Referat Bookreport about The Flying Inn

Bookreport about

The Flying Inn (published in the year 1914)

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, En glish journalist and author, was born in Kensin gton on May 29 in the year 187 . He was ed ucated at St. Pau l´s scho ol, where, at an unu sually early age, he gain ed th e Milton pr ize for English verse. He lef t s chool in 1891 with the idea of studying art. But tho ugh he early dev elo ped, and ind eed retained, a talent f or dr af tsmans hip of a very dis tinctive kind, his natural bent was literary, an d he went through the usual ap pr en ticeship o f f ree-lance jo ur nalism, occas io nal r eviewin g an d work in a publisher´s off ice.

I n 1 0 1 he marr ied Fr an ce Blog g. In 1 0 , af ter h av ing pr od uced a vo lu me of p oems, The Wild K night, which led good critics to expect great things of him as a poet, he became a reg ular co ntr ib utor of sig ned articles to The Sp eaker an d the Daily News. Between 1 and 9 he produced a quantity of wor ks lik e The Ma n Who Was Thur sday (19 8 ) or T he Na poleon of Notting Hill . During the same period Chesterton wrote a lot of verse, so me go od , some bad - non e of it ind if f er en t. At its b est it is v ery goo d indeed. A well-known En glish critic once obs er ved of his light verse that, whereas th ere had been many in all ages who could write comic verse, Ch esterton was one of th e very few who could write comic poetry. The complimen t was deserv ed. His mo re serious verse has been held to give him rank as the last of a gr eat rhetor ical po ets . Like all rh etorical poets he is sometimes tinselly, but his bes t poems show what rhetorical can be at it best. Of th es e ar e Lepa nto 1 1 ) and A So ng of th e Wh eels written during the railway strike of

If a pred iction may be ventured, Chesterton will be rememb er ed longest by

his poems and his work in literary critics. Many will regret that he tried his hand so little at playwriting and spent so much time on polemical journalism. Nearly all will deplore the volume of his output. None will question the reality of his achievement at its highest, or the strength an d pu rity o f h is in f luence. He died in B eaco nsf ield near Lo nd on on Ju ne 4 in the year 3

Plot synopsis: The gr otesque events are released by  Lord Philip Ivywoo d, who wants to clos e all inns in England. Patrick Dalroy, an Irishman, and his friend Hump hrey Pump , who has lost his inn, which has been called " The Flying Inn" are the an tagonis ts of Philip Iv ywood. B ut before the house has been destroyed by subjects of the Lord, Dalroy and Pump are able to es cape with a keg of ru m, a loaf of cheese and with the old sign of the inn, which is very important because yo u will be allo wed to sell alcohol if yo u have a sign . But Lord Ivywoo d is an gr y because these two men will destroy his plans . So Dalroy an d Pump wander around and sometimes they sell some rum . Af ter a short time Dalr oy buys a donkey and a cart. In th e even ing the two men r each an old tu nn el u nd er the land of th e Lo rd . In this n ig ht the

Lord, some of his subjects, the police an d the two men go for each  other. Dalroy an d Pump can escape and Lor d Iv ywo od is hur t b ad ly by a ro und o f shot from Pump s shotgun. Now the Lord is very angry and so he tries to change the law abou t alcoho l. Meanwhile Pump and Dalroy "rent" a car which belongs to Dorian Wimpole and drive to a little to wn called Tow n of Peace . This village belo ngs to a very rich man, whose name is Dr. Wiesen, also a frien d of Lord Iv ywood. Although a new law is cr eated it is imposs ible to imprison th e two men. No w Dalr oy finds out the secr et of Krug´s ch emist´s shops . Krug is selling alcohol but only for the rich person like Mr. Levys on, Philip Ivywood´s secretary. So the two men and a lot of oth er p eo ple f rom Peb blewick ... ( I can t b etr ay th e end of this stor y because the stor y will lose tension if I do s o.)

