WILL UNWOUND #366: “Will’s Mystery Project – ‘The Scandal of Father Brown’ by G.K. Chesterton
February 19, 2011Authors are like neckwear fashions. They go in and out of style.
Hemingway is the skinny black necktie on a plain white shirt. James Joyce would be one of those wildly abstract neckties that were in vogue in the 1960s. Jane Austen would be a silk scarf with a floral design. And Willa Cather is definitely a plain wool scarf.
G.K. Chesterton would be a bow tie with a paisley pattern. His writing is old fashioned and florid with a touch of whimsy.
The fact that he is in vogue again is a mystery. It’s hard to think of an author more out of step with modern times than G.K. Chesterton. We live in an age of moral relativism, an age in which the individual takes precedence over the group, an age when religion is dying, and an age when technological progress has become our best hope for the future.
Chesterton was absolutely and unequivocally against all those things, which might explain why he has been resurrected. Chesterton’s best and most famous book bears the simple title: Orthodoxy.
If that bare fact doesn’t speak volumes enough for you, here are some of his most representative quotations for your consideration:
- “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
- “My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.”
- “Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God.”
- “It is true that I am of an older fashion; much that I love has been destroyed or sent into exile.”
- “Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.”
- “These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.”
- “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
Sooner or later in my mystery project I knew that I would have to confront this giant of an author. I had dipped into Chesterton almost 40 years ago when he was as out of fashion as a writer can be and I found him to be almost unreadable…like hiking up a mountain on a long muddy trail. It takes time to get used to the slow pace and who has the time when there are so many other things to peruse?
But, Chesterton, in addition to being the author of scores of books on philosophy, theology, and social commentary, was the creator of Father Brown, one of the very first literary sleuths. So …if you’re going to sink your teeth into the mystery genre, you have to try to digest Chesterton.
The fact that Chesterton is back in fashion did not help my trek back up that muddy mountain. I had a great uncle who talked like Chesterton. He was windy, pompous, and repetitive, but he did have one redeeming quality. He possessed an irreverent wit. Although he was full of b.s., his own b.s. detector was accurate and reliable. Does this make sense? I didn’t think so.
Anyway, that is Chesterton in a nutshell…full of sound and fury and signifying something. The man was full of balderdash but, boy, could he see through everyone else’s balderdash.
Father Brown is important because he truly is a father, the father of the hundreds of cleric/detectives who have followed his lead and his mentorship over the past 75 years. Interestingly enough in the book of Father Brown stories that I read, The Scandal of Father Brown, Chesterton rarely dwells on any religious concepts but one: original sin.
The great insight of Father Brown, who unlike Chesterton was reserved and restrained, is the proclivity of people to engage in self absorption to a sinful and sometimes evil end. Nothing escapes the notice of his wise and wizened eyes.
Is Father Brown a priest I would love to have to have as a confessor? Yes.
Is Chesterton an author I would love to have on my nightstand? No.
Does that make sense? I didn’t think so.
I give The Scandal of Father Brown two stars (out of five).
Oh, I’m going to get myself into trouble on this one.
My working hypothesis is that Chesterton is to mysteries as C.S. Lewis is to science fiction. (Science fiction, not children’s literature.)
Both thought that they’d found a popular way to present doctrinal views. I don’t think either had much respect for the genre they chose. (That’s why I exclude Lewis’s children’s books; he had respect for that genre and its readers.) Chesterton’s mysteries were thinly disguised homilies, but they also filled the bank account — more effectively, I think, than his ‘serious’ stuff. The fact that his serious stuff was taken, uh, seriously left him less bitter than Dorothy Sayers who also really wanted to be known for her apologetics.
Lewis’s science fiction is nigh unto unreadable. He does his bloviating without having the virtue that he recognizes what he’s doing. Chesterton’s self-awareness makes it more bearable. (And I’ll note that I hope the same applies when I do that here and elsewhere.)
Chesterton, though, used some tricks that stay with me decades after reading his stuff. “Where do you hide a leaf?” A lovely way of disposing of the body in another piece.
Andrew Greeley’s locked room mysteries aren’t as elegantly written, but they’re a lot more fun.
Bill, I would have to agree with you. I am not a big fan of either author (and that includes the Narnia Chronicles), although both are enjoying a surprising renaissance.
Bill, one moderation. I really do like The Screwtape Letters.
Okay, You’re right, that didn’t make sense! but as I’ve never read any of Chesterton’s work I’ll have to read one that book just because of that dichotomy!
Good luck with Chesterton, Linda.
WHEW!!!!!! I got this much out of it Will: I DON’T HAVE ANOTHER TITLE FOR THAT TEETERING, SHUDDERING MT. BOOKMORE! Thank goodness.
Seriously, Chesterton sounds like someone I would avoid with all my might and main. And thanks for the warning. I occasionally have thought I should try Lewis’s sci fi. Now I can forget that notion forever. And I’m just as pleased as could be!
LOL, JR, way to find the “Yay!”
JR…glad to be of help. I’m here for you.
Thanks Jessa! I need the positive boost! Keep em coming. Seriously, work is ^*%^$**& and I just answered a retired coworker’s email who is anguished about the latest stunt the city has pulled. I’m not kidding when I say help keep me positive!
