Friday, December 18: Bandersnatches
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METAPHYSICS and FATHER BROWN
by Steve Steinbock
For the past few weeks, I’ve been knee-deep in G. K. Chesterton, which as far as things to be knee deep in, is not a bad thing. Being who I am, I’ve been steering toward the detective stories rather than his Christian writings. But somewhere there’s a connection, and that is the matter I’m trying to get my head around.
In his introduction to The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown, Martin Gardner (an agnostic mathematician) wrote that with Father Brown, Chesterton became the first to bring metaphysics into detective fiction.1 I think I understand what Gardner meant, but I’m counting on you, dear reader, to set me straight.
Being a product of the 1960s, the term metaphysics has been tainted by Castaneda and Baba Ram Dass.2
It was the ancient Greek thinkers who coined the term metaphysics, referring to subjects that came after physics.3
The picture I’m getting, dear reader—and I’m sorry if I’m being too esoteric––is that in the mind and in the writing of Chesterton, everything is part of a bigger pattern. Crime, humor, surprise, right and wrong-–-they are part of the same thing, whatever that thing is. Funny and frightening are the same thing as far as our neurons are concerned. Say “boo” to a baby and watch the reaction if you doubt me. Perhaps it’s paradox that that connects everything for Chesterton. The driving force behind Father Brown is the paradox Chesterton witnessed one day at a Cambridge pub when he found that his friend Father O’Connor had a far deeper understanding of the depths of human depravity than was obvious to an observer.
What’s that, Watson?
On Monday, James referred you to the great story about the Great Detective with the famous observation about “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” As many readers are aware, I write reviews for a magazine with a focus on audiobooks. On Wednesday the magazine posted a guide to the Great Detective that features access to David Timson’s reading of three stories, one of which is the story mentioned by James. Enjoy, and Happy Hanukkah!
- “It has often been said, and justly, that Chesterton was the first to perfect the metaphysical mystery.” The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown pg. 5 [↩]
- Not to mention Timothy Leary, Albert Hofmann, Dali’s melting clock, Lucy in the Sky, and you get the psychedelic picture [↩]
- Specifically, to Aristotle’s books of philosophical discourse that came after his books on Physics. [↩]
“I am a journalist and have no earthly motives except curiosity and personal vanity.” -G.K Chesterton
No connection to the column. I just like the quote.
The Father Brown stories were often wonderful. Off the top of my head I remember the Scandal of Father Brown, the Sign of the Sword, and of course, the Blue Cross.
St. Thomas Aquinas believed that a sincere search for the truth (even secular truth) would lead men to a better understanding of the nature of God. I suppose that would include crime detection as well, and perhaps therein lies the metaphysical connection for Father Brown.
Chesterton’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” is on the web (that’s where I’m reading it!) And I love Fr. Brown for the “Miracle Problems” in the stories. Speaking of dogs the first Brown story I read was “The Oracle of the Dog.”