History YMMV / GKChesterton

* CriticalResearchFailure: Invoked intentionally. In the first ''Literature/FatherBrown'' story "The Blue Cross", Flambeau tries to convince Father Brown that he is a fellow Catholic priest, but then in conversation tries to argue for moral relativism. This is a running theme for Creator/GKChesterton: other Father Brown stories have him catching impersonators out by ignorance of Anglican High Church/Low Church distinctions, or attacking reason as a supposed fellow Catholic priest. Also, ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday'' has an anarchist disguised as a bishop similarly give himself away by attacking reason, along with another impersonating a colonel acting in the manner of a comically stereotyped BloodKnight.

* OneTruePairing: Chesterton once wrote an essay regarding a hypothetical marriage between Don Juan of Austria (no relation to the famous lover [[NamesTheSame of the same name]]) and Mary Queen of Scots. His focus was not particularly on the "bohemian" details of their romance but on the fittingness of such a pairing and the historical-political implications across time.

* HilariousInHindsight: In ''The Everlasting Man'', Chesterton describes Thor of Myth/NorseMythology as more a superhero than a real god, decades before Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would turn ComicBook/{{Thor}} into an actual comic-book superhero.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Invoked intentionally. In the first ''Literature/FatherBrown'' story "The Blue Cross", Flambeau tries to convince Father Brown that he is a fellow Catholic priest, but then in conversation tries to argue for moral relativism. This is a running theme for Creator/GKChesterton: other Father Brown stories have him catching impersonators out by ignorance of Anglican High Church/Low Church distinctions, or attacking reason as a supposed fellow Catholic priest. Also, Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday has an anarchist disguised as a bishop similarly give himself away by attacking reason, along with another impersonating a colonel acting in the manner of a comically stereotyped BloodKnight.
* HilariousInHindsight: In "The Everlasting Man", Chesterton describes Thor of Myth/NorseMythology as more a superhero than a real god, decades before Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would turn ComicBook/{{Thor}} into an actual comic-book superhero.

* CreatorWorship: The American Chesterton Society’s view of him is all but ''hagiographic''. Taken UpToEleven with the movement-- which is even gaining some traction among Catholic church leadership-- to have him officially ''[[PatronSaint canonized]]'' for his writing, which would make it ''literally'' hagiographic. They’re a VocalMinority, though.

* ValuesDissonance: Chesterton's attitudes on race, gender and nationalities were actually moderate for the early twentieth century, but some (particularly in regards to the Jews) will often strike a sour note for modern readers in the midst of his most enjoyable works. His religious views will strike the reader as either refreshingly forthright or offensively aggressive. His opposition to progressivism, including essentially reactionary approaches to socialist welfare programs (such as government-mandated health insurance), science, and women's suffrage may irritate modern progressives, while his radical disdain for individualism, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik Realpolitik]]'', nationalist expansionism, and capitalism may provoke modern conservatives (except the aforementioned American Chesterton Society).

* CriticalResearchFailure: In the first ''Literature/FatherBrown'' story "The Blue Cross", Flambeau tries to convince Father Brown that he is a fellow Catholic priest, but then in conversation tries to argue for moral relativism. This is a running theme for Creator/GKChesterton: other Father Brown stories have him catching impersonators out by ignorance of Anglican High Church/Low Church distinctions, or attacking reason as a supposed fellow Catholic priest. Also, Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday has an anarchist disguised as a bishop similarly give himself away by attacking reason, along with another impersonating a colonel acting in the manner of a comically stereotyped BloodKnight.

* ValuesDissonance: Chesterton's attitudes on race, gender and nationalities were actually moderate for the early twentieth century, but some (particularly in regards to the Jews) will often strike a sour note for modern readers in the midst of his most enjoyable works. This is mainly accidental, being connected less with racial theories (which he despised) than with a distrust of internationalism and big combines in general. His religious views, on the other hand, were entirely conscious, and will strike the reader as either refreshingly forthright or offensively aggressive. His opposition to progressivism, including essentially reactionary approaches to socialist welfare programs (such as government-mandated health insurance), science, and women's suffrage may irritate modern progressives, while his radical disdain for individualism, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik Realpolitik]]'', nationalist expansionism, and capitalism may provoke modern conservatives (except the aforementioned American Chesterton Society).

