The secret of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton

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G. K. Chesterton
Translated by: DIPTAJIT MISRA, Illustration: SUBINOY DAS
Publication : Akkhor dot XYX, Bangladesh

T H E S E C R E T O F F A T H E R B R O W N

G.K. Chesterton, in full Gilbert Keith Chesterton, (born May 29, 1874, London, England—died June 14, 1936, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire), English critic and author of verse, essays, novels, and short stories, known also for his exuberant personality and rotund figure.

Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s School and later studied art at the Slade School and literature at University College, London. His writings to 1910 were of three kinds. First, his social criticism, largely in his voluminous journalism, was gathered in The Defendant (1901), Twelve Types (1902), and Heretics (1905). In it he expressed strongly pro-Boer views in the South African War. Politically, he began as a Liberal but after a brief radical period became, with his Christian and medievalist friend Hilaire Belloc, a Distributist, favouring the distribution of land. This phase of his thinking is exemplified by What’s Wrong with the World (1910).

The Secret of Father Brown - Book Cover

Father Brown, fictional character, a priest who is the protagonist of a series of detective stories by G.K. Chesterton. The character was based on a priest whom Chesterton had met who had acquired a deep understanding of human evil by listening to confessions. Father Brown appears clumsy and naive, with a face “as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling.” His appearance, however, disguises a clever mind, penetrating insight, a gift for careful observation, and a deep understanding of human evil. His methods are quite opposed to police procedures, for he is a kind man whose sympathies often extend to suspected malefactors. Indeed, it is by identifying with suspects and by attempting to think and feel as they do that he is able to capture criminals. Father Brown first appeared in Chesterton’s The Innocence of Father Brown (1911). The character was depicted in several films as well as a 1973 British television series.