George Bernard Shaw by G. K. Chesterton (1909) | Hacker News Reader

George Bernard Shaw by G. K. Chesterton (1909)

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21 pointslordleft11 comments

It's interesting and puzzling how the 20th century religious writers like Chesterton, Lewis and Tolkien have become so popular on the tech scene. I'd expected them to die of obsolescence. I like them all, but they all have kind of similar limitations as writers of fiction.

Long time ago I considered myself atheistic. Then I noticed a strange thing: I liked Chesterton. (Or Graham Greene; also an open Catholic). Why? Why their writings appeared more profound than others'? I couldn't not answer it then, so I just noted that and kept reading. I guess it made me more open. A Buddhist would say it was a good karmic sign.

You expected JRR Tolkien, the founding father of the fantasy genre as we know it, to die of obsolescence? Because if so that was a very badly miscalculated expectation.

I didn't think fantasy was an important genre, and actually, I still don't. I like Ursula Le Guin. George Martin is incredibly well-written, but it's not literature.

You should try reading Chesterton, he wrote better than almost any contemporary writer. Especially his non fiction works. His use of language is masterful.

I've never read his non-fiction. I like the Father Brown stories, they're fun, but they are also full of plot holes and retrofitted explanations, and the characters are pretty thin. I feel a bit the same about C. S. Lewis. His non-fiction is brilliant, I love The Inner Ring [1], but his stories don't really have depth. I think it's not surprising that 2 out of the 3 I mentioned had their greatest success with children's books.

[1] https://www.lewissociety.org/innerring/

Which CS Lewis fiction have you read? Till We Have Faces is the best IMO and few people seem to read it. I also like Out of The Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength, although not the middle book of that trilogy, Perelandra. The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce are pretty good too.

I am not sure Tolkien's books are accurately described as children's books. The Hobbit perhaps, but not the Lord of The Rings IMO.

I started That Hideous Strength but did not get far. I'll put the others on my list!

I don't really enjoy the fiction of C. S. Lewis at all, really, and even G. K. Chesterton's fiction is not that good, it feels very contrived and it feels like preaching to the choir. As part of the choir there is a lot I agree with, but I don't quite get the point of his fiction.

But Chesterton's non-fiction books, The Everlasting Man, Orthodoxy, What's Wrong With the World and Heretics are some of the best and most insightful books I have ever read, and they really took me by surprise because I did not expect them to be what they are. They are full of speculation, and misunderstandings, but they are also full of very deep insights into humanity.

I do, however, think the fiction of Tolkien is historic and unsurpassed, nothing written since really comes close IMO.

Orthodoxy by Chesterton is an amazing analysis of why Christianity is so important for any society. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16769

As a committed Christian Atheist I'm prepared to devour anything from the prophet.

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