Manalive - Chesterton, G. K.

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Résumé :
First published in 1912, G. K. Chesterton's Manalive is the fascinating and incredible story of Innocent Smith, a man who can be described as a holy fool. Innocent arrives at Beacon House, a London boarding establishment, and breathes new life into the residents with his games and antics. All in one day he creates the High Court of Beacon, decides to elope with one of the residents, and convinces another lodger to declare his love for the landlady's niece. However, the authorities arrive and it is soon discovered that Smith is a suspected criminal who is to be brought up on charges of burglary, desertion of a spouse, polygamy, and attempted murder. The boarding house's residents decide to keep his presence a secret and convene their own High Court of Beacon to determine Smith's innocence or guilt. Smith's trial is a comical affair where curious and hilarious explanations are given for the charges against Smith, proving that he is not a criminal but is instead a lovable, but na?ve and foolish man. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Biographie:
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936), better known as G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the prince of paradox. Time magazine has observed of his writing style: Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories-first carefully turning them inside out. Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown and for his reasoned apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognized the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton, as a political thinker, cast aspersions on both Progressivism and Conservatism, saying, The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an orthodox Christian and came to identify this position more and more with Catholicism, eventually converting to Catholicism from High Church Anglicanism. George Bernard Shaw, Chesterton's friendly enemy according to Time, said of him, He was a man of colossal genius.