Thanks Will! People forget how valuable negative reviews can be, seriously. I’ll point them to this review if the question comes up!
Will, some of the Fr. Brown stories are much better than the others. The Scandal of Fr. Brown is not one of the better ones.
Bill Manson has already referred to one of the best, The Sign of the Broken Sword. Others are The Mirror of the Magistrate and The Oracle of the Dog.
Bill is also right about Chesterton’s stories tending to be thinly disguised homilies. But disguised homilies can be very effective at carrying a powerful message, like The Chief Mourner of Marne. And one or two are insightful stories with an appealing, humorous twist, including The Strange Crime of John Boulnois and The Vampire of the Village.
Wayne, I am very impressed with your reading range. Someday I may go back to Chesterton but not right now.
Why the contempt for Narnia, Will? They’re some of my most fondly remembered books from elementary school and I frequently recommend them to little patrons, who usually thank me.
Rose, the symbology seems forced. I keep thinking this is a theologian writing books for children. On the other hand, I do love Screwtape because it is what it says it is.
Lewis was not a theologian. He was an apologist. And children’s books are of necessity less subtle than adult literature. By reframing the Christian message in such a way that younger readers could both enjoy the stories as adventures but also see the parallels with Christianity, Lewis did something that no other writer I am aware of has managed.
I have to disagree Wayne. His stories were great fantasies. As propaganda, they almost completely failed. An author wrote a book a few years ago and interviewed a lot of now adult readers of the Narnia books. Virtually all of them missed the religious pitch until they were adults. I certainly did and it wasn’t until this title came out that I was able to enjoy the Narnia books again, knowing that Lewis failed in his aim! I’m referring to the Magician’s Book by Laura Miller. Frieda dear, take pity on a rained upon Borders’ shopper and bring me an Earl Grey with honey?
I have a love/hate relationship with Chesterton. I love reading him but can only take him in small doses. Too much and I hate him. He’s a master of paradox. That’s indisputable. His paradoxes are never trivial, never simply stage tricks, and yet…
Eventually it becomes a gimmick. Finally, it’s wearying; Oh no, here comes another profound, paradoxical observation that no one but Chesterton pull off and that’ll make me look at the world in a new way … yawn.
Glad to see someone else finds the Narnia books pedestrian. I read them as a child after devouring The Hobbit and LOTR. It was a let down after Tolkien. Even then the Narnia books struck me as stilted and stuffy.
I agree completely, Billy.
PS I should add that I do recommend Chesterton. He is in many ways a delightful writer and a top notch apologist. But he’s a one trick pony.
His book on St. Francis is exquisite.
I will have to try it….sometime.
I concur.
But I’m a sucker for St. Francis. I like Kazantzakis’ novelized St. Francis even better.
I will have to look at the Father Brown stories again. The only ones I ever read were in a small paperback collection I had in junior high or high school (acquired following my usual collection-development policy in those days–the cover caught my eye on the drugstore paperback rack). I remember enjoying them, but that’s about all.
My recent discovery of the “serious” Chesterton ensued on following up one of his innumerable aphorisms. This one was from The Man Who Was Thursday. Both the quotation itself and the strange title led me to the library catalog, where lo! we had it on cassette (perfect for listening in the Codgermobile). It is a very strange mix, that book, passing from sardonic social satire to farcical anarchism-meets-Keystone Kops adventure … and then rather abruptly into an allegory that I found unexpectedly moving. I took the last tape out and put the first one right back in and listened to the whole thing again.
Charming Billy’s comment almost made me laugh out loud:
“Oh no, here comes another profound, paradoxical observation that no one but Chesterton pull off and that’ll make me look at the world in a new way … yawn.”
He may be a one-trick pony, but as Paul Simon said, he turns that trick with pride.
P.S. So, as an author, do I get to be a retro-ish dark-red foulard whose pattern turns out on close examination to incorporate tiny skulls?
Weird…but okay, RA!
I read a thick volume of his stories recently and found them, well, thick. Not my cup of tea at all. I just couldn’t LIKE Father Brown. I need to love the detective or at least like him or her.
Glad you agree. Thick mud.
Thank you for introducing me to Chesterson. It is because of the quotes and your description of his writing style that I am interested in trying out this author. I’m not usually a mystery reader, but Chesterson may just be my cup of tea.
Good luck!
Each generation produces its own characteristic popular literature, and we shouldn’t be surprised if a subsequent generation is ambiguous about it. One might find something similar with transport – horses to motor cycles to Hummers: or communications – telegraph to telephone to tweets.
But if something holds the attention of its own generation, and is revisited fifty or a hundred years later, it has a kernel of value, however out dated.
GKC is better understood by reading “The Man who Was Thursday” or “The Napoleon of Notting Hill”, than the Father Brown tales.
A couple more of his quotes – they happen to be topical:
“The role of the progressives is to keep on making mistakes: the role of the conservatives is to prevent those mistakes from being rectified.”
“If all the economists were laid end to end they wouldn’t reach a conclusion.”
All in all, it doesn’t much matter what you read, as long as you do read something.
Daedalus