February Meeting Information
Our February meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4 at 6:00 p.m. at Walden's Coffeehouse.
Please join us to discuss two Father Brown mystery stories from the book The Innocence of Father Brown: "The Sign of the Broken Sword" and "The Queer Feet". Both are easily available on the internet, or you can purchase the annotated volume from the American Chesterton Society.
We left off our January meeting with one member opining that following the ten commandments would lead to prosperity, a sort of Calvinist idea with which GKC would strongly disagree. In "The Queer Feet", Father Brown solves a crime committed by the famous Flambeau against the Twelve True Fishermen, an exclusive dining club of prosperous gentlemen. We will discuss, among other things, Father Brown/GKC's piercing commentary on the tenuous relationship between repentence and riches!
And in "The Sign of the Broken Sword", again a seemingly successful and even heroic general is revealed to be something other than his reputation would suggest. Where does a wise man hide a leaf? asks the priest detective. You'll find out, as Father Brown solves a riddle of history rather than a crime freshly committed. Note that in between The Queer Feet and this tale, Flambeau repents of his life of crime and becomes a detective; hence in this story, Father Brown and Flambeau are friends.
We will discuss the above selections in light of a brief essay by GKC entitled "How To Write a Detective Story," in which GKC sets forth some of his ideas on writing detective fiction, an endeavor at which he confesses up front to have failed at a good many times. You be the judge! See if our two selections follow his own criteria. The essay is available at the American Chesterton Society's web site.
Please join us to discuss two Father Brown mystery stories from the book The Innocence of Father Brown: "The Sign of the Broken Sword" and "The Queer Feet". Both are easily available on the internet, or you can purchase the annotated volume from the American Chesterton Society.
We left off our January meeting with one member opining that following the ten commandments would lead to prosperity, a sort of Calvinist idea with which GKC would strongly disagree. In "The Queer Feet", Father Brown solves a crime committed by the famous Flambeau against the Twelve True Fishermen, an exclusive dining club of prosperous gentlemen. We will discuss, among other things, Father Brown/GKC's piercing commentary on the tenuous relationship between repentence and riches!
And in "The Sign of the Broken Sword", again a seemingly successful and even heroic general is revealed to be something other than his reputation would suggest. Where does a wise man hide a leaf? asks the priest detective. You'll find out, as Father Brown solves a riddle of history rather than a crime freshly committed. Note that in between The Queer Feet and this tale, Flambeau repents of his life of crime and becomes a detective; hence in this story, Father Brown and Flambeau are friends.
We will discuss the above selections in light of a brief essay by GKC entitled "How To Write a Detective Story," in which GKC sets forth some of his ideas on writing detective fiction, an endeavor at which he confesses up front to have failed at a good many times. You be the judge! See if our two selections follow his own criteria. The essay is available at the American Chesterton Society's web site.
Posted on: Tuesday, January 13, 2009
posted by Sharon | 12:37 PM
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