_{Main Char acters :}

Lord Philip I v yw ood: He is the dark pers on of th is story. His skin is very p ale an d he isn t really a very g oo d lo ok in g man . He is also a ver y strange fan of the Islam. The Islam is ag ainst alcohol so it is n't surp rising that the Lord will clos e all inns in England. He is the most grotesque figure in this novel. He has a lot of subjects like his secr etary Mr . Lev yso n, or his adv iser Misysra Ammon, who is a ver y f anatic Islamist an d who delivers a lot of speeches in the name of Lord I vywoo d. Mr . Evyso n an d the jo urn alist Hibbs I ndessen are the r ight hand of the Lord, who always needs a lot of person f or the confirmation f or something he wants to do . So I vywoo d isn' t a man of his o wn d ecision s which d on' t make him really to a per son o n a hig h social lev el. He nev er sho ws any kind of f eelin gs, so the lord is a very cold p erso n.

Patrick Dalroy: He is an Ir ishman an d he has been in the ar my until he was off ended by a general. S o Dalr oy do es not like the English except his f riend Pump an d a young lady called J oan B rett. He is the hero  of  this sto ry, b ecaus e he is a very g oo d lo ok in g yo un g man. He is ver y tall an d incr edibly stro ng an d hard. He never shows any f eelings eith er, but he isn't such a cold and unscrupulous person like Lord Iv ywood. He is a v ery clever man and h e loves an imals. Dalr oy is the o ppo nent o f Lor d Ivywoo d and so he is also the oppo site in appear ance and in character. He has fantastic red hair, which looks like a f ire, and strange blue eyes. He is in love with Lady Joan Brett, but this woman is a memb er of Ivywoo d´s harem. So metimes he gets very angr y and aggr essive and then it is hard f or him to keep a co ol head.

H u mphr y Pump: He is the best f riend a Dalroy an d I think he is the only p erso n who can really un derstand Patr ick. He is th e owner of th e in n, which has been closed by  the Lord. So he is a victim, like hundreds other, of the new laws and of the Islam. He does not really like the Islam but he doesn't hate it either. He isn't such a good looking guy like

Dalroy and he isn' t an Irishman, but he is a very f ine and clever Eng lishman . He isn t in love with somebo dy, he only lov es his inn an d th e alco hol. Bu t he is n't a man wh o dr ink too much, so h e always has a co ol h ead. Pump is a v er y interesting perso n in this stor y but it is ver y hard to understand the character of him. Although Pump isn't the hero, he as a very impo rtant f igure of this novel.

Jaon Brett: She is the female main character . She has a go od look ing and she is the contact between Lord Iv ywood and Patrick Dalroy. So yo u can say that Lady Brett is a kind of  pivo t in this no vel because the story begin with her and en d with her. She doesn't really like the Is lam, but she has begun to hate the Islam since she has understood that she is living in a harem.

Interp reta tion: C hesterton is well known f or his critics so it is not surp rising that this novel is a political satire on th e one side an d a burlesque on the other. This story is one of lo ts fantasy novels, which express, on an outrély way, Chesterton´s opinion about the political, social and religious developments in the beginning of th e ^th century.

The book has been publis hed in a time, as a very witty discus sion between Ch es terton and his f riend Hilaire Belloc ab out the

"Pr ogr essives" cause a stir. Like everytime Ch esterton use every

opportunity to let out his displeasure about a very restless time, which destroy an d smash the tr adition and which pay tribute to a dangerous individualism. However he does this mainly with a humo ro us an d optimistic tone. But  th is novel which was called "sociolo gical political allegory" is depressed by Chesterton´s inclinations to over emphasise an d to ex aggerate his stories.

