chesterton's novel also contains a cautionary note: "When dark and dreary days come, you and I are necessary, the pure fanatic, the pure satirist".

Is the world ripe for a real Adam Wayne?

Imagine a 1984 London where society has frozen at turn-of-the-century levels, a King is randomly selected from the populace, and nobody really takes politics seriously.

Of course, it only takes one wise, weird little man to turn all of that on its head. G.K. Chesterton's magnificently absurd comic novel explores a common theme in his books -- a person who entertains himself with an absurdly serious world -- in an increasingly heated situation where the little boroughs of London have become warring kingdoms. Not much in the way of sci-fi, but a delicious little social satire.

Friends of the eccentric Auberon Quin are understandably shocked when he is selected as the new King of England... especially since his main focus is definitely not power ("Oh! I will toil for you, my faithful people! You shall have a banquet of humour!"). After bumping into a young boy with a toy sword, Quin decides to revive the old city-states of medieval times, with city walls, banners, halberdiers, coat of arms, and ruling provosts -- all as a joke.

But ten years later, a young man named Adam Wayne -- who happens to be the little boy who inspired Quin -- refuses to let a road go through Notting Hill. Quin is first delighted and then perplexed by Wayne, a man who treats the King's joke with deadly seriousness. Now a full-out medieval battle is brewing between the boroughs of London, and Auberon Quin finds that his joke may have some very serious consequences...

G.K. Chesterton was no H.G. Wells when it came from trying to imagine the future --- the 1984 London he imagined was pretty much the same, technologically and socially, as the London of 1904. It's the message that important in this tale, as personified first by a deposed president and then by Wayne -- pride and patriotism in one's country and culture, especially a small one, is something to be prized.

And Chesterton handles this concept with a sense of humor worthy of Quin, outright mocking the respectable and boring ("The provost of West Kensington is mad because he thinks he is respectable, as mad as a man who thinks he is a chicken!"). The humor starts off fairly ordinary (Quin standing on his head as he's declared king) and moves into more sophisticated realms with the elaborate medieval games. It would be scary to contemplate, if it weren't so hilarious.

The greatest satire is in this future society itself, and it's occasionally scary to contemplate. With his knowledge of human nature, Chesterton predicts ennui, complacency, disdain of religion, cultural indifference, and a public oblivious to the mad wackiness of their leaders because they just don't care. It hits a little too close to home.

His writing is full of color and striking description ("... a blue and gold glittering thing, running very fast, which looked at first like a very tall beetle"). And while the battle of Notting Hill doesn't really pull you in, the powerful speeches that are given during important scenes -- such as when Quin talks to Wayne about the damage his joke has caused -- are among Chesterton's best dialogue.

Auberon Quin is a pretty fun character, acutely aware of life's absurdity and determined to have as much fun from it as possible -- but he becomes a bit more serious at the prospect of people being killed. Wayne is the complete opposite -- young, passionate, intense, and vehemently patriotic. He's set apart from all those stuffy codgers because his love is not for respectability and normalcy, but for his home of Notting Hill.

Chesterton may have gotten the future of England all wrong, but "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" is still a wildly amusing little satire, with two very different heroes and a very unrecognizable London. A deserving classic.

Imagine a 1984 London where society has frozen at turn-of-the-century levels, a King is randomly selected from the populace, and nobody really takes politics seriously.

Of course, it only takes one wise, weird little man to turn all of that on its head. G.K. Chesterton's magnificently absurd comic novel explores a common theme in his books -- a person who entertains himself with an absurdly serious world -- in an increasingly heated situation where the little boroughs of London have become warring kingdoms. Not much in the way of sci-fi, but a delicious little social satire.

Friends of the eccentric Auberon Quin are understandably shocked when he is selected as the new King of England... especially since his main focus is definitely not power ("Oh! I will toil for you, my faithful people! You shall have a banquet of humour!"). After bumping into a young boy with a toy sword, Quin decides to revive the old city-states of medieval times, with city walls, banners, halberdiers, coat of arms, and ruling provosts -- all as a joke.

But ten years later, a young man named Adam Wayne -- who happens to be the little boy who inspired Quin -- refuses to let a road go through Notting Hill. Quin is first delighted and then perplexed by Wayne, a man who treats the King's joke with deadly seriousness. Now a full-out medieval battle is brewing between the boroughs of London, and Auberon Quin finds that his joke may have some very serious consequences...

G.K. Chesterton was no H.G. Wells when it came from trying to imagine the future --- the 1984 London he imagined was pretty much the same, technologically and socially, as the London of 1904. It's the message that important in this tale, as personified first by a deposed president and then by Wayne -- pride and patriotism in one's country and culture, especially a small one, is something to be prized.

And Chesterton handles this concept with a sense of humor worthy of Quin, outright mocking the respectable and boring ("The provost of West Kensington is mad because he thinks he is respectable, as mad as a man who thinks he is a chicken!"). The humor starts off fairly ordinary (Quin standing on his head as he's declared king) and moves into more sophisticated realms with the elaborate medieval games. It would be scary to contemplate, if it weren't so hilarious.

The greatest satire is in this future society itself, and it's occasionally scary to contemplate. With his knowledge of human nature, Chesterton predicts ennui, complacency, disdain of religion, cultural indifference, and a public oblivious to the mad wackiness of their leaders because they just don't care. It hits a little too close to home.

His writing is full of color and striking description ("... a blue and gold glittering thing, running very fast, which looked at first like a very tall beetle"). And while the battle of Notting Hill doesn't really pull you in, the powerful speeches that are given during important scenes -- such as when Quin talks to Wayne about the damage his joke has caused -- are among Chesterton's best dialogue.

Auberon Quin is a pretty fun character, acutely aware of life's absurdity and determined to have as much fun from it as possible -- but he becomes a bit more serious at the prospect of people being killed. Wayne is the complete opposite -- young, passionate, intense, and vehemently patriotic. He's set apart from all those stuffy codgers because his love is not for respectability and normalcy, but for his home of Notting Hill.

Chesterton may have gotten the future of England all wrong, but "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" is still a wildly amusing little satire, with two very different heroes and a very unrecognizable London. A deserving classic.

The theme of the Napoleon of Nottingham Hill is that it is better to live a short exciting life than a long boring one. GKC would argue that the moment when you are most lucid and the world is convinced that you are mad is exactly when you are the most sane. The Napoleon of Nottingham Hill is the story of how an irrational war among London's suburbs finally gives meaning to the lives of moderns who have become so board with living. The book also explains what humor is and how man can stand proud without sinning. If you read one book by GKC, let it be this book.