** Chesterton actually defended the Jews against the growing antisemitism in the West, in fact he was one of the few people who thought the Nazis were bad ''before'' WWII (which he didn’t live to see). Some of his reputation as an anti-Semite comes from confusion with his cousin, A K Chesterton, who was a fascist political activist and one of the most extreme Nazi-style conspiratorial anti-Semites among the British inter-war far right.

* HilariousInHindsight: In "The Everlasting Man", Chesterton describes Thor of UsefulNotes/NorseMythology as more a superhero than a real god, decades before Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would turn ComicBook/{{Thor}} into an actual comic-book superhero.

** Chesterton actually defended the Jews against the growing antisemitism in the West, in fact he was one of the few people who thought the Nazis were bad ''before'' WWII. Some of his reputation as an anti-Semite comes from confusion with his cousin, A K Chesterton, who was a fascist political activist and one of the most extreme Nazi-style conspiratorial anti-Semites among the British inter-war far right.

* CreatorWorship: The American Chesterton Society’s view of him is all but ''hagiographic''.[[note]]And now that they've taken up the cause for his sainthood, it's become ''literally'' hagiographic[[/note]] They’re a VocalMinority, though.

* CreatorWorship: The American Chesterton Society’s view of him is all but ''hagiographic''. They’re a VocalMinority, though.

* ValuesDissonance: Chesterton's attitudes on race, gender and nationalities were actually moderate for the early twentieth century, but some (particularly in regards to the Jews) will often strike a sour note for modern readers in the midst of his most enjoyable works. This is mainly accidental, being connected less with racial theories (which he despised) than with a distrust of internationalism and big combines in general. His religious views, on the other hand, were entirely conscious, and will strike the reader as either refreshingly forthright or offensively aggressive. His opposition to progressivism, including essentially reactionary approaches to socialist welfare programs (such as government-mandated health insurance), science, and women's suffrage may irritate modern progressives, while his radical disdain for individualism, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik Realpolitik]]'', nationalist expansionism, and capitalism may provoke modern conservatives.

* ValuesDissonance: Chesterton's racial and national attitudes were actually very moderate for the early twentieth century, but some (particularly in regards to the Jews) will often strike a sour note for modern readers in the midst of his most enjoyable works. This is mainly accidental, being connected less with racial theories (which he despised) than with a distrust of internationalism and big combines in general. His religious views, on the other hand, were entirely conscious, and will strike the reader as either refreshingly forthright or offensively aggressive. His opposition to progressivism, including essentially reactionary approaches to socialist welfare programs (such as government-mandated health insurance), science, and women's suffrage may irritate modern progressives, while his radical disdain for individualism, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik Realpolitik]]'', nationalist expansionism, and capitalism may provoke modern conservatives.

* OneTruePairing: Chesterton once wrote an essay regarding Don Juan of Austria (no relation to the famous lover [[NamesTheSame of the same name]]) and Mary Queen of Scots. His focus was not particularly on the "bohemian" details of their romance but on the fittingness of such a pairing and the historical-political implications across time.

* ValuesDissonance: Chesterton's racial and national attitudes were actually very moderate for the early twentieth century, but some (particularly in regards to the Jews) will often strike a sour note for modern readers in the midst of his most enjoyable works. This is mainly accidental, being connected less with racial theories (which he despised) than with a distrust of internationalism and big combines in general. His religious views, on the other hand, were entirely conscious, and will strike the reader as either refreshingly forthright or offensively aggressive, [[YourMileageMayVary according to taste]]. His opposition to progressivism, including essentially reactionary approaches to socialist welfare programs (such as government-mandated health insurance), science, and women's suffrage may irritate modern progressives, while his radical disdain for individualism, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik Realpolitik]]'', nationalist expansionism, and capitalism may provoke modern conservatives.

** Chesterton actually defended the Jews against the growing antisemitism in the West, in fact he was one of the few people who thought the Nazis were bad ''before'' WWII. Some of his reputation as an anti-Semite comes from confusion with his cousin, A K Chesterton, who was a fascist political activist and one of the most extreme Nazi-style conspiratorial anti-Semites among the British inter-war far right.

** Chesterton actually defended the Jews against the growing antisemitism in the West, in fact he was one of the few people who thought the Nazis were bad ''before'' WWII.