This book, published in 1948, is one of the earliest works of literary criticism of the great Christian writer G.K. Chesterton. Hugh Kenner explores the underpinnings of Chesterton's use of paradox, in particular calling him a "latter-day Aquinas" because of his use of analogy. Kenner also contrasts Chesterton with other writers such as James Joyce. Kenner does provide fair criticism of Chesterton, noting that “Chesterton never achieves a great poem because his poems are compilations of statements not intensely felt but only intensely meant.” The author asserts that Chesterton was primarily a moralist and philosopher, not a novelist or a poet.

Introduction by Marshall McLuhan