The Wisdom of Father Brown - G K Chesterton

THE WISDOM OF FATHER BROWN contains twelve tales of the famous clerical detective. In his Autobiography G. K. Chesterton tells how he conceived the idea of creating Father Brown. After lecturing in Yorkshire he was introduced to a Roman Catholic priest, ” a small man with a smooth face and a demure but elvish expression. They became close friends, for the priest had a vast range of knowledge and could talk on vice and crime as authoritatively as on music and painting. ” I never knew a man who could turn with more ease than he from one topic to another, or who had more unexpected stores of information, often purely technical information, upon all.” Chesterton began to invent tales in which a priest ” should appear to know nothing and in fact know more about crime than the criminals,” and he disguised his friend as Father Brown. Fifteen years after their first meeting the priest received Chesterton into the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor John O Connor died in February 1952 at the age of 81; he used to say that his ” native talent for detection was of the slenderest”, but he admitted to Father Brown’s habit of carrying brown-paper parcels and a large and cheap umbrella.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, one of the great literary figures of his day, was born in London in 1874 and died at his home in Beaconsfield in 1936. His immense physical bulk, flapping hat and large cloak, made him almost a figure of legend. He wrote poetry, novels, history, plays, and books of theology, philosophy and travel; his ideas often clashed vigorously with those of Bernard Shaw.