Basil Howe was written in 1893, shortly after Chesterton graduated from school. In his verse, as in all his writings, his first aim was to comment on the political and social questions of the day.'Ĭhesterton's first novel, the manuscript of which was discovered in a steamer trunk in 1989, was published for the first time in 2001. Eliot 's description of Chesterton's poetry as 'first-rate journalistic balladry' turns out to have been particularly perceptive, since it is a reminder about the essential character of all Chesterton's work. Boyd points to a 'close connection between his poetry and his everyday journalism,' concluding: 'In this sense, T.S.

Ian Boyd explains in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, 'He belonged to that category of writer which used to be called the man of letters, and like the typical man of letters he wrote journalism which included a wide variety of literary forms and literature which possessed many of the characteristics of journalism.'Ĭhesterton's first published books were of poetry. Before long, people were taking notice of his work. When his friends formed a journal, the Speaker, Chesterton contributed a series of articles, and soon began writing for the London Daily News and Bookman as well. Most of Chesterton's literary output was nonfiction, including thousands of columns for various periodicals, but today he is best remembered for his fictional work-a mystery series about Father Brown, a Catholic priest and amateur detective.Ĭhesterton began his literary career as a manuscript reader for a London publishing house, but he soon moved into writing art criticism. 'He said something about everything and he said it better than anyone else,' writes Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chester Society, on the society's website. Not only did he get into lively discussions with anyone who would debate him, including his friend, frequent verbal sparring partner, and noted Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, but he wrote about seemingly every topic, in every genre, from journalism to plays, poetry to crime novels. Chesterton was one of the dominating figures of the London literary scene in the early 20th century.

The ball and the cross by gk chesterton