G. K. Chesterton on Charles Dickens | Dall'Enciclopedia Britannica.

Written by G.K. Chesterton
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Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)—the polymathic poet, philosopher, orator, journalist, superb stylist, and author of such classics as The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Orthodoxy, The Everlasting Man, and the sleuthy tales of the priestly Father Brown—is, like the subject he wrote on for Britannica, a giant of English literature and culture. We may know more about Charles Dickens today than Chesterton did—especially in light of the titillating Ellen Ternan revelations, about the middle-age Dickens’s affair with the teenage girl—but it hardly matters. For who could write better about the English giant than G.K.C. did? What we have here instead is a love letter to what really matters: the novels themselves and the volcanic genius that lay behind them. We reprint below the conclusion to Chesterton’s 8,500-word paean, highlighting what Chesterton saw as Dickens’s ultimate gift to the world. It was published in the inaugural printing of Britannica’s 14th Edition in 1929.

(Traduzione: Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) – poeta, filosofo, oratore, giornalista, eccellente stilista e autore di classici come Il Napoleone di Notting Hill, Ortodossia, L'uomo eterno e i racconti polizieschi del sacerdote Padre Brown – è, come il soggetto di cui ha scritto per la Britannica, un gigante della letteratura e della cultura inglese. Oggi forse sappiamo più cose su Charles Dickens di quante ne sapesse Chesterton, soprattutto alla luce delle rivelazioni piccanti di Ellen Ternan sulla relazione del Dickens di mezza età con l'adolescente, ma questo non ha molta importanza. Chi potrebbe scrivere meglio di G.K.C. sul gigante inglese? Quello che abbiamo qui è invece una lettera d'amore a ciò che conta davvero: i romanzi stessi e il genio vulcanico che li ha ispirati. Riportiamo qui di seguito la conclusione dell'elogio di 8.500 parole di Chesterton, sottolineando ciò che Chesterton considerava il dono più grande di Dickens al mondo. È stato pubblicato nella prima edizione della 14a edizione della Britannica nel 1929).

His [Dickens’s] life was destined to end in a whirlwind of an entirely new type of activity; which none the less never interrupted that creative work which was the in-dwelling excitement of all his days. He wrote one more complete novel, Our Mutual Friend (1864–65), and it is more complete than most. Indeed it is one of the best though not one of the most Dickensian of the Dickens novels. He then turned his restless talent to something in the nature of a detective story, more in the manner of his friend Wilkie Collins; the sort of story which begins by asking a question; in this case a question about the secret and the sequel of the fate of the hero, Edwin Drood. The question will never be answered; for it was cut short by the only thing that could be more dramatic than the death of the hero; the death of the author. Charles Dickens was dead.


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