The Man Who Was Thursday was interesting. I heard they made a movie adaptation in Europe recently with neo-nazis instead of anarchists. Which sounds like it could be really stupid or really interesting.
I have no idea as well. I love the first third, where I thought they were goin to do a philosophy detective adventure, but by the halfway point, the story had changed to much for my liking.
I like the Father Brown mysteries. I read them with my kid. Fun fact, Gramsci thought they were better than Sherlock Holmes.
Read his biography of St Francis after a recommendation here, not what I expected but I liked it.
Read some of What is wrong with the world. Liked it but got distracted. One section about how women vs men deal with hierarchy and disputes was insightful, especially during the Trump years.
At one point I read one of his mysteries and felt neutral to it. Years later, after embarking more seriously into literature, I read Orthodoxy and enjoyed it, despite some disagreement. Then I listened to a handful of his essays, which are stellar (and on LibriVox), and read The Man Who Was Thursday, which was absolutely wonderful -- probably an all-time favorite for sheer enjoyment in terms of actual literature. Then I listened to The Ballad of the White Horse, which is stunning poetry about Alfred I, the battle of the English and the Danes, courage, faith, and conserving tradition. I thoroughly recommend reading him, and recently bought the Father Brown stories, since those are the last major bit of his work I haven't really tackled as an adult. Borges seemed to really enjoy Chesterton, particularly The Man Who Was Thursday and the Father Brown Mysteries. The idea at the end of The Man Who Was Thursday of nature as a reversed fabric has stuck with me. Very beautiful. It makes me think of Kierkegaard's knight of faith, moving past the faith that must reject the world and into faith capable of affirmation in light of Christ. I don't necessarily agree with everything Kierkegaard said, or quite everything Chesterton believed, but there are some ideas there that are very compelling. I hope you enjoy reading his work -- he really is remarkably talented, and an absolute pleasure to read. God bless.
Oh, you also asked for advice for reading him. I don't really think much advice is necessary, as unlike a lot of writers I think you can really jump right in, and his capacity for producing deeply enjoyable work means that you don't really need to prepare to like it. Orthodoxy is good in its illumination of some of his core ideas; The Man Who Was Thursday is a gripping novel that seems almost like a preemptive answer to Kafka; the essays are great and some very short. Honestly, the order I went in is probably fine. If you want a more casual acquaintance or dont adore nonfiction, maybe go lighter on the essays and start with Father Brown. He'll land best if you like displays of paradoxical British wit, wry conservatism, and love of life.
Borges was a penetrating and wide-ranging reader whose favorite book was The Divine Comedy, one of the most Catholic books of all time, and had a deathbed conversion to Catholicism. His relationships with Christian writers crop up over and over in his fiction and nonfiction -- Cervantes, Shakespeare, Browne, Chesterton, Dante, and many others. His highest stylistic compliment, which he grants Joyce in one review, is that "there are paragraphs of him that are not inferior to Shakespeare or Sir Thomas Browne." You can absolutely disagree with Borges' beliefs or taste, but he had a decades-long and loving relationship with Christian art and metaphysics that affected him deeply, and appears to have gotten to him in the end. Please don't let his occasional jabs at Christianity or philosophical essays fool you into thinking he was a fedora atheist with nothing of beauty or interest to convey. Of course, that said I understand the impulse to preserve a pure relation to the world by interacting primarily or solely with those writers whose views and work are informed by their Christian faith, but remember what Augustine said; just as the Israelites were permitted to take the golden vessels of the Egyptians, so too are we permitted to look at the intellectual labor of the unsaved and turn it to the purposes of Christ.
Fat
He really was.
No he wasn't. That's big bones.
Fair enough. It could be. But I am more interesting in learning about his body of work, not his body.
The Man Who Was Thursday was interesting. I heard they made a movie adaptation in Europe recently with neo-nazis instead of anarchists. Which sounds like it could be really stupid or really interesting.
