Gilbert Editorial

"The Nightmare--One Hundred Years Later"

If you own a copy of the book The Critical Judgements, you can read the contemporary reviews of The Man Who Was Thursday (TMWWT). Then, like today, some readers "got it" and some don't.

I remember Dawn Eden's talk at ChesterCon07, and she was talking about the influence of TMWWT. As she spoke, she held a copy of TMWWT in her hand. I was sitting in a place where I could see her hand, and the book, and I noticed that the book was able to lay flat (spine broken?), had many dogears, seemed to have underlines and notes on every page, and in every way showed signs of frequent reading. Dawn quoted to us several passages that had made a difference to her life.

Which brings me to a curious fact. The passages she quoted, were not the ones I underlined and remember. I have different sentences that mean much to me. And this is a great thing about Chesterton. He speaks to many different people in many different ways--using the same story. Amazing.

So, back to the editorial. Here we are, just completing a conference and an issue on a story that is 100 years old. Wonderful. Before the conference, we had a book discussion on line here about Thursday, and we discussed why it was called a Nightmare, which the editorial touches upon as well.

So, do you know what we are celebrating at ChesterCon08? The 100th Anniversary of Orthodoxy. I think maybe in about April, we'll start a book discussion of that, in preparation for the conference. Anyone interested in that?