G.K. Chesterton: Master Essayist
Today I am grateful for the new knowledge my practice of gratitude and this blog open up to me.I am grateful to remain teachable.
I first mentioned G.K. Chesterton in my post from June 9th of this year. You can read that post here. I did a little research and reading to find out more about him. As a writer, I am always curious about other writers and some of the inspiration behind the words. I learned that Chesterton's full name is Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He was British, born in 1874, dying in 1936.
He was a prolific writer across several genres. He wrote nearly 100 books and thousands of essays. He also wrote poetry and was probably best known for the "Father Brown" fiction series, about a priest sleuth. There is even a society called the American Chesterton Society that continues to promote his writing today. On the society's website, they commend his foresight and how he wrote about issues that continue to challenge us: from social injustice to attacks on the family and the dignity of human beings. He converted to Catholicism and his words are credited with leading to the conversion of at least 300 others (who converted after reading Chesterton's writing). There is even an effort to pursue sainthood for Chesterton.
I say all of this because I find it intriguing. I am sure I could research for hours and days and find out more, but suffice it to say that Chesterton's writing touched many during his lifetime and it continues to do so.
I read a few of his essays in a compilation titled In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton. The essays were selected by Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, and Aidan Mackey. I call myself an emerging essayist and blogging has been an avenue to help me practice and hone my essay writing skills. As I read a sampling of Chesterton's work, I clearly saw how masterful he was at crafting an essay. Some of the historical references were unfamiliar to me, but the general point of the essays seemed timeless.
In his own essay titled On Essays he had this to say about essays: "By its very nature it does not explain what it is trying to do, and thus escapes a decisive judgment about whether it has really done it." I love those words. I think a good essay leaves a mark on the reader by letting them think what they wish. Open-ended, thought-provoking, touching on one or more aspects of human nature. If my words inspire reflection and personal review of one's own life or the issue at hand, I consider that a huge success.
Here is the final paragraph of Chesterton's essay The Twelve Men, published in 1909. He was talking about being part of a jury and juries themselves:
"Our civilisation has decided, and very justly decided, that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men. It wishes for light upon that awful matter, it asks men who know no more law than I know, but who can feel the things I felt in the jury box. When it wants a library catalogued, or the solar system discovered, or any trifle of that kind it uses up its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity."
This is such a good example of his work, and the former social studies teacher in me loves the validation of the "trial by jury" system.
Thank you for your words G.K. Chesterton.
I first mentioned G.K. Chesterton in my post from June 9th of this year. You can read that post here. I did a little research and reading to find out more about him. As a writer, I am always curious about other writers and some of the inspiration behind the words. I learned that Chesterton's full name is Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He was British, born in 1874, dying in 1936.
He was a prolific writer across several genres. He wrote nearly 100 books and thousands of essays. He also wrote poetry and was probably best known for the "Father Brown" fiction series, about a priest sleuth. There is even a society called the American Chesterton Society that continues to promote his writing today. On the society's website, they commend his foresight and how he wrote about issues that continue to challenge us: from social injustice to attacks on the family and the dignity of human beings. He converted to Catholicism and his words are credited with leading to the conversion of at least 300 others (who converted after reading Chesterton's writing). There is even an effort to pursue sainthood for Chesterton.
I say all of this because I find it intriguing. I am sure I could research for hours and days and find out more, but suffice it to say that Chesterton's writing touched many during his lifetime and it continues to do so.
I read a few of his essays in a compilation titled In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton. The essays were selected by Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, and Aidan Mackey. I call myself an emerging essayist and blogging has been an avenue to help me practice and hone my essay writing skills. As I read a sampling of Chesterton's work, I clearly saw how masterful he was at crafting an essay. Some of the historical references were unfamiliar to me, but the general point of the essays seemed timeless.
In his own essay titled On Essays he had this to say about essays: "By its very nature it does not explain what it is trying to do, and thus escapes a decisive judgment about whether it has really done it." I love those words. I think a good essay leaves a mark on the reader by letting them think what they wish. Open-ended, thought-provoking, touching on one or more aspects of human nature. If my words inspire reflection and personal review of one's own life or the issue at hand, I consider that a huge success.
Here is the final paragraph of Chesterton's essay The Twelve Men, published in 1909. He was talking about being part of a jury and juries themselves:
"Our civilisation has decided, and very justly decided, that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men. It wishes for light upon that awful matter, it asks men who know no more law than I know, but who can feel the things I felt in the jury box. When it wants a library catalogued, or the solar system discovered, or any trifle of that kind it uses up its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity."
This is such a good example of his work, and the former social studies teacher in me loves the validation of the "trial by jury" system.
Thank you for your words G.K. Chesterton.
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