G.K. Chesterton: A Biography

by Michael Ffinch, Michael Ffinch

Drawing upon recently discovered original sources--letters, a Sherlock Holmes detective story, and several poems--Michael Ffinch has taken the traditional view of Chesterton as the "jolly journalist," the master of pun and paradox, and turned it on its head. He shows that a man who has been generally acknowledged as a major literary figure only came to his perception of truth through a life of spiritual turmoil and intense personal suffering which culminated in his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Michael Ffinch has filled many of the gaps in our knowledge, particularly at the start of Chesterton's career--Chesterton himself chose to suppress the true details of his life after leaving St. Paul's School. For, although Chesterton was stunningly articulate and could write brilliantly from a young age, the early part of his life was, at times, a difficult and heartfelt struggle to find a niche in which to develop his talents. Among the information Michael Ffinch reveals about these formative years is that, for a time, Chesterton was tutored by A. E. Housman.

Genres: Biography, Christianity

369 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Chrisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book. The author's extreme admiration for his subject is apparent and he seemed to expect the reader to have a similar one.

At the same time, he honestly admits to some of GKC's failings (antisemitism, cruel and accusatory essays), though he just brushes past his weird relationships with children--- emphatically declaring that there was nothing going on. But then there's that comment from his wife near the end which should be cause for reexamination.

I disagree with him on many points, but found his points on motherhood interesting(haunted by that thesis forever---in a good way).

Here are some of my favorite, chewable quotes:

Lazarus (of course)

"How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the rule of three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; A woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute." (Important to remember that many women of this time period and of GKC's social circle had women do laundry/dishes/cooking for them).

On death: "What we see now is her absence: but her death is not her absence, but her presence somewhere else."

Despite the lack of records, we get quite a lot. And I'd be interested to know what diagnosis our modern medicine would give him. I suspect some ADHD.

Side Note: Chesterton and Churchill make an interesting comparison.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

You'd think that having read several biographies of Chesterton, of one sort or another, there'd be nothing new to learn. Yet Ffinch's book not only quotes innumerable passages that weren't familiar to me, but offers some information about Chesterton that I wasn't aware of, or had failed to notice: his ant-Semitism in the early part of his career, for instance. Ffinch also points out that Chesterton and his wife may never have actually consummated the marriage due perhaps to health issues Frances had.
Ffinch is consistently interesting, as of course is his subject, and yet again it's striking just how hardworking the seemingly disorganized Chesterton actually was, between writing articles by the hundreds, books, giving endless lectures and more. No wonder he always needed someone else to organize his actual life.
While not quite as monumental as Maisie Ward's wonderful biography, this is a worthy addition.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review Title: The Everlasting man

An 18-year-old boy who had just proved himself a failure at art school while his friends and fellow members of the "Junior Debating Club" were at Oxford writes of going "very far into the abyss" and finding peace and humility. "It is embarrassing talking to God face to face, as a man speaketh to a friend." G. K. Chesterton had even then proved himself on the path to write The Everlasting Man, which may be the most powerful and beautiful theology of the 20th century. Michael Ffinch wrote this biography in 1986 on the 50th anniversary of GKC's death, and while it is not the most masterful biography I have read, it has well earned its 5 star rating on the strength of its subject.

It is always tempting to just quote GKC when reviewing one of his books to let the man speak in words more powerful than mine, and Ffinch does give amble space to quotes to let the man speak for himself, but also pulls valuable information from other sources such as his wife Frances and long-time secretary Dorothy Collins. First Frances and then Collins were also responsible for keeping GKC's schedule, finances, and clothing in order, as we learn here that he was the classic model of the absent minded professor, regularly missing trains and appointments if left to his own devices. We also learn of the deep love and strong relationship between Gilbert Keith and Frances, despite her physical problems that made sexual relations painful and prevented her having children.

We also learn that he was a great caricaturist who loved to sketch anywhere (including on the walls of his study on sheets of butcher-block paper taped there to protect the walls). GKC's drawing "lightening sketches" to "delineate character so quickly" was "an unexpected but most striking example of his power of perception which was the head of his genius." (p. 131) Says Ffinch of GKC's imagination, "the function of the imagination . . . [is] not to make wonders facts but facts wonders." (p. 140)

As with people so with arguments could GKC immediately come to the essential point. A friend, in describing his ability to instantly absorb "all vital elements" of an argument said of GKC "It was, he thought, as if Chesterton had been taught by the Holy Ghost." (p. 106). Said another critic, "He is not a rebel. He is a wayfarer from the ages." (p. 105)

Ffinch also does not flinch from Chesterton's one great besetting flaw: he was, Ffinch documents, unmistakably antisemitic, even if one gives him the benefit of the doubt of being misunderstood or judged against higher standards of a later time. And it seemed that the more he tried to explain and defend his viewpoint the less defensible it seemed. It was a powerful blind spot that he strained to, but never could, see through. It is inexcusable and unexplainable.

In 2012 during the previous US presidential campaign I reviewed GKC's Heretics and expressed my desire that every voter be required to read and understand Chesterton before voting. This year as the 2016 elections are proving the sad truth that not nearly enough voters have read or understood anything at all, let alone Chesterton, I can only again quote Chesterton, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's death, as he wrote his

private vows of a very real character to do my best for this country of mine which I love with a love passing the love of Jingoes. It is sometimes easy to give one's country blood and easier to give her money. Sometimes the hardest thing of all is to give her truth. (p. 81)

He expresses exactly my feeling toward America today as I refuse to honor the fools masquerading as presidential candidates when I say that politics is not the solution, has never been a solution, and will be neither the cause nor the effect of the eventual outcome of history. We must look inward and outward to the Everlasting Man for that. That was truth a millennium ago, as Chesterton told us a century ago, and why it remains so vital we read him today.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chesterton was a larger than life character and Ffinch doesn't miss the mark. This is my first Chesterton biography but certainly won't be the last.