THE FRATERNAL TWINS

by Ralph McInerny

In a way that can be said of few other writers, both Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) and Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) are inexhaustible. This makes devoting an issue to the two of them both easy and impossible. The ease comes from the countless attractive angles of entry; the sense of impossibility comes from realizing that the best one can give is a sampling. Will it be sufficient to attract readers still unacquainted with what George Bernard Shaw called the Chesterbelloc? It goes without saying that aficionados will be disappointed. But perhaps even they will find here and there in this issue something to alleviate the pain induced by our inadequacy.

Who better than Marvin O’Connell to write on Belloc the historian? Who better than Joe Sobran to write on both? More than any other contemporary journalist, Sobran edges toward classification with Belloc and Chesterton. An issue without Father Schall is a melancholy event, but it would have been a crime if he had been absent from this one. He ponders the depths and impact of Orthodoxy. Michael Morassutti reflects on Belloc with keen knowledgeability, and Robert Royal introduces Platitudes Undone.

Bob Miner recounts the role that Chesterton played in his conversion and Ellen Rice takes note of a strange absence.

Our columnists have risen to this occasion as to few others. Janet Smith creates in the smithy of her soul fresh reasons to like Chesterton; Gerry Bradley helps us understand the delight we take in Chesterton; and Jim Hitchcock reflects on Chesterton and the detective story.

Where, you will ask, is the inadequacy in this? How copious, you will demand, can a cornucopia be? Perhaps you’re right.