Thursday, January 31, 2008

Chesterton YouTube

G.K. Chesterton in Sight & Sound

H/T: Stephen F.

3 comments:

  1. This might be slightly off topic but I was recently reading an interview of Daniel Tammet who is a autistic savant and also a Chesterton adherent and he mention in his interview how he though that Chesterton might have also been a savant, he states, "The other thing I like is that, judging by the descriptions of his home life, I reckon Chesterton was a savant. He couldn't dress himself, and would always forget where he was going. His poor wife." Could there be any truth to this?

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  2. Dear Cigars,
    I have read Daniel's comments before.
    Although there are some similarities, I think there are differences, too. For example. Chesterton was married. rather than "poor wife", I believe Frances took upon herself some of the more mundane household duties so that her husband would be free to write; which is how he earned his living.

    I cannot agree that Chesterton was a savant. I believe, instead, he was brilliant and a genius. The difference there is a savant gets good at one thing: piano playing, imitations, numbers; while Chesterton seemed to be brilliant at everything having to do with the mind and thinking.

    But I welcome your thoughts, and if you have any defense of Chesterton as a savant, let's hear it.

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  3. Dear Nancy.Brown
    Thank you, for your quick reply, I was a little hasitant about calling him a savant, mostly because of his warm personality and his vast friendships, most if not all savants are not social, but I found it intriguing when Tammet said " I felt that Chesterton was on the higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum himself; certainly I have always felt close to him from reading about his experiences and ideas". He than goes on to mention the various "savant" like abilities that Chesterton had such as, a great memory, also being able to simultaneously write an essay while dictating another to his secretary etc.. Anyways I just found his comments fascinating and thought I'd share them with all the Chesterton fans.

    Thanks for your comment

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