Page 334 - DENG502_PROSE

Prose Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University

Notes
Unit 31: G.K. Chesterton-On Lying In Bed:
Introduction and Detailed Study

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
31.1 Text—On Lying in Bed
31.2 Summary
31.3 Key-Words
31.4 Review Questions
31.5 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Discuss the life and works of G.K. Chesterton
• Introduce the essay On Lying in Bed

Introduction

G. K. Chesterton was one of the dominating figures of the London literary scene in the early
twentieth century. 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. “He said something about everything and he said it better than anyone else,”
declared Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chester Society, on the society’s Web site. 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.
Chesterton began his literary career as a manuscript reader for a London publishing house, but he
soon moved into writing art criticism. 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. Before long, people were taking notice of his work. Ian Boyd explained 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.”

Chesterton’s first published books were of poetry, seemingly a far cry from his
column-writing. But Boyd noticed a “close connection between his poetry and his
everyday journalism.”

Boyd concluded: “In this sense, T. S. 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

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