Throughout the 111 years that have passed from the time when the first short story was published: The Blue Cross, the protagonist’s candidness lasts in the plots with his acute and calm reflections and unusual adventures, always in line with the ethical characteristics and limits inspired by Irish priest John O’Connor (1870-1952).

According to critics, Chesterton, through the priest, enjoyed rejecting the official version of what occurred and showed his creative skills in at least fifty texts or so that he wrote in the last few years, texts which, besides being literary works, turned into successful audiovisual hits.

In his stories, the author achieves balance in the character’s behavior, different from Sherlock Holmes’ aristocratic air, Hercules Poirot’s friendly and mundane nature, and the Victorian way of behaving shown by Jane Marple, all of them full-time or occasional detectives, according to the cases involved.

With Father Brown, the writer conveys spirituality -which in his life was an active component-, his character is a chunky naive-looking priest with an umbrella, an image played on film by renowned actors, such as sir Alec Guinness.

Walter Connolly played the part in 1934 in the movie Father Brown, detective, the first time that the character designed by Chesterton appeared on film, and beginning in the 1970’s the priest became a product of TV series welcomed by European audiences with a good rating.

The work of writer and journalist GKC -his nickname- is extensive, he left for universal culture 90 books and numerous articles and is included among the intellectuals who rejected political and social injustice.

Taken from Orbe

By Lázaro César

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