British Authors - 20th Century - Literary Biography

Gilbert: The Man Who Was G. K. Chesterton

Name: Gilbert: The Man Who Was G. K. Chesterton
Author: Michael Coren
ISBN: 9781573831956

by Michael Coren

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Overview

â??Michael Corenâ??s book is indispensable for helping us better understand the private side of this wonderful man.â??
â??Jay P. Corrin, Boston University

â??Of all the studies of G.K. I have read, this is the best, deepest and most nearly complete.â??
â??Bernard Levin, Sunday Times of London

â??The definitive work on Chesterton and one of the finest literary biographies in years.â??
â??Paul William Roberts, Toronto Star

Michael Coren is a broadcaster, columnist and author of ten books, including biographies of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, and Arthur Conan Doyle. He is also host of the television show Michael Coren Liveâ??described by BBC Radio as â??one of the best talk-shows in North America.â?? For more information about Michael Coren, visit his website

Synopsis

"Michael Coren's book is indispensable for helping us better understand the private side of this wonderful man."
--Jay P. Corrin, Boston University

"Of all the studies of G.K. I have read, this is the best, deepest and most nearly complete."
--Bernard Levin, Sunday Times of London

"The definitive work on Chesterton and one of the finest
literary biographies in years."
--Paul William Roberts, Toronto Star

Michael Coren is a broadcaster, columnist and author of ten books, including biographies of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, and Arthur Conan Doyle. He is also host of the television show Michael Coren Live—described by BBC Radio as "one of the best talk-shows in North America." For more information about Michael Coren, visit his website

Publishers Weekly

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), although perhaps best known nowadays for his Father Brown mysteries, which have been adapted for TV, was a prolific poet, novelist and essayist. He deserves another biography, but this affectionate work by a Toronto literary critic is merely adequate. Catholic writers in particular have lauded Chesterton's wit, style and industriousness, while others have castigated his logorrhea, sloppy research, unintending insensitivity and anti-Semitism. Coren tries to deal fairly with the corpulent, sword-stick-carrying author--whom he insists on calling Gilbert--but he fails to convince us of Chesterton's charm or importance. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Library Journal

Chesterton (1874-1936) crammed his life with work, drawing, editing, debating, and writing mysteries, biographies, histories, essays, and poetry, over 70 volumes in all. He knew many contemporary literary figures such as Shaw, Belloc, and Beerbohm. In a balanced and chronological way, Coren follows this huge, peculiar man, quoting extensively from letters, journals, and his autobiography. In readable prose he chronicles Chesterton's sometimes naive economic and political ideas, occasional bigotry, efforts to maintain his bloated body, and influential conversion to Catholicism. With his ``frequent insistence on treading the middle road, even when that position was untenable,'' Chesterton is a slippery, sometimes annoying, figure. The book is a life, not a literary criticism, and is recommended for large libraries that want another view of this writer.-- John Miller, Normandale Community Coll., Bloom ington, Minn.