G. K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), usually abbreviated G.K., was an English writer and public figure. Though he was a prolific (and frequently prolix) writer, he is remembered best for three relatively early works: The Man Who Was Thursday and Orthodoxy (Chesterton's apologia for his Christian faith), both written in 1908; and The Innocence of Father Brown, the first collection of short stories about the priest Father Brown, written in 1911. Chesterton is also notable as a convert from Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic church. Though his Catholic tendencies are discernible from his early career, he did not actually convert until 1922. Chesterton was a major influence on C. S. Lewis, a Christian apologist of the 20th century.

Chesterton's writings are uneven. As a mystery writer, Chesterton's stories in The Innocence of Father Brown take the popular locked-room mystery in an interesting direction, but the later Father Brown stories lose their tightness. Chesterton is a frustrating read, because even in his flabbiest fiction there are sections of crisp prose and limpid description.