Chesterton's bathwater
Sir: P. J. Kavanagh (Postscript, 9 Febru- ary) says that 'a case could be made, with difficulty,' for Chesterton's anti-semitism; against that hypothetical case, he reminds us that Chesterton was anti-Hitler. May I remind Mr Kavanagh of the chapter in Chesterton's The New Jerusalem which says that the Jew must always go under suspicion, because his first loyalty is to his race, not his country. This does not sound so very different from Hitler's philosophy. I would also remind him of Chesterton's column in The New Witness, 30 October, 1913, which supports the Dublin priests in their refusing charity for starving children from a Mrs Montefiore: 'I say the mere surname- of one of the great Jewish finan- cial houses has probably done more harm than we can easily cure.' And in the Father Brown story 'The Quick One', a choleric country squire is described as follows: 'He had quarrelled alike with the Tory squires and the Radical County Councils; he hated Jews; and he distrusted nearly everything that is sold in shops, or even in hotels. But there was a backing of facts behind his fads.'
I'm not saying we should throw out Chesterton along with his anti-semitism. The Father Brown stories are charming, and the poems are wonderful, and I like a lot of the journalism (though his famous 'geniality' sounds more like hearty smug- ness to me). But, along with those, that fat, boisterous baby did produce a lot of dirty bathwater.
Rhoda Koenig
147 East 36th Street, New York
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