Volumes From "The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton"

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume I: Heretics, Orthodoxy, The Blatchford Controversies The first in the series of The Collected Works, a project by Ignatius Press to gather and reprint his enormous body of writing. These books were written before GKC’s conversion, when he was still just “the omniscient babe” of his liberal set, but you can see how his Catholicism bloomed out of his philosophy expressed in these books. ‘Orthodoxy’ played a part in my own conversion. I have it by itself in a softcover version, that I imagine I could now spare at a pinch, since I have this anthology. Since the other books in this series all have similar covers, I'm breaking up the list of them with examples of Chesterton's own drawings. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Philosophy. Theology. Hardback.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume II: St. Francis of Assisi, The Everlasting Man, St. Thomas Aquinas I have all three of these books in other editions, so I suppose if I were really paring down, this would be the one to keep. I was going for the entire Ignatius set when I still had a job and could get the money for them. I’ll probably talk about each individual book when I get to the other copies. Suffice it to say here that 'The Everlasting Man' was his answer to his friend H. G. Wells' 'The Outline of History'. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Theology. Biography. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume III: The Catholic Church and Conversion, The Thing: Why I Am a Catholic, The Well and the Shallows, The Way of the Cross, and others. So, all books on theology (if such a dry term can be applied to GKC’s mental fireworks) in this anthology. I must admit I haven’t read every part of this volume, but I do like what I have read. Ranking: Essential for the collection. File Code: Theology. Catholicism. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume IV: The Outline of Sanity and others. If Volume III was on Theology, Volume IV is about Politics and therefore also History. Not quite my cup of tea, but anything that Chesterton writes has new light thrown on it, and from an interesting angle at that. To quote GKC, “As much as I ever did, more than I ever did, I believe in Liberalism. But there was a rosy time of innocence when I believed in Liberals.” Ranking: Essential. File Code: Politics. Soft Cover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume VI: The Club of Queer Trades, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, The Man Who Was Thursday. Three Chesterton novels, two at least that are among his greatest. The first novel, TCOQT, is notable for the introduction of “The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown,” which creates The Adventure and Romance Agency, Limited, an idea that has since bloomed into reality. TNONH is a glorious adventure on the theme that the smaller a place is, the fiercer the love for it is. TMWWT is perhaps the greatest glove ever thrown in the face of reductionary nihilism, besides being a rollicking, glorious, “nightmare” vision of man’s struggle in the world. “Why does each thing on the earth war against each other thing? Why does each small thing in the world have to fight against the world itself? Why does a fly have to fight the whole universe? Why does a dandelion have to fight the whole universe? For the same reason that I had to be alone … So that each thing that obeys law may have the glory and isolation of the anarchist. So that each man fighting for order may be as brave and good a man as the dynamiter. So that the real lie of Satan may be flung back in the face of this blasphemer, so that by tears and torture we may earn the right to say to this man, 'You lie!' No agonies can be too great to buy the right to say to this accuser, 'We also have suffered.’” I have other individual copies of these three novels, but this is essential. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Novels. Softcover

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume VIII: The Return of Don Quixote, Tales of the Long Bow, The Man Who Knew Too Much. Three Chesterton novels, good but not his greatest. We skip to Volume 8 (to use the simpler number writing) because I have all the other novels in Volumes 6 and 7 in other forms, and wanted to get what I didn’t have before I collected the Ignatius editions. I remember reading TOTLB when I was in college and just starting to get acquainted with Chesterton. I’ve always found it rather hard to get into TRODQ (very romantic in one strain of the plot, very political in the other). I have a paperback copy of TMWKTM (Hitchcock stole the title) that this volume renders expendable. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Novel. Softcover. Politics.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume XI: Plays and Chesterton on Shaw. Chesterton is not widely known as a playwright, but he did write a few. “Magic” is perhaps his best known, most frequently staged, and most financially successful of them, and even that one is pretty obscure. A meditation on the lure and danger of spiritual power, even for those who disbelieve in it or seek to use it for good ends. “The Wild Knight” I find most compelling in its portrayal of Lord Orm, the quondam villain of the piece, who basically wants to be God Himself, and order the world better than he thinks than God has managed. Included in this volume are GKC’s meditations on his good friend George Bernard Shaw, probing his philosophical flaws but applauding his decent basic instincts. Shaw, of course, wrote “Heartbreak House”, one of my favorite plays, and I’m glad to see any rehabilitations or excuses for his thorny, eccentric character. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Plays. Essays. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume X: Collected Poetry. Parts I, II, and III. These three fat volumes contain all his poetry, from incomplete, unpublished, and rough drafts with large differences, to his longest polished epics. There are even some illustrations. Probably my favorite poems are “The Skeleton”, “The Donkey”, and “The Song of the Strange Ascetic”, though there are many others that are great. There is a book I have, “The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton”, from the Wordsworth Poetry Library, that this collection makes dispensable. Ranking: Essential File Code: Poetry. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume XIV: Short Stories, Fairy Tales, Mystery Stories The fattest of all these volumes. Perhaps most notable for the Father Brown stories not included in ‘The Complete Father Brown’, as they were made in collaboration with others. Makes obsolete another book in my library: ‘Thirteen Detectives’. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Short Stories. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume XX: A Short History of England and others. Chesterton’s meditations on his home country and his tours to Ireland and Palestine. Not so much a textbook as an analysis or opinion piece from a different point of view other than the official narratives of the times, with insights that have since proved more prophetic than not. Ranking: Essential. File Code: History. Politics. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Volume XXI: What I Saw in America and others. Chesterton’s account of his travels to the United States and to Mussolini’s Italy, and gives his analysis of what he experienced. Included in the appendix are newspaper reports of what he said and did in America and how people reacted. A fascinating glimpse, a snapshot in time, but also full of insight. Ranking: Essential. File Code: History. Travelogue. Essays. Softcover.

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton: The Illustrated London News. Volumes XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI, XXII (6 books) The articles that Chesterton wrote over the years of 1907 through 1922 for The Illustrated London News, “the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine.” Full of fascinating plums amid their rich cake-like goodness. A window on the social and artistic concerns of an age long gone, but hauntingly like today, with observations that can still be applied. Good browsing material, overall. Ranking: Essential. File Code: Essays. Softcover.