I've been meaning to read Manalive since hearing about it on the Pints with Chesterton podcast. The doctor's reaction to his hat being ruined reminded me of a quote from "The Flying Stars":
“Well, well,” observed Crook, airily, “don’t let’s quarrel. There are lower jokes than sitting on a top hat.”
Dislike of the red-tied youth, born of his predatory opinions and evident intimacy with the pretty godchild, led Fischer to say, in his most sarcastic, magisterial manner: “No doubt you have found something much lower than sitting on a top hat. What is it, pray?”
“Letting a top hat sit on you, for instance,” said the Socialist.
Also, this quote—“Yes, yes,” he said impatiently, “we admit the chasm. The old cruel codes accuse a man of theft and send him to prison for ten years. The tolerant and humane ticket accuses him of nothing and sends him to prison for ever. We pass the chasm.”—reminded me of the plot in That Hideous Strength.
I remembered a fair bit of the book's plot from the podcast, including the High Court of Beacon, but I was surprised at just how realistic and sensible the argument was for handling the matter privately rather than letting it turn into a public scandal. I also liked the detail of the color names being a hint. I did wonder briefly just how they got all of those testimonies, but I guess the most straightforward answer might be that Innocent Smith always thought at least a couple steps ahead and collected them as he went, or shortly after he left a place, and asked for the letters to be sent to his wife. All in all, it was a very delightful read.
Also, I almost forgot that I meant to read one of the Qoheleth fics. The name looked familiar and I realized I'd read and saved a copy of his other Giver fic about the Annunication. I loved the poetry of Reminders and the sense of the world coming to life again, in spite of the Elders' fears.
“Letting a top hat sit on you, for instance,” said the Socialist.
I do love it when authors use epithets at just the right moment <3 And the doctor is just the right kind of person to prove Crook's point ^_^ (intertextuality for the win, there).
Also, this quote—“Yes, yes,” he said impatiently, “we admit the chasm. The old cruel codes accuse a man of theft and send him to prison for ten years. The tolerant and humane ticket accuses him of nothing and sends him to prison for ever. We pass the chasm.”—reminded me of the plot in That Hideous Strength.
I'm not familiar with the plot of That Hideous Strength, (although from a quick summary-search it seems I ought to change that ^_^); I love how the quote is a display of: I (Character) know what your (other character's) point is, I acknowledge it, it's not super helpful.
re: how they got the testimonies -- to take the doylian/watsonian approach, both at once, I suspect it's his wife that does the work of seeking out the testimonies -- Chesterton's habit of using his main characters as a mouthpiece is no-where more clear than here, where it seems he has created a fantasy of what he'd like his life to look like, and Chesterton did tend to leave the mundanities of everyday life to his wife (who he deeply loved, and who deeply loved him).
Also, I almost forgot that I meant to read one of the Qoheleth fics. The name looked familiar and I realized I'd read and saved a copy of his other Giver fic about the Annunication
Oh hey! That's another awesome one. Qoheleth is very good at using fanfiction to highlight the truths of the Christian faith.
I loved the poetry of Reminders and the sense of the world coming to life again, in spite of the Elders' fears.
oh yes! <3 I'm very curious to see where it goes next, since it seems like the Head Elder was intending to manipulate things, and it's unclear to me whether she succeeded. ...I don't think she did, but there's that lingering question.
