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Manalive pits a group of disillusioned young people against Mr. Innocent Smith, a bubbly, high-spirited gentleman who literally falls into their midst. Accused of murder and denounced for repeatedly marrying his wife and attempting to live in various houses, Smith prompts his... Read Full Overview

Manalive (1912) is a book by G. K. Chesterton detailing a popular theme both in his own philosophy, and in Christianity, of the "holy fool", such as in Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Cervantes' Don Quixote. Perhaps the most light-hearted of all Chesterton's "serious" works, Manalive... Read Full Overview

A masterpiece in two parts, G.K. Chesterton's Manalive is a commentary on the "Holy Fool" trope that shows up in many classic texts such as Don Quixote. The book follows the fun loving Innocent Smith who, after bringing joy to a boarding house, is charged with a series of crimes... Read Full Overview

"I don't deny," he said, "that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die. I only say that at certain strange epochs it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, actually to remind men that they are not dead yet." G.K. Chesterton, Manalive... Read Full Overview

A wind sprang high in the west, like a wave of unreasonable happiness, and tore eastward across England, trailing with it the frosty scent of forests and the cold intoxication of the sea. In a million holes and corners it refreshed a man like a flagon, and astonished him like... Read Full Overview

Introduction by Dale Ahlquist

This classic novel by the brilliant G. K. Chesterton tells the rollicking tale of Innocent Smith, a man who may be crazy-or possibly the most sane man of all. Arriving at a dreary London boarding house accompanied by a windstorm,... Read Full Overview

In Manalive we follow the madcap adventure of Innocent Smith. Innocent Smith is a man who keeps the commandments but breaks all the conventions, and while doing so he shows us just how absurd those conventions are. Follow him as he breaks into his own house, and then carries... Read Full Overview

Manalive (1912) is a book by G. K. Chesterton detailing a popular theme both in his own philosophy, and in Christianity, of the "holy fool", such as in Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Cervantes' Don Quixote.This is a book in two parts. The first, "The Enigma of Innocent Smith", concerns... Read Full Overview

A wind sprang high in the west, like a wave of unreasonable happiness, and tore eastward across England, trailing with it the frosty scent of forests and the cold intoxication of the sea. In a million holes and corners it refreshed a man like a flagon, and astonished him like... Read Full Overview

Innocent Smith is a man full of boyish exuberance. Deliberately defying convention, he is involved in a series of madcap pranks. He picnics on rooftops, breaks into his own house and has an affair with his own wife. This unconventional behaviour makes him mistrusted and extremely... Read Full Overview

Innocent Smith comes into town on a breath of wind and breathes new life into a household. When the house is at its happiest, Smith is accused of crimes and must stand trial.

Step into the world of 'Manalive, ' a 1912 masterpiece by the incomparable G. K. Chesterton where the vibrant and eccentric Innocent Smith takes center stage. Smith, who sees the world as an unexplored playground filled with wonders waiting to be discovered, is determined... Read Full Overview