Selection box

Week 9: Tremendous Trifles – G.K. Chesterton

Recommended by: Brendan Lyth

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." So said Forrest Gump in one of the most-quoted film lines from the last twenty years or so. A similar principle applies to Tremendous Trifles, a wonderfully alliterative title which captures a range of Chesterton's journalism taken from The Daily News. A wonderfully gifted figure, Chesterton was poet, philosopher, theologian, author and critic in one.

The writing covers a huge range of subjects, some as trifling as the title suggests, others of greater seriousness, and often going through half a dozen ideas in as many pages. Opening article 'A Piece of Chalk' is a perfect example, starting with a story about the author's literal quest for a piece of chalk to draw with, touches upon the finer points of virtues and vices, and finally reflects on the English landscape and character. Another piece is not dissimilar in theme to J.R.R. Tolkien's famous essay On Fairy-Stories. Other pieces cover travails with taxi drivers, travels around Europe, and a curious dream where he meets both Charles Dickens and Father Christmas.

The style reminds me somewhat of his contemporaries George Orwell and Stefan Zweig, taking very much a personal and anecdotal viewpoint on things in a way that much modern journalism does not. Indeed, as he says in 'A Great Man', "People accuse journalism of being too personal; but to me it has always seemed far too impersonal." 

Some may not like the first person viewpoint, the whimsy of certain pieces or the slightly scattergun approach to subject matter, but then it is a collection of articles, it doesn't have a central narrative thread or topic of focus that holds it together. In much the same way that a box of chocolates or a bag of pick 'n' mix is best enjoyed a few at a time, the same principle applies here. Dip in, chew over what you pull out, and repeat a couple of times. Digesting the book in large chunks simply leads to the columns blurring into one and individual flavours being lost. Savour what is here slowly and the experience will be all the sweeter for it.