Twelve Types : A Collection of Mini-Biographies

Ihs Press, December 2002. Paper Back. New. Perhaps in accord with his own induplicatable type, Chesterton delivers far more in this slim volume than a mere biographical telling of various literary, religious and historical figures. First published in 1902 and reprinted here with most of the original formatting intact, these essays help us see how very particular (and often peculiar) types have contributed to the deepening of orthodox faith -- simply by doing their work as writers, artists, royalty, reformers and, well, saints (we speak of Francis here). Chesterton's cast is not conclusive, but it does shed a rather invigorating light on both familiar and forgotten characters: Charlotte Bronte's genius in asserting ''the supreme unimportance of externals''; Robert Louis Stevenson's ''pleasure in life, in every muscular and emphatic action of life, even if it were an action that took the life of another''; Lord Byron's true stature as ''an unconscious optimist'' despite the uncompromising consciousness of his own pessimism; King Charles the Second's ability to attract us morally though he had ''scarcely a moral virtue to his name''; the cultish and false simplicity of Tolstoy's moral agenda, in contrast to his brilliant portrayals of the human experience; our need for Sir Walter Scott and his appeal of ''natural manliness'' which ought be absorbed into art lest it become a ''mere luxury and freak.'' Once again, Chesterton's striking and rather comic commonsense engenders both hope and humility in our struggle to live the faith.