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Customer Review: Uneven
Someone (Belloc?) said only Catholics and atheists are willing to play their beliefs all the way out. All other spiritual postions are compromise. This amusing novella illustrates the point. The main characters, an ardent Catholic and a committed atheist, wish to engage in a duel to the death in defense of their beliefs. They are continually interrupted by a stream of characters representing all sorts of moral types. Although the subject is interesting, the narrative doesn't flow well: first you have pages of philosophical dialog, and then intervals of action and plot development of varying length. The result is great difficulty in keeping everything straight. Although the book contains the usual GK wit and wisdom, it is not as tightly composed as his better works.
A word about this (Dover) edition: hard to read. The spacing between rows of type is very narrow and the margins are very wide.
Customer Review: Marvelous
Entertaining and thought-provoking, the Ball and the Cross delivers a nice punch of Chesterton in a thoroughly amusing satire. I am continuously amazed at the genius of these beleaguered Englishment - Chesterton, Lewis, Belloc, Tolkien, et al. While the Ball and the Cross doesn't quite rival Lewis' Screwtape Letters in sheer creativity, it does tackle a more subtle theme.
Chesterton's comedic conflict in the triad of Christian/Atheist/Society is heavily relevant to today's Christian/Muslim/Secularist conflict, which I would argue is the defining tension driving world events. It is curious to see how even diametrically opposed Believers can ally against Disbelief or Apathy, or to see how seriously the Agnostic or Apathetic take the threat of sincere Belief.
I was a little stunned by Chesterton's luddite streak as it is expressed in the Devil and his machines, although this is not a surprise considering the turn-of-the-century changes in England, and would seem quite prescient over the next few decades of Total War. Still, given the modern secular alliance with neo-pagan nature-worship, I would probably draw the Devil hugging a tree rather than piloting an airship.
In all a rousing, entertaining jaunt through Chesterton's imagination and philosophy. I agree with other reviewers that Martin Gardner's Foreword should be read Afterward, but it is of great value and well written, and should not be skipped.
Customer Review: Exceedingly good: both witty and profound
When I first began this book, I thought it was a bit boring and rather absurd. By the time I reached the middle I though it was rather witty and absurd. Now that I have reached the end of the book I think that it is extremely witty, profound, and wonderfully absurd. It was one of the most wonderfully rediculous books which I have ever read, ranking only with Chesterton's The Flying Inn in the level of absurdity. Chesterton manages to turn a very serious plot into a very rediculous plot (an attempted sword duel between a Christian and an atheist which takes place all over England, from cities to islands to insane asylums), fills it with witty and profound lines from both lead characters, and sucessgully provides a stunning rebuttal of the popular philosophies of his day (i.e. Nietzche, Tolstoy, etc.). This was my favorite Chesterton book until I read Manalive, and I seriously doubt that is has many rivals (or much competition at all) in the genra of profound absurd fiction.
Overall Grade: borderline A+
Customer Review: Religious and Philosophical Inquiry - and Whimsy Too.
The Ball and the Cross, (1906), G. K. Chesterton's second novel, both entertains and intellectually challenges the reader. Early in the story two diametrically opposed protagonists, Evan MacIan, a devout Catholic and James Turnbull, a passionate atheist, are interrupted by the secular authorities before they are able to carryout a traditional duel by swords. They escape with their swords, but become subjects of a countrywide manhunt and the center of media attention.
Chesterton's absurd plot thinly disguises a witty, profound, and provocative religious and philosophical inquiry, one that resonates with today's readers as well as it did with readers a century ago. (I suspect that not that much has really changed. In our contemporary context non-believers still distrust sincere believers, perhaps even more so given the growth in Moslem extremism, the Arab-Jewish conflict, and Christian activism in American politics.)
The duel is continually postponed due either to the untimely appearance of police, or to unexpected encounters with an eclectic mix of characters, all apparently allegorical representations of one type or another. As the story proceeds, we readers find that the two duelists are more alike than different, as they both hold firm beliefs, in contrast to the secular world around them which has largely embraced relativism and more passive religious convictions.
I suggest that you also visit the other reader reviews as they offer nsightful and interesting perspectives. Chesterton brings out the best in a reader. His stories encourage us, even prod us, to consider and reflect upon profound issues and matters - although he does so in a witty, amusing, even whimsical context. Perhaps Chesterton is saying that religious and philosophical inquiry is simply too serious not to enjoy.
Customer Review: Chesterton at his best
Evan MacIan and James Turnbull. Once you have read this novel, they are part of you: their thoughts are yours; their blood flows through you. But it is not just the two incredible protagonists that stay with you for ever. Father Michael, Professor Lucifer (like it or not): you begin to see the world through all of their eyes, and your own sight is all the clearer for it. This is Chesterton at his best.
Whatever your doctrine, whatever your mind, your spiritual life will be transformed by this book. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy," while wonderful, can be quite inaccessible, as well as being often uninteresting to the non-Catholic mind. But in "The Ball and The Cross," Chesterton's views cannot help but reach you and transform you, whatever you believe. In MacIan's fervent and eloquent speeches on Christianity; in Turnbull's short and terse explanations of atheism; and especially in the old drunk beggar's words of wisdom, Chesterton brings eternal truths into his work with eloquence and style. This book is worth having and treasuring.
Product Description
Chesterton's second novel chronicles a hot dispute between two Scotsmen, a Roman Catholic, and an atheist, whose fanatically held opinions inspire a host of comic adventures. The story's allegorical levels vigorously explore the debate between theism and atheism. Introduction by Martin Gardner.
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