The Poet and the Lunatics

 

Every year I make a list of books/works I will try to read that year. The Poet and the Lunatics was one of those books, and I just finished it.

I so enjoyed it I wished Chesterton had added a few more tales to the collection!

The book consists of eight stories featuring Gabriel Gale - the Poet - as he encounters various Lunatics. In the process he solves or prevents crimes and mysteries, and helps troubled people.

Father Brown uses his knowledge of human nature gained through Confessions to solves mysteries. Gale uses his own "lunacy" to solve the mysteries and help the people he faces. In one story  - "The Crime of Gabriel Gale" - his friends even think of committing him. 

He is not crazy, but sauntering on the edge of it he is able to see into others' craziness.

One of the stories - "The Shadow of the Shark" - is even an actual murder mystery of the closed room variety, though it takes place on a public beach. 

The stories form a loose thread, not quite enough to be a novel, but clearly developing the Gale and the other characters who keep appearing. 

I also like the fact that Gale focuses on small details that other miss in a seemingly childlike way. He is mocked for this, but his observations often lead to solving the mystery. And I was reminded of Chesterton himself and how he celebrates all the small wonders in the world. The stories also abound in paradoxes - so Chestertonian. And Gale, like Chesterton, is both a poet and an artist. Maybe Chesterton was projecting himself into his fiction? 

As I noted, when I finished the book I wished he had written another story or two involving Gale. Alas, no.

Although I enjoy Chesterton's novels, I enjoy his short stories even more. This book deserves more attention.