- Chesterton, Gilbert K.
What's Wrong with the World.
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, [1910] 1994.
ISBN 0-89870-489-8.
-
Writing in the first decade of the twentieth century in his
inimitable riddle-like paradoxical style, Chesterton surveys the scene
around him as Britain faced the new century and didn't find much to
his satisfaction. A thorough traditionalist, he finds
contemporary public figures, both Conservative and
Progressive/Socialist, equally contemptible, essentially disagreeing
only upon whether the common man should be enslaved and exploited in
the interest of industry and commerce, or by an all-powerful
monolithic state. He further deplores the modernist assumption,
shared by both political tendencies, that once a change in society is
undertaken, it must always be pursued: “You can't put the clock
back”. But, as he asks, why not? “A clock, being a piece
of human construction, can be restored by the human finger to any
figure or hour. In the same way society, being a piece of human
construction, can be reconstructed upon any plan that has ever
existed.” (p. 33). He urges us not to blindly believe
in “progress” or “modernisation”, but rather
to ask whether these changes have made things better or worse and,
if worse, to undertake to reverse them.
In five sections, he surveys the impact of industrial society on
the common man, of imperialism upon the colonisers and colonised, of
feminism upon women and the family, of education upon children,
and of collectivism upon individuality and the human spirit. In
each he perceives the pernicious influence of an intellectual
elite upon the general population who, he believes, are far
more sensible about how to live their lives than those who
style themselves their betters. For a book published almost
a hundred years ago, this analysis frequently seems startlingly
modern (although I'm not sure that's a word Chesterton would
take as a compliment) and relevant to the present-day scene.
While some of the specific issues (for example, women's suffrage,
teaching of classical languages in the schools, and eugenics)
may seem quaint, much of the last century has demonstrated the
disagreeable consequences of the “progress” he
discusses and accurately anticipated.
This reprint edition includes footnotes which explain Chesterton's
many references to contemporary and historical figures and events
which would have been familiar to his audience in 1910 but may be
obscure to readers almost a century later. A free
electronic edition
(but without the explanatory footnotes) is available from
Project Gutenberg.
October 2007 