Magic: A Fantastic Comedy in a Prelude and Three Acts - G.K. Chesterton (1913)

january 8, 2020

Did you know G.K. Chesterton wrote a play? Its existence really surprised me while browsing Project Gutenberg. I know him mostly as the author of The Everlasting Man and lots of other books about philosophy and religion. He's not stuffy, though. His style is so poetic and dramaticized through use of personification, he makes the topics as enjoyable as fiction...at least, from what I remember. It's been 10 years since I read anything else by him.

Apparently, George Bernard Shaw wrote a letter pressuring him into drama because he felt he was wasting his talent on journalist. (According to Chesterton University's Lecture 25: Magic by Dale Ahlquist)
"I shall deliberately destroy your credit as an essayist, as a journalist, as a critic, as a Liberal, as everything that offers your laziness as a refuge, until starvation and shame drive you to serious dramatic parturition. I shall repeat my public challenge to you; vaunt my superiority; insult your corpulence; torture Belloc; if necessary, call on you and steal your wife’s affections by intellectual and athletic displays, until you contribute something to British drama." (also from that link)

You can read Magic, too, at Project Gutenberg. Plays are meant to be performed, though, so hopefully you can find something on Youtube at least.