The n ovel "The Flying In n" is mainly ab out the Islam and it is also about

new things like cars. Ther e is Lo rd called Philip Iv ywood who wants to close all inns because he is a fanatic Is lamist. But the story shows that the Lord is a very weak person and that he is not able to administer his land. He always need advisers f or a confirmation. So I think this is one of the firs t problems in this novel. An other, I think th is is the most important theme, is th e problem with the right religion. Lord Iv ywood is obsessed by the opinion to convert the whole England to the Islam. He has a lot of s ubjects and each of them are obsessed too. Misysra Ammo n is one of the bes t f riends of the Lord, but it is not surprising if yo u know that he is a preacher of the Islam and that he is main ly the ad viser of Philip Iv ywood. It looks like that Ammo n is in fluencing Lord Ivywood becaus e Philip is an Englis hman and I don not believe that an En glish can have such id eas. On the other side ther e is Patr ick Dalroy and his f riend Humphry Pump who fight a battle against the Lord an d his laws. This fight is hardly to win but Dalroy and Pump have won th e f ight b ecaus e Lord I vywoo d allows Kr ug to sell alco hol. Dalr oy opens the secret and so the Lord has los t and has to f ear for his life. There is also a

little love th eme between  Jaon Brett, the niece of the Lo rd , and Patrick Dalroy. It is very hard to describe this theme becaus e you near ly have no indications for it, except a little passage on the end.

To sum up th e story is very interesting and easy to read because the

lang uage of Ch es ter to n is r ath er moder n.

Pers onal com ment: I do not love this book but I th ink that it is very in ter es tin g alth oug h some passage ar e v er y b orin g. For ex ample the f irst chap ter is not so good th at I can say I' m thrilled. This is so because Misysra Ammon deliver s a speech on the beech. He is talkin g abou t the names of the En glish inns. He has the opinion that all inns , without any ex ceptio n, h av e no t an  English name, they have o nly an  or iental  name. He says also that inns would not build to sell C hris tian alco holic drinks but to sell the antialcoholic Islamic drinks . This pas sag e is only a listing of f acts and names. You can hard ly follow the story and so it is very b or in g. Bu t oth er ch ap ter s, e.g . ch ap ter 1 5 and chapter 6 , ar e so lo vely that I can not stop read ing. There is rather more action and ther e is not only a simple listing of something. For example in chapter 15: Dalroy and Pump meet Dorian Wimpole, who is th e owner of a very good car. Dorian is an poet an d he has given the or der to s top the car because he believes that Dalroy will do something to the donkey. So Dorian star ts a conversation with the two men and the two men show their interes t about the car. This pas sag e is mo re humorou s than the f irst chapter becaus e ther e are lots of word jokes. I think one of the best passage is that where Dorian is talkin g to the donkey while Dalroy and Pump ar e driving away with Dorian´s car. One another very good text is where a lot of person g ive a repo rt abou t an ano nymous sig n, which is f ro m Pu mp s inn . On ce you can see it on ce you can no t see it. So ther e are lots of dif f erent rumours in the daily newsmagazine. The drinking songs, which are collected in th e book of  poem which is called Wine, Water a nd So ng" are very famo us. I think that ar e th e best passage of the whole novel. Each dr ink in g so ng is dif f er ent and ev er y sho ws anoth er f eeling o f Dalro y or of Pump. E. g . at th e end of th e no vel there ar e  some son gs which sound like a battle cr y.

"Oh , be caref u l, Lo rd I vywoo d, Lor d I vywo od

If we get you , it will not be very good for you."

To sum up I can maintain   that the hole story is perfect, with the exception of some pas sag es. Bu t I th ink we can expect that f rom a scriber with th e fame of a very well know poet. Chesterton is know in the whole world for his Father Brown " - stor ies, which ar e on e of the best detective stor y. So yo u can see that Ch esterton can also write

"normal" novel. At th e end ther e is nothing els e that I can do, with one

ex ceptio n. I can only r eco mmend the n ovel f or ever yb ody, wh o wan t to read something other th an Thrillers or Action.