The Poet and the Lunatics

by G. K. Chesterton

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An eccentric poet acts as spiritual detective in eight thought-provoking tales. Gabriel Gale employs his extraordinary gifts of empathy to solve and prevent crimes perpetrated by madmen. His philosophical police-work forms the basis for captivating explorations of poetry, insanity, and sin - all expressed in the author's characteristic paradoxes and soaring flights of rhetoric. Best known as the creator of priest-detective Father Brown, G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) ranks among the twentieth show more century's most influential writers and thinkers. His prodigious talents embraced a wide range of subjects and genres, from philosophy and religion to history, literary criticism, and fantasy. show less

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4 reviews
Not quite up to Father Brown, but interesting stories. My favorite is the one in which Gale sees a man watching raindrops on a window and pins him to a tree in a storm to teach him that he is not divine.
So much fun! So insightful. So Chesterton.
Aunque se presenta como una novela, en realidad está concebida como una sucesión de epiosidos que se entrelazan, en los que un loco, el poeta y pintor Gabriel Gale, pone a prueba su increíble capacidad para captar la importancia de detalles que permanecen ocultos o apenas visibles a los ojos de los demás. Las técnicas deductivas que emplea el excéntrico Gale para resolver un crimen o anticiparse al delito sorprenderán al lector por la originalidad de sus planteamientos policiales, y también por el sentido del humor que pone en ellos la acerada pluma de Chesterton. En algunos pasajes de El poeta y los lunáticos, Chesterton hace evidentes referencias y críticas mordaces, apenas disimuladas, a políticos e intelectuales de su show more tiempo, contraponiendo, en una más de sus queridas paradojas, la locura clarividente y genial de Gabriel Gale a la supuesta cordrua de personajes públicos, que en muchas ocasiones se confunden con la estupidez. show less

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799+ Works 59,555 Members
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England, in 1874. He began his education at St Paul's School, and later went on to study art at the Slade School, and literature at University College in London. Chesterton wrote a great deal of poetry, as well as works of social and literary criticism. Among his most notable books are The Man Who Was show more Thursday, a metaphysical thriller, and The Everlasting Man, a history of humankind's spiritual progress. After Chesterton converted to Catholicism in 1922, he wrote mainly on religious topics. Chesterton is most known for creating the famous priest-detective character Father Brown, who first appeared in "The Innocence of Father Brown." Chesterton died in 1936 at the age of 62. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title*
Il poeta e i pazzi
Original title
The Poet and the Lunatics
Original publication date
1929
First words
The inn called the Rising Sun had an exterior rather suggesting the title of the Setting Sun.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The children in the corner garden gazed with interest at a gentleman in funeral full-dress behaving in a somewhat unusual manner.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Mystery
DDC/MDS
823.912Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish fiction1900-1901-19991901-1945
LCC
PR4453 .C4 .P64Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish Literature19th century , 1770/1800-1890/1900
BISAC

Statistics

Members
166
Popularity
196,594
Reviews
4
Rating
(4.20)
Languages
7 — Catalan, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
22
ASINs
14