G.K.C. as M.C.

This collection of thirty-seven essays by G. K. Chesterton was first collected in 1929 and constitutes the cream of introductions and prefaces he had contributed by that date. Some of them, such as his startling essay on Job, are well known, but most of them have not seen the light of day since this volume drifted into obscurity. Some of these pieces are about people as well known as Matthew Arnold or Dr. Johnson, and the bulk of these are on literary figures; but others may veer on to such topics as Magna Carta or drinking songs. When Chesterton began writing for the Illustrated London News, his editors asked him not to write on religion or politics; he casually mentioned that there are no other subjects and quietly went about his business. These essays are like that. Each is fraught with one or the other topic--fraught because they are in danger of making us think.

""In his introductory essays to J. P. de Fonseka's 1929 collection of Chesterton prefaces, Livingston manifests the splendid literary breadth and depth necessary to reveal just what is unique and notable in Chesterton's essays--what holds up and what deserves new consideration. As he addresses topics ranging from Literary London and its luminaries, to the Book of Job, to Chesterton's own brother Cecil, the 'aha!' of Livingston's commentary blends seamlessly into these pages of Chesterton's own profundity and wit.""
--Isabel Anders


Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was born into a middle-class family in London. He dropped out of art school to work as a journalist. For the rest of his life most of his work appeared first in periodicals, including his own publication, G. K.'s Weekly, The Illustrated London News, The Daily News, and many others. His collected works are expected to run to fifty volumes, with most of the collections containing as many as three separate books, and each averaging about six hundred pages. Since his death in 1936, an inquiry into his case for canonization by the Roman Catholic is now underway.

Arthur Livingston is an adjunct professor of English literature at Regent University and co-founder of the oldest continuously meeting chapter of the G. K. Chesterton Society in the United States. He has also written poetry for fifty-five years.