Tremendous Trifles

By G. K. Chesterton

Chesterton has been called the Prince of Paradox. His works include journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, fantasy and detective stories. Chesterton has great fun satirizing the Victorian sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes . These 39 tales will delight the reader. Chesterton said that these stories just came to him like sitting still and letting them light on him like flies. Some of these tales are just for fun while other are filled with good common sense.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English literary and social critic, historian, playwright, poet, Catholic theologian, debater, mystery writer and foremost, a novelist. Among the primary achievements of Chesterton's extensive writing career are the wide range of subjects written about, the large number of genres employed, and the sheer volume of publications produced. He wrote several plays, around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories and 4000 essays. Chesterton's writings without fail displayed wit and a sense of humor by incorporating paradox, yet still making serious comments on the world, government, politics, economics, theology, philosophy and many other topics. Chesterton uses his compilation of essays in Tremendous Trifles as a guide to reflect on everyday life. Among this collection: A Piece of Chalk -where a drawing exercise turns into a lesson on the nature of truth, Twelve Men -an explanation on why we have juries made of our peers and not professional jurors, The Dragon's Grandmother -on why we should read fairy tales to our children along with many more endearing reflections.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Classics
• Release date: Feb 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781609773601

G. K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English writer, philosopher and critic known for his creative wordplay. Born in London, Chesterton attended St. Paul’s School before enrolling in the Slade School of Fine Art at University College. His professional writing career began as a freelance critic where he focused on art and literature. He then ventured into fiction with his novels The Napoleon of Notting Hill and The Man Who Was Thursday as well as a series of stories featuring Father Brown.

Reviews for Tremendous Trifles

[sueincyprus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book, which I downloaded free for my Kindle, is a collection of some of GK Chesterton’s journalistic essays, published originally as part of a column.
Each is complete in itself. Most are thought-provoking, some are whimsical, some are downright bizarre.

The overall theme is of ordinariness. Chesterton claims, in the introduction, that he is encouraging his readers to look at everyday objects - ceilings, and pens, and fences - and ponder their significance. This is what he does in the essays which result. Some, I assume, are true anecdotes, others entirely imaginative.

It's not a book to read in one sitting. I found that if I picked it up when I was tired, or if I read an essay that required knowledge of specific places or politicians, I often took in very little. However, other stories appealed strongly; from time to time I came across a sentence or two that struck quite a chord.

As works of social history - this is the nearest the author got to journalling, he claims - these pieces have value, and there are nicely ironic touches that I appreciated. But inevitably it’s very dated, and unlikely to appeal to those of a less reflective, faster-paced generation. I doubt if I'll read it again, but for Chesterton fans it's worth perusing at least once.