Lewis on reading Chesterton (before he became a Christian):
I did not need to accept what Chesterton said in order to enjoy it. His humor was of the kind which I like best – not “jokes” imbedded in the page like currants in a cake, still less (what I cannot endure), a general tone of lippancy and jocularity, but the humor which is not in any way separable from te argument but is rather (as Aristotle would say) the “bloom” on dialectic itself. The sword glitters not because the swordsman set out to make it glitter but because he is fighting for his life and therefore moving it very quickly.
-C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p.191
Possibly Related posts:
Entries (RSS)
June 6th, 2009 at 3:31 AM
Delightful quote (I’m going to have to reread Surprised By Joy). And is it just me, or does Lewis sound very Chestertonian himself in that quote?
The brilliant intellects of GKC and CSL are enough to keep me intellectually humble for the rest of my days. They were both simply amazing.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:32 PM
They both sure are brilliant. They’re both early 20th century Brits too, so they had really similar backgrounds really. I’ve come a fair amount of people that are as smart or smarter than either of them, but few can throw in as much wit as Chesterton and few can get across the point in as few words as Lewis. He can boil down a 10-page discussion to 2 pages and still keep all the good points intact. Good writing.