Publisher's Synopsis
The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a novel written by G. K. Chesterton in 1904, set in a nearly unchanged London in 1984.Although the novel is set in the future, it is, in effect, set in an alternative reality of Chesterton's own period, with no advances in technology or changes in the class system or attitudes. It postulates an impersonal government, not described in any detail, but apparently content to operate through a figurehead king, randomly chosen. ...Walford Graham Robertson (8 July 1866 - 4 September 1948) was a British painter, illustrator and author. He donated over 20 works of art to the Tate Gallery, London."In the London of Beardsley and Beerbohm, Shaw and Henry James, Robertson was a promising presence in the art and theater worlds. Today the museums of England owe a debt to his taste and judgment", according to The New York Times. He was an important collector of art, especially William Blake. He wrote plays, novels and a memoir, Time Was. He painted and illustrated books. He designed costumes for Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry. He was twice portrayed by John Singer Sargent. He was sociable, and knew many notable people including Oscar Wilde and artists. He was a source of witty quotes and anecdotes. The New York Times printed a biographical article about him in 2001....Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG (29 May 1874 - 14 June 1936), was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories-first carefully turning them inside out."Chesterton created the fictional priest-detective Father Brown, and wrote on apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognised the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and came to identify this position more and more with Catholicism, eventually converting to Catholicism from High Church Anglicanism. George Bernard Shaw, his "friendly enemy", said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius." Biographers have identified him as a successor to such Victorian authors as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Cardinal John Henry Newman, and John Ruskin.Early lifeChesterton was born in Campden Hill in Kensington, London, the son of Marie Louise, née Grosjean, and Edward Chesterton.He was baptised at the age of one month into the Church of England, though his family themselves were irregularly practising Unitarians.According to his autobiography, as a young man he became fascinated with the occult and, along with his brother Cecil, experimented with Ouija boards.Chesterton was educated at St Paul's School, then attended the Slade School of Art to become an illustrator. The Slade is a department of University College London, where Chesterton also took classes in literature, but did not complete a degree in either subject.
