Chesterton Motifs in the Works of S.L. Frank

Abstract

The article considers the reception of the ideas of G.K. Chesterton by S.L. Frank: (1) direct quotes from Chesterton in Frank’s writings; (2) Frank’s reproduction of the Chestertonian ideas without reference to the writer; (3) the coincidence of two intuitions without borrowing. Motives of the second and third types are con­sidered for the first time. It is shown that the main source of borrowing for Frank is Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. Frank’s use of the Chesterton concept of “common sense” is noted: both thinkers insist that it is the religious worldview that recog­nizes both the visible and invisible layers of being that is “common sense”, while the materialistic worldview is the result of reduction, “narrowing of the spiritual horizon”. The constructions of Frank and Chesterton converge in emphasizing the beingness of the world and man and in the theme of the absolute ideal as a condition of social progress. The article states, that Сhesterton ideas appears in the writings of Frank in the expatriate period, when religious topics are becom­ing important for him. Engaging the argumentative moves of an English Chris­tian apologist mainly takes place in texts where Frank himself addresses the apologetic problems: The Downfall of Idols, Religion and Science, God With Us, but can be also traced in Frank’s key metaphysical works The Incomprehensible and Reality and Man.