It makes sense, since all the 'anarchists' are actually feds anyway.
i got filtered by the end of the man who was thursday, no idea why they dressed like that
I have no idea as well. I love the first third, where I thought they were goin to do a philosophy detective adventure, but by the halfway point, the story had changed to much for my liking.
I like the Father Brown mysteries. I read them with my kid. Fun fact, Gramsci thought they were better than Sherlock Holmes.
Read his biography of St Francis after a recommendation here, not what I expected but I liked it.
Read some of What is wrong with the world. Liked it but got distracted. One section about how women vs men deal with hierarchy and disputes was insightful, especially during the Trump years.
his prose is fat and smug like himself
Tell me about his father brown stories? Does Father brown used deduction to solve crime?
Father Brown doesn't use the Sherlock method, but an intuitive understanding of the human soul. Its different but makes for an interesting read.
I thought gluttony is a mortal sin.
At one point I read one of his mysteries and felt neutral to it. Years later, after embarking more seriously into literature, I read Orthodoxy and enjoyed it, despite some disagreement. Then I listened to a handful of his essays, which are stellar (and on LibriVox), and read The Man Who Was Thursday, which was absolutely wonderful -- probably an all-time favorite for sheer enjoyment in terms of actual literature. Then I listened to The Ballad of the White Horse, which is stunning poetry about Alfred I, the battle of the English and the Danes, courage, faith, and conserving tradition. I thoroughly recommend reading him, and recently bought the Father Brown stories, since those are the last major bit of his work I haven't really tackled as an adult. Borges seemed to really enjoy Chesterton, particularly The Man Who Was Thursday and the Father Brown Mysteries. The idea at the end of The Man Who Was Thursday of nature as a reversed fabric has stuck with me. Very beautiful. It makes me think of Kierkegaard's knight of faith, moving past the faith that must reject the world and into faith capable of affirmation in light of Christ. I don't necessarily agree with everything Kierkegaard said, or quite everything Chesterton believed, but there are some ideas there that are very compelling. I hope you enjoy reading his work -- he really is remarkably talented, and an absolute pleasure to read. God bless.
Oh, you also asked for advice for reading him. I don't really think much advice is necessary, as unlike a lot of writers I think you can really jump right in, and his capacity for producing deeply enjoyable work means that you don't really need to prepare to like it. Orthodoxy is good in its illumination of some of his core ideas; The Man Who Was Thursday is a gripping novel that seems almost like a preemptive answer to Kafka; the essays are great and some very short. Honestly, the order I went in is probably fine. If you want a more casual acquaintance or dont adore nonfiction, maybe go lighter on the essays and start with Father Brown. He'll land best if you like displays of paradoxical British wit, wry conservatism, and love of life.
who gives a shit what bore-ges enjoyed. he wasn't even a christian.
Borges was a penetrating and wide-ranging reader whose favorite book was The Divine Comedy, one of the most Catholic books of all time, and had a deathbed conversion to Catholicism. His relationships with Christian writers crop up over and over in his fiction and nonfiction -- Cervantes, Shakespeare, Browne, Chesterton, Dante, and many others. His highest stylistic compliment, which he grants Joyce in one review, is that "there are paragraphs of him that are not inferior to Shakespeare or Sir Thomas Browne." You can absolutely disagree with Borges' beliefs or taste, but he had a decades-long and loving relationship with Christian art and metaphysics that affected him deeply, and appears to have gotten to him in the end. Please don't let his occasional jabs at Christianity or philosophical essays fool you into thinking he was a fedora atheist with nothing of beauty or interest to convey. Of course, that said I understand the impulse to preserve a pure relation to the world by interacting primarily or solely with those writers whose views and work are informed by their Christian faith, but remember what Augustine said; just as the Israelites were permitted to take the golden vessels of the Egyptians, so too are we permitted to look at the intellectual labor of the unsaved and turn it to the purposes of Christ.
Like Father Brown me. Old London is the comfiest setting for a novel.