Showing results by author "G. K. Chesterton" in All Categories

Why do humans have a horror of skeletons? Is this aversion justified? What does it signify? Such are the animating questions of this essay by G. K. Chesterton, who acts as a witty defendant for humanity’s hidden form.

With G. K. C.’s characteristic wit, he explores in this essay the virtues of baby-worship, as adults are invited to see the world anew through the eyes of children. Furthermore, argues G. K. C., an appreciation of our youngest humans “forces us actually to remodel our conduct in accordance with this revolutionary theory of the marvellousness of all things.”

Chesterton portrays Father Brown as a short, stumpy Roman Catholic priest, with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human evil. Not long after he published Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton moved from London to Beaconsfield, and met Father O'Connor. O'Connor had a shrewd insight to the darker side of man's nature and a mild appearance to go with it--and together those came together to become Chesterton's unassuming Father Brown. Chesterton loved the character, and the magazines he wrote for loved the stories.

In a London of the future, the drudgery of capitalism and bureaucracy have worn the human spirit down to the point where it can barely stand. When a pint-sized clerk named Auberon Quinn is randomly selected as head of state, he decides to turn London into a medieval carnival for his own amusement. One man, Adam Wayne, takes the new order of things seriously, organizing a Notting Hill army to fight invaders from other neighborhoods. At first his project baffles everyone, but eventually his dedication proves infectious, with delightful results.

Chesterton demonstrates his intense distrust of power and "progressives," railing against Prohibition, vegetarianism, theosophy, and other "dreary and oppressive" forces of modernity. In a spirited response to the government's attempt to curtail alcohol sales, Humphrey Pump (called Hump) a pub owner in the fishing village of Pebblewick takes to the road in a donkey cart. Accompanied by Captain Patrick Dalroy, a crimson-haired giant with a tendency to burst into song, Hump provisions the cart with a cask of good rum, a giant round of cheese, and the signpost from his pub, The Flying Inn.

Get ready for an adventure of epic proportions with The Sign of the Broken Sword by G.K. Chesterton! In this thrilling tale, a young man is drawn into a world of espionage and danger as he tries to solve a mystery and clear his father's name. With its fast-paced plot, memorable characters, and themes of loyalty and honor, The Sign of the Broken Sword is a must-listen for anyone who loves a good mystery or adventure. So why wait? Start listening to The Sign of the Broken Sword today and let Chesterton's storytelling skills keep you on the edge of your seat.https://www.solgood.org - Check out ...

The Flying Inn is a novel first published in 1914 by G.K. Chesterton. It is set in a future England where a bizarre form of "Progressive" Islam has triumphed and largely dominates the political and social life of the country. Because of this, alcohol sales are effectively prohibited. The plot centers around the adventures of Humphrey Pump and Captain Patrick Dalroy, who roam the country in their cart with a barrel of rum in an attempt to evade Prohibition, exploiting loopholes in the law to temporarily prevent the police taking action against them.View our full collection of podcasts at our ...

A collection of essays by Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "Defences" of things at best less appreciated than they ought to be. "... It becomes increasingly apparent, therefore, that the world is in a permanent danger of being misjudged. That this is no fanciful or mystical idea may be tested by simple examples. The two absolutely basic words 'good' and 'bad,' descriptive of two primal and inexplicable sensations, are not, and never have been, used properly. Things that are bad are not called good by any people who experience them; but things that are good are called bad by the universal verdict of ...

"Orthodoxy," a series of essays by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. First published in 1908. Read by David "Grizzly" Smith. "The only possible excuse for this book is that it is an answer to a challenge. Even a bad shot is dignified when he accepts a duel." This is how Chesterton explains "Orthodoxy," the sequel to Heretics. "I have attempted in a vague and personal way, in a set of mental pictures rather than in a series of deductions, to state the philosophy in which I have come to believe. I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me." This is a...

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory.

G.K. Chesterton was one of the towering figures of British literature in the early twentieth century. A man of massive size, massive personality, and massive appetite, Chesterton famous personality, dress, and personality gave rise to an eponymous adjective: Chestertonian. Although he is renowned for the Father Brown detective series, Chesterton also wrote volumes of nonfiction. First published in 1917, A Short History of England is exactly that, serving Chesterton's goal of publishing "a popular book of history written from the standpoint of a member of the public."

Mystery, murder, deception, obsession, and vendetta abound in Chesterton's third collection of eight adventures for the unassuming but insightful Father Brown; including a happily temporary demise for the little priest himself; a millionaire killed with an arrow from heaven; another disappeared from a sealed room; a maniac determined to possess a precious relic; and a decaying family and a mysterious portrait.

Certain of the great roads going north out of London continue far into the country a sort of attenuated and interrupted spectre of a street, with great gaps in the building, but preserving the line. Here will be a group of shops, followed by a fenced field or paddock, and then a famous public-house, and then perhaps a market garden or a nursery garden, and then one large private house, and then another field and another inn, and so on.

"The Blue Cross" is a short story by G. K. Chesterton. It was the first Father Brown short story and also introduces the characters Flambeau and Valentin. It is unique among the Father Brown mysteries in that it does not follow the actions of the Father himself, but rather those of Valentin. It was first published on 23 July 1910, under the title "Valentin Follows a Curious Trail", in the Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia. Re-titled as "The Blue Cross", publication in London followed, in The Story-Teller magazine of September 1910.

"The Queer Feet" deals with Flambeau wanting to steal the silverware of the members of the Twelve True Fishermen having their annual club dinner at Vernon Hotel. The Vernon Hotel is an exclusive hotel and a "topsy-turvy product" (Chesterton 1994, p. 51).

Father Brown (Chesterton's sharp-witted detective priest) and Flambeau (the reformed master-thief and Brown's constant companion) are on a little vacation in Norfolk, invited to visit the mysterious Prince Saradine. It doesn't go well. Sure, Flambeau gets some good fishing in, but there's also a duel with rapiers, a couple murders, a hanging, a case of mistaken identity, an awkward family reunion, and a gang of surly Sicilians.

"The Sign of the Broken Sword" is a short story by G. K. Chesterton featuring his famous characters Father Brown and former criminal Flambeau. In the centre of a story is a mysterious death of General Sir Arthur St. Clare, who was hanged on a tree with his broken sword hung round his neck. It is a detective story and throughout it Father Brown reveals to us the mystery of General St. Clare.

"The Flying Stars" is one of Chesterton's mysteries featuring Father Brown. It's actually the first of these short stories I've read and I picked it up more because it's a Christmas mystery than to meet Father Brown, even though he is a character I'd like to read more of. The story takes place at an English manor home on Boxing Day. A young lady and the young man who lives next door are present, as is the girl's father, Colonel Adams, a newly arrived uncle and a quite rich godfather.

Both by calling and conviction Father Brown knew better than most of us, that every man is dignified when he is dead. But even he felt a pang of incongruity when he was knocked up at daybreak and told that Sir Aaron Armstrong had been murdered. There was something absurd and unseemly about secret violence in connection with so entirely entertaining and popular a figure. For Sir Aaron Armstrong was entertaining to the point of being comic; and popular in such a manner as to be almost legendary.

The tenth story in The Innocence of Father Brown is entitled "The Eye of Apollo." At the beginning of this short story, Flambeau has just opened his detective agency in a new building located near Westminster Abbey. The other tenants in the building are a religious charlatan named Kalon, who claims to be "the New Priest of Apollo," and two sisters, who are typists. Flambeau and Father Brown instinctively distrust Kalon, who has installed a huge eye of Apollo outside his office.