CHESTERTON, GILBERT KEITH. Irish impressions. *$1.50 (3½c) Lane 914.15
20–1624
In this collection of papers the author, in his characteristically discursive fashion, gives his impressions of the Irish character as an almost paradoxical combination of visionary dreamer and practical peasant. He emphasizes the fundamental differences between the English and the Irish out of which arise many if not all the tragic mistakes made on both sides. The contents are: Two stones in a square; The root of reality; The family and the feud; The paradox of labour; The Englishman in Ireland; The mistake of England; The mistake of Ireland; An example and a question; Belfast and the religious problem.
“Neither his book nor his visit indicates any real appreciation of the almost agonizing seriousness of the issue between his country and Ireland.” E. A. Boyd
− Ath p1397 D 26 ’19 400w Booklist 16:198 Mr ’20
“The title of Mr Chesterton’s book, ‘Irish impressions,’ is apt; the author gives the temper of Ireland rather than direct information, yet his conclusions agree closely with those reached by historians, such as, for example, Professor Ernest Barker and Edward R. Turner. Mr Chesterton has caught the spirit of the Irish. His entertaining volume should be read not by itself but in connection with others.” N. J. O’C.
+ − Boston Transcript p6 F 25 ’20 1150w
“The Chesterton of ‘Orthodoxy’ and ‘Heretics’ has indeed suffered a war-change. His recent ‘Short history of England,’ however, gave us a glimmer of hope for him which this latest book confirms. There is, however, little that is new or valuable said here about the eternal Irish question, little that has not been said as well or almost as well by others before.”
+ − Cath World 111:540 Jl ’20 180w Ind 104:66 O 9 ’20 340w