Literary The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. Chesterton

[sun surfer]

This is the MR Literary Club selection for July 2014. Whether you've already read it or would like to, feel free to start or join in the conversation at any time! Guests are also always welcome.


Goodreads • Amazon UK • MR Library, mobi • MR LIbrary, epub


So, what are your thoughts on it?

[fantasyfan]

One of the things I love about G.K is his wonderfully lateral way of looking at the ordinary;

A good example of this is in that first story:

"Facts," murmured Basil, like one mentioning some strange, far-off animals, "how facts obscure the truth. I may be silly—in fact, I'm off my head—but I never could believe in that man—what's his name, in those capital stories?—Sherlock Holmes. Every detail points to something, certainly; but generally to the wrong thing. Facts point in all directions, it seems to me, like the thousands of twigs on a tree. It's only the life of the tree that has unity and goes up—only the green blood that springs, like a fountain, at the stars."

[issybird]

Fantasyfan beat me to that quote! Coincidentally, I've been working my way slowly through the entire Doyle œuvre about Holmes and I find I don't really like it and for just the reasons this quote implies. They're too carefully structured to admit of only one possibility and it all seems so silly and artificial to me. These frothy and antic stories hold a lot more appeal. Although if I had been Rupert or Swinburne, I'd have been tempted to knock Basil's block off if he had laughed at me one more time, offering no explanation for what was going on.

Reading Chesterton, I always wonder about the religious undercurrents, but I'm not sure there are any, or at least any fully-formed, here - an early work, of course. And yet there seem to be elements of the Holy Fool about Basil and I thought this article seemed apropos. The Holy Fool is more an orthodox notion than western, but Basil of course is an eastern saint and St. John Chrysostom also gets a mention.

[desertblues]

Hmm, do I have the right book, bought it awhile ago from Amazon? The first two chapters are about St Franciscus of Assisi.....not very easy to read through...for me that is as I don't like to ponder about religion very much.
Perhaps the one on Mobile Read? Must go and have a look.

[fantasyfan]

Originally Posted by issybird

Fantasyfan beat me to that quote!

Reading Chesterton, I always wonder about the religious undercurrents, but I'm not sure there are any, or at least any fully-formed, here - an early work, of course. And yet there seem to be elements of the Holy Fool about Basil and I thought this article seemed apropos. The Holy Fool is more an orthodox notion than western, but Basil of course is an eastern saint and St. John Chrysostom also gets a mention.

That's a very interesting article, Issybird. Thanks for sharing it.

As I read it, I was reminded that the archetype of The Fool in the Tarot card deck may encapsulate something of the concept of the Holy Fool. Charles W. S. Williams seems to use it this way in his novel The Greater Trumps.

[Bookpossum]

Yes desertblues, try the Mobile Read copy - it sounds as if you have something quite different.

I was utterly captivated by the first story and am continuing to enjoy the quirkiness of the whole idea. Chesterton has some lovely turns of phrase, as for example the opening sentence of The Singular Speculation of the House-Agent:

Lieutenant Drummond Keith was a man about whom conversation always burst like a thunderstorm the moment he left the room.

A few pages later, the description of the house-agent of the title concludes:

He wore a shabby black frock-coat, a sort of semi-clerical tie worn at a very unclerical angle, and looked, generally speaking, about as unlike a house-agent as anything could look, short of something like a sandwich man or a Scotch Highlander.

issybird, I think that's a great insight about Basil being a "holy fool" and thanks for the link to the interesting article.

[desertblues]

The MR copy of the book begins wit a story about Basil. The one I bought from Amazon has this contents:

Chapter 1 - THE PROBLEM OF ST. FRANCIS

Chapter 2 - THE WORLD ST. FRANCIS FOUND

Chapter 3 - FRANCIS THE FIGHTER

Chapter 4 - FRANCIS THE BUILDER

Chapter 5 - LE JONGLEUR DE DIEU

Chapter 6 - THE LITTLE POOR MAN

Chapter 7 - THE THREE ORDERS

Chapter 8 - THE MIRROR OF CHRIST

Chapter 9 - MIRACLES AND DEATH

Chapter 10 - THE TESTAMENT OF ST. FRANCIS'

.........I am slightly baffled......

[issybird]

Whoops! I got a free copy from Amazon.com and it's the right book. Be careful with the MR uploads; one is missing a chunk of text.

[Billi]

Issy, could you tell us which one?

I've just startet it (still first story) and until now it seems indeed really queer!

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by issybird

Whoops! I got a free copy from Amazon.com and it's the right book. Be careful with the MR uploads; one is missing a chunk of text.

Alright....free copy from Amazon it is.
MR- copy out of the window, followed by the paid Amazon( 0,99 $).
Thanks for the info.
And then I can start reading..........
Mumble, mumble, mumble...where is this world going to, coming from etc, etc........

[issybird]

This is the free book from Amazon.

This is the MR download that's missing a chunk of text.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks issybird. I have just finished reading the book, which was the Alex Bell ePub version. It didn't seem to be missing anything, so far as I could tell.

I'll mull over the book a bit more before I put up any comments, as it's getting late here so I'm off to bed.

[ccowie]

Mine was a Project Guttenberg version and I can't remember where I downloaded it from.

I read the book last night and enjoyed it immensely. The last story was definitely my favourite and I really enjoyed the long and detailed fight scene followed by Basil's polite conversation with his securely tied captives. Oh, and I thought Basil strayed a little from his Holy Fool persona in the last story with his clever comments on the "fall of man" and Darwin.

Confession time: this is the first Chesterton I've ever read. I definitely would like to read some more, preferably novels. Can someone recommend what they think are his best.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ccowie

Confession time: this is the first Chesterton I've ever read. I definitely would like to read some more, preferably novels. Can someone recommend what they think are his best.

Definitely The Man Who was Thursday. It's a captivating thriller with beautiful prose and lots of plot twists and gives some insight into the international political situation right before the start of the Great War.

[Bookpossum]

I enjoyed the quirky overarching idea of the book, as well as the individual stories. I didn't enjoy the one about Professor Chadd as much as the others, though I'm not sure why. Maybe the joke was starting to wear a bit thin. It seemed to me that having Basil persuade the Library to pay him was not quite the same as if the Professor had found his own way of earning a living, as did the other members of the Club.

Thanks for the recommendation of The Man who was Thursday, issybird. I have it but haven't read it yet. I read some of the Father Brown stories some time ago, but decided it was better to intersperse them with other books rather than reading them all together.