Editing G. K. Chesterton (section)

==Writing==
Chesterton wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, 4,000 essays (mostly newspaper columns), and several plays. He was a literary and social critic, historian, playwright, novelist, and Catholic theologian<ref>Bridges, Horace J. (1914). [https://archive.org/stream/ethicaladdresses21ameruoft#page/20/mode/2up "G. K. Chesterton as Theologian"]. In: ''Ethical Addresses''. Philadelphia: The American Ethical Union, pp. 21–44.</ref><ref>Caldecott, Stratford (1999). "Was G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton a Theologian?", ''The Chesterton Review''. (Rep. by [http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0499.html ''CERC: Catholic Education Research Center''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130713051810/http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0499.html |date=13 July 2013 }}.)</ref> and [[apologist]], debater, and mystery writer. He was a columnist for the ''Daily News'', ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', and his own paper, ''[[G. K.'s Weekly]]''; he also wrote articles for the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', including the entry on [[Charles Dickens]] and part of the entry on Humour in the 14th edition (1929). His best-known character is the priest-detective [[Father Brown]],<ref name="Father Brown on Chesterton" /> who appeared only in short stories, while ''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]'' is arguably his best-known novel. He was a convinced Christian long before he was received into the Catholic Church, and Christian themes and symbolism appear in much of his writing. In the United States, his writings on [[distributism]] were popularised through ''[[The American Review (literary journal)|The American Review]]'', published by [[Seward Collins]] in New York. {{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Of his nonfiction, ''Charles Dickens: A Critical Study'' (1906) has received some of the broadest-based praise. According to [[Ian Ker]] (''The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845–1961'', 2003), "In Chesterton's eyes Dickens belongs to [[Merry England|Merry]], not [[Puritan]], England"; Ker treats Chesterton's thought in chapter 4 of that book as largely growing out of his true appreciation of Dickens, a somewhat shop-soiled property in the view of other literary opinions of the time. The biography was largely responsible for creating a popular revival for Dickens's work as well as a serious reconsideration of Dickens by scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahlquist |first=Dale |title=Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton |publisher=Ignatius Press |year=2006 |page=286}}</ref>

Chesterton's writings consistently displayed wit and a sense of humour. He employed paradox, while making serious comments on the world, government, politics, economics, philosophy, theology and many other topics.<ref>Douglas, J. D. [http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/augustweb-only/8-27-52.0.html "G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton, the Eccentric Prince of Paradox"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420091039/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/augustweb-only/8-27-52.0.html |date=20 April 2016 }} ''[[Christianity Today]]'', 8 January 2001.</ref><ref>Gray, Robert. [http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/paradox-was-his-doxy/ "Paradox Was His Doxy"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610150138/http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/paradox-was-his-doxy/ |date=10 June 2013 }} ''The American Conservative'', 23 March 2009.</ref>

[[T. S. Eliot]] summed up his work as follows:

{{Blockquote|He was importantly and consistently on the side of the angels. Behind the [[Samuel Johnson|Johnsonian]] fancy dress, so reassuring to the British public, he concealed the most serious and revolutionary designs—concealing them by exposure{{nbsp}}... Chesterton's social and economic ideas{{nbsp}}... were fundamentally Christian and Catholic. He did more, I think, than any man of his time—and was able to do more than anyone else, because of his particular background, development and abilities as a public performer—to maintain the existence of the important minority in the modern world. He leaves behind a permanent claim upon our loyalty, to see that the work that he did in his time is continued in ours.<ref name="Gilbert Chesterton by T. S. Eliot" />}}

Eliot commented further that "His poetry was first-rate journalistic balladry, and I do not suppose that he took it more seriously than it deserved. He reached a high imaginative level with ''[[The Napoleon of Notting Hill]]'', and higher with ''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]'', romances in which he turned the [[Robert Louis Stevenson|Stevensonian]] fantasy to more serious purpose. His book on [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]] seems to me the best essay on that author that has ever been written. Some of his essays can be read again and again; though of his essay-writing as a whole, one can only say that it is remarkable to have maintained such a high average with so large an output."<ref name="Gilbert Chesterton by T. S. Eliot">{{Cite journal |last=Eliot |first=T. S. |date=20 June 1936 |title=Gilbert Chesterton by T. S. Eliot |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/72405/spread/1 |url-status=live |journal=The Tablet |volume=167 |issue=5015 |page=785 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801031249/https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/72405/spread/1 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref>

In 2022, a three-volume bibliography of Chesterton was published, listing 9,000 contributions he made to newspapers, magazines, and journals, as well as 200 books and 3,000 articles about him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hasnes |first=Geir |title=G. K. Chesterton. A Bibliography |publisher=Classica forlag |year=2022 |isbn=978-82-7610-013-6 |location=Kongsberg, Norway}}</ref>