Gaiman, Chesterton, Borges

[poliphilo]

One of the things that interests me about Gaiman is that he's a Chesterton buff. Coraline has an epigraph from Chesterton and Neverwhere- which is the other thing of his I've read- is full of echoes of Chesterton- in particular of the Napoleon of Notting Hill. As someone once said of someone else, Chesterton is damn good to steal from. He was this big, prodigal talent- a lazy genius- who threw out ideas all the time and never worked them through- who never did any research and never really finished anything. Read a novel, story, poem or essay of his and it feels like you're reading a first draft- which is almost certainly what it is. Also he's been forgotten, so you can steal from him without people realising you're stealing. Borges was another Chesterton buff. He did carefully what Chesterton did carelessly.

Comments

[mamadar.livejournal.com]

Chesterton is one of those writers that I find immensely convincing--while I'm reading him. He's this big jovial bully who joshes you into agreeing with him, only later on you realize you don't agree at all, but you never tell him that. *g* Anyway, he's awfully entertaining.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

The character of Fiddler's Green, in Gaiman's Sandman, is another variation on the Chesterton theme. If you wanted to follow this up, I think - I think - that his role is most substantial in The Doll's House.

original novel ideas!

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

yo dad, sent you a partial rewrite of Dawn (by email), changes at the end, if you want to read that instead might be better, and useful.