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Article on Chesterton

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Article on Chesterton

Postby Karen » July 2nd, 2008, 8:31 pm

There's a long article by Adam Gopnik on Chesterton in this week's New Yorker magazine (issue of July 7&14). It's not available online, alas, but it's very interesting, and I encourage you to buy the magazine and read it. There's a photo of Chesterton: my, he was enormous! And also some discussion of his anti-Semitism, which I was unaware of. But it's mostly a tribute to his marvelous writing.
I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Postby rusmeister » July 3rd, 2008, 3:47 am

I wish I could get a hold of it.

I have set myself to reading everything GKC wrote - a considerable task.
One thing I'll say right off the bat is that his "anti-Semitism" is greatly misunderstood, but the knee-jerk view that some have at the sight of his statements in limited context are entirely predictable, given how political correctness works (rhetoric designed to bring about certain reactions without questioning them - example: "discrimination" as something automatically bad, rather than neutral, or "criticism" as being purely negative, or any criticism of what being Jewish in the face of other nationalities means is "anti-Semitism" and therefore bad. (Pavlov's dogs, please pant and drool!")

Not blaming you for it, Karen. Most of us have been conditioned by public schooling and the media. Just remember that you should read for yourself, in full context, what GKC had to say before you say that he was saying something bad. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts GKC's critic in that article did not - at the very least, regarding that question.

His autobiography has the most seemingly "anti-Semitic" statements I have seen thus far (the Marconi scandal, which, among other things, deals with how Jewish brothers in high positions, who should have acted as Englishmen in their positions, acted as brothers instead when the two came into conflict. That sort of thing would only seem anti-Semitic to someone who's not paying attention or who didn't really read the book.

Also, it's pretty odd, then, that this "anti-Semite" condemned Hitler so roundly (for his persecution of Jews, among other things) and supported (for reasons like the one above) a homeland for Jews.

I'm not the most knowledgeable on this topic (yet) - I'm sure Dale Alquist could do better. Why don't you drop him an e-mail? He has responded to me before.
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Postby Karen » July 3rd, 2008, 12:31 pm

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Postby rusmeister » July 3rd, 2008, 3:53 pm

"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one."
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Postby Adam Linton » July 7th, 2008, 12:55 am

Oops!

Before I saw this thread, I asked if anyone else had read the article in a posting in "What Are You Reading?" I should have known, Karen, that you would have done so!

rusmeister, in terms of Chesterton's anti-semitism, I'd suggest that you read the article, if you can. Check the New Yorker website. Gopnik, while not writing hagiagraphy, is very appreciative-and has read Chesterton extensively and in context. The article is no hatchet-job. But it's hard, in my view, to be quite so dismissive of the anti-semitism after reading it (and Gopnik deals with with minimization of this by many devotees).

Don't assume quite so easily that Gopnik would just simply have to roll over and play dead in actual personal engagement with Chesterton!

But please don't get me wrong. I still find that they is much--very much--to respect and value in Chesterton. And as Gopnik points out, Chesterton himself condemed the Nazis for their treatment of Jews (even if that condemnation was, itself, not entirely free of anti-semitism).
Last edited by Adam Linton on July 5th, 2009, 9:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby Karen » July 7th, 2008, 1:12 am

:smile:

Since you've undoubtedly read more GKC than I have (but not as much as rusmeister, I'll wager :wink:), what do you think of Gopnik's assessment of GKC and anti-Semitism?
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Postby Adam Linton » July 7th, 2008, 2:04 am

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Postby JRosemary » July 7th, 2008, 2:09 am

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Postby JRosemary » July 7th, 2008, 2:28 am

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Postby Adam Linton » July 7th, 2008, 2:34 am

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Postby rusmeister » July 7th, 2008, 4:04 am

"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one."
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Postby JRosemary » July 7th, 2008, 4:28 am

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Postby Adam Linton » July 7th, 2008, 4:51 am

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Postby JRosemary » July 7th, 2008, 4:57 am

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Postby JRosemary » July 7th, 2008, 5:10 am

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