Church Times Attack On Chesterton

I sent the following letter to the Church Times on the 7th November, as it seems they have not printed it, here it is;

Dear Sir

I really must object to your review of GK Chesterton's Autobiography (The Church Times, 6th November 1936). Sidney Dark, your reviewer, says a few 'nice' things, only to negate most of them with a 'but'.

He complains that, "There is no man to whom I am more attracted than the man who persists in talking about himself. Being born an artist, Gilbert Chesterton inevitably talked about himself, for that is the way of the artist. His peculiar characteristic, which, by the way, he shared with Bernard Shaw, was that he hardly ever talked about anything else." One would expect this to be the case in an Autobiography, but the main complaint made by Chestertonians about this book is that it contains so little about Chesterton!

It is also a tad strange, as Mr Dark tells us so much about himself in the review of GKC's book; "I knew [Cecil Chesterton] more than I ever knew [GKC]", "I myself love reading it aloud", "I once suggested that Lord Lonsdale had much more in common with members of the Ironmoulders, Union than Mr. Arthur Henderson."

All very interesting I'm sure. But the issue today, seventy-five years after the death of GK Chesterton is no longer whether he is 'The Far Too Happy Warrior', but is he a very jolly Saint in Heaven? (www.catholicgkchestertonsociety.co.uk)

God bless
Stuart McCullough
Catholic GK Chesterton Society

Maybe they will print my letter in 75 years!