Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy: The Making of GKC, 1874-1908

Contents......Page 8
Abbreviations for Works Most Frequently Cited......Page 10
PART I......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
1. The Man with the Golden Key, 1874–83......Page 26
‘The permanent anticipation of surprise’......Page 29
The view through the proscenium arch......Page 31
‘Literary Composition among Boys’......Page 36
The realism of fairyland......Page 44
‘The white light of wonder’......Page 49
2. School Days: St Paul’s and the JDC, 1883–92......Page 54
Putting up a smokescreen......Page 58
The genius of St Paul’s......Page 59
‘Don’t you wish that you were me?’......Page 64
‘A literary faculty which might come to something’......Page 70
The emergence of a theo-philanthropist......Page 74
Reform, revolution, and the religion of mankind......Page 85
Travels into an uncertain time......Page 93
3. Nightmare at the Slade: Digging for the Sunrise of Wonder, 1892–4......Page 95
Revolution and reform......Page 106
‘A sick cloud upon the soul’......Page 114
A ‘mystical minimum of gratitude’......Page 132
4. Beginning the Journey round the World, 1894–9......Page 137
‘A faith to hold to and a gospel to preach’......Page 144
A penny plain and twopence coloured: the return to Skelt......Page 150
‘The tremendous Everything that is anywhere’......Page 154
Moving on......Page 167
‘…who brought the Cross to me’......Page 174
PART II......Page 182
5. Who is GKC? 1900–2......Page 184
‘No one ever had such friends as I had’......Page 186
‘The twiformed monster… the Chesterbelloc’......Page 192
Paradox and the democracy of truth......Page 198
‘Gilbert Chesterton’: is it a pseudonym? Greybeards at Play and The Wild Knight......Page 206
Early journalism: The Speaker and The Daily News, 1900–1......Page 213
‘The Pessimists who ruled the culture of the age’......Page 216
Patriotism and anti-imperialism I......Page 221
Early married life......Page 227
6. The Man of Letters as Defender of the Faith, 1903–4: Robert Browning; Blatchford I; The Napoleon of Notting Hill......Page 237
The ‘drift towards orthodoxy’......Page 246
Defender of the faith I: the Blatchford controversy (1903)......Page 250
Patriotism and anti-imperialism II......Page 267
The Napoleon of Notting Hill......Page 275
7. The Critic as Polemicist, 1904–6: G. F. Watts; Blatchford II; Heretics; The Ball and the Cross; Charles Dickens......Page 281
Defender of the faith II: the Blatchford controversy (1904)......Page 287
Heretics: why ‘man can be defined as an animal that makes dogmas’......Page 295
The Ball and the Cross......Page 308
Liberal politics and liberal principles: the general election of 1906......Page 313
Charles Dickens and the triumph of ‘vulgar optimism’......Page 320
8. Battles in the Last Crusade, 1907–8: The Man who was Thursday and Orthodoxy......Page 334
The Man who was Thursday......Page 337
The war over the creeds: Gore, Scott Holland, and Campbell......Page 345
Becoming Everyman......Page 352
The thrilling romance of orthodoxy......Page 368
Epilogue......Page 379
Bibliography......Page 396
C......Page 404
G......Page 409
M......Page 410
T......Page 411
Y......Page 412