Next Nevada Chesterton Society Meeting: Who is this guy and why havn't I heard of him.
Greetings new and old Chestertonians,
Basking in the afterglow of Mark's delightful presentation, two weeks ago, it's time we got acquainted or reacquainted with our patron G.K. Chesterton. To that end we are going to convene on Wednesday July 2nd at 6:00p at Waldens Coffee House. With the help of some of Waldens fine wines or ales... or coffee or tea, if you prefer, we should be able to jubilantly break open our theme for the evening, Who is this guy and why haven't I heard of him? At this meeting we will discuss a selection of some short writings by Chesterton and about Chesterton to get an idea of who this man was and what it was that he wrote about and thought about. The American Chesterton society has a wonderful site online at http://www.chesterton.org/ which, for this meeting, we will plumb to pull material from.
The Nevada Chesterton Society is kind of a book club. So the idea here is that you read the assigned material before hand, then if you are so inclined you render up all of the funny and insightful things that occur to you for everyone to laugh at think about and discuss. Our evenings are very informal, but will generally involve a lot of quotes, jokes, discussion, poetry reading and maybe even some impromptu acting if we have anyone that is so moved.
Our topic for the upcoming evening is Who is this guy and why haven't I heard of him? and Dale Ahlquist, president of The American Chesterton Society has written an excellent article, by that title, to answer that question. So that is the first piece I'm recommending to everyone.
One of the things Chesterton is still most remarked for is his quotability. There seems to be a string of endless epigrams on all kinds of subjects. Always humorous and insightful they are just the thing to spark a discussion. So the next thing for you to do is to checkout the quotes section of the website and pick out a few good zingers.
Being called to jury duty is sometimes not a particularly inspiring, happening. However to Chesterton it was a singularly farcical and provocative event. After reflecting upon the deprivation of his home of Battersea of all it's C's such as Chesterton and Chizzolpop by the hands of the alphabetic barristers, he settles down to this point about what a Jury is and why we should always keep it.
The trend of our epoch up to this time has been
consistently towards socialism and professionalism.
We tend to have trained soldiers because they fight
better, trained singers because they sing better,
trained dancers because they dance better, specially
instructed laughers because they laugh better, and
so on and so on.
But for more on that you'll have to read the essay. But it's fitting for us to switch from one democratic institution to another and the other is Beer! We are going to hop over to Chesterton's poetry and read The Rolling English Road. I should caution you that while Chesterton exalted wine and beer, this is not a hedonistic worship of drunkenness. Quite the opposite in fact. Don't be content to miss the point. Chesterton says "we should thank God for beer and Burgundy, by not drinking to much of them" And the last stanza of The Rolling English Road positively lifts the the poem into the transcendent. Perhaps a new attendee would volunteer to read this poem, or another, for us.
And to finish up what is the most natural subject after you have finished with your beer... Metaphysics. We are going to discuss a little piece Chesterton wrote upon the provocation of an aspiring enlightener of civilization, come to teach the European rabble how to live in peace like the Asiatic mystic. Chesterton, far from criticizing any intention so good as living in peace, found himself, however in a mood disposed to answer the gentlemen. I'm not sure if it was to the satisfaction of the aforementioned enlightener. I'd venture not, but I think it will certainly be to our satisfaction and rather nicely round off the evening.
In addition to this you may of course comment upon anything you like at this meeting that is Chesterton related.
I'd like to reiterate a my greeting to all new and old Nevada Chestertonians and say that I look forward to seeing all of you again on Wednesday July 2nd at 6:00p at Waldens Coffee house.
Your Servant,
Jim Carrico
Basking in the afterglow of Mark's delightful presentation, two weeks ago, it's time we got acquainted or reacquainted with our patron G.K. Chesterton. To that end we are going to convene on Wednesday July 2nd at 6:00p at Waldens Coffee House. With the help of some of Waldens fine wines or ales... or coffee or tea, if you prefer, we should be able to jubilantly break open our theme for the evening, Who is this guy and why haven't I heard of him? At this meeting we will discuss a selection of some short writings by Chesterton and about Chesterton to get an idea of who this man was and what it was that he wrote about and thought about. The American Chesterton society has a wonderful site online at http://www.chesterton.org/ which, for this meeting, we will plumb to pull material from.
The Nevada Chesterton Society is kind of a book club. So the idea here is that you read the assigned material before hand, then if you are so inclined you render up all of the funny and insightful things that occur to you for everyone to laugh at think about and discuss. Our evenings are very informal, but will generally involve a lot of quotes, jokes, discussion, poetry reading and maybe even some impromptu acting if we have anyone that is so moved.
Our topic for the upcoming evening is Who is this guy and why haven't I heard of him? and Dale Ahlquist, president of The American Chesterton Society has written an excellent article, by that title, to answer that question. So that is the first piece I'm recommending to everyone.
One of the things Chesterton is still most remarked for is his quotability. There seems to be a string of endless epigrams on all kinds of subjects. Always humorous and insightful they are just the thing to spark a discussion. So the next thing for you to do is to checkout the quotes section of the website and pick out a few good zingers.
Being called to jury duty is sometimes not a particularly inspiring, happening. However to Chesterton it was a singularly farcical and provocative event. After reflecting upon the deprivation of his home of Battersea of all it's C's such as Chesterton and Chizzolpop by the hands of the alphabetic barristers, he settles down to this point about what a Jury is and why we should always keep it.
The trend of our epoch up to this time has been
consistently towards socialism and professionalism.
We tend to have trained soldiers because they fight
better, trained singers because they sing better,
trained dancers because they dance better, specially
instructed laughers because they laugh better, and
so on and so on.
But for more on that you'll have to read the essay. But it's fitting for us to switch from one democratic institution to another and the other is Beer! We are going to hop over to Chesterton's poetry and read The Rolling English Road. I should caution you that while Chesterton exalted wine and beer, this is not a hedonistic worship of drunkenness. Quite the opposite in fact. Don't be content to miss the point. Chesterton says "we should thank God for beer and Burgundy, by not drinking to much of them" And the last stanza of The Rolling English Road positively lifts the the poem into the transcendent. Perhaps a new attendee would volunteer to read this poem, or another, for us.
And to finish up what is the most natural subject after you have finished with your beer... Metaphysics. We are going to discuss a little piece Chesterton wrote upon the provocation of an aspiring enlightener of civilization, come to teach the European rabble how to live in peace like the Asiatic mystic. Chesterton, far from criticizing any intention so good as living in peace, found himself, however in a mood disposed to answer the gentlemen. I'm not sure if it was to the satisfaction of the aforementioned enlightener. I'd venture not, but I think it will certainly be to our satisfaction and rather nicely round off the evening.
In addition to this you may of course comment upon anything you like at this meeting that is Chesterton related.
I'd like to reiterate a my greeting to all new and old Nevada Chestertonians and say that I look forward to seeing all of you again on Wednesday July 2nd at 6:00p at Waldens Coffee house.
Your Servant,
Jim Carrico
Posted on: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
posted by Jim | 5:47 PM
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