Wednesday

Chesterton Short(s)

The 18.5 (volume 18, fifth issue) of Gilbert arrived recently. It's pretty amazing that this little magazine keeps plugging along. When I was editing it, someone told me that the average life of such niche magazines is something like three years. It's a testament to the relentless Chestertonian campaign that is Dale Ahlquist and his stalwart editor, Sean Dailey, who took the reigns from me a long time ago (12 years or more). If you don't subscribe, consider supporting the little endeavor.

Anecdote from the current issue:

Alice Meynell pronounced G.K. Chesterton the greatest living Englishman. "Preposterous," replied Harriet Monroe. To Rebecca West, Chesterton was 'condescending and abhorrently fat." To Henry James, an unspeakable sort of elephant. "An old fogey," added Ezra Pound. What is mainly interesting in his breezy study, The Edwardians, is to watch author John Patterson's fascination with Chesterton grow through the book. He fails ultimately to solve the puzzle, however.