Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton: Robert Louis Stevenson, Chaucer, Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Carlyle (Collected Works of Gk Chesterton) (Paperback)

by G. K. Chesterton (Author) "There are few cultivated people who do not pretend to have read Mr. Lecky's "History of Rationalism in Europe..." (more)
Key Phrases: toy theatre, dying civilization, medieval men, Middle Ages, John of Gaunt, Geoffrey Chaucer (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (November 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898703743
• ISBN-13: 978-0898703740
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #996,929 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly about Chaucer and Stevenson., June 30, 2000

By	David Marshall (Nagasaki, Japan) - See all my reviews

The title is a little deceptive. In fact, this book is mostly about Chaucer and his era, 220 pages worth. Stevenson gets a fair shake at 106 pages. But Carlyle gets only 12 pages, and Tolstoy only four, and those a rather simplistic critique of his philosophy. So only buy the book if you're interested in the former two writers.

As in most of Chesterton's biographies, the story of the subject's life is of minor interest here, compared to a philosophical and artistic description of the subject's works in the context of his time and "modern times." Chesterton is interested in the writer as a thinker, as a creator, and as a moral agent. In defending Stevenson and Chaucer, he argues for his view of Christianity, poetry, love, and artistic humility. If you want his religious views in a purer form, go to the brilliant Orthodoxy or Everlasting Man. If you want a detailed narration of the lives of the writers in question, look elsewhere. And even for this style of biography, I think his book on Dickens was the best I've read. But I found his opinionated description and defense of Chaucer and his times also very interesting. And while he does not scatter brilliant sayings like rose petals at a wedding, as in his best books, (reading Everlasting Man, I wanted to copy every other sentence) a few blossoms do flutter down, like the following, which also explain Chesterton's method:

"The truly impartial historian is not he who is enthusiastic for neither side in a historical struggle. . .The truly impartial historian is he who is enthusiastic for both sides. He holds in his heart a hundred fanaticisms."

"The greatest poets of the world have a certain serenity, because they have not bothered to invent a small philosophy, but have rather inherited a large philosophy. It is, nine times out of ten, a philosophy which very great men share with very ordinary men. It is therefore not a theory which attracts attention as a theory."

Author, Jesus and the Religions of Man (July 2000)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chesterton!, June 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton: Thomas Carlyle, Leo Tolstoy, Robert Louis Stevenson, Chaucer (Library Binding)

G.K. Chesterton, best known for his Father Brown detective stories, also stands out as a remarkable literary critic. He is most astute on Stevenson, his greatest influence, rightly seeing him as the first great writer to find beauty in a modern city. A must!