So much tweed. Glorious, glorious tweed.

Tweed, a cigar, a few fingers of scotch makes me a happy, happy bear.

Yes, the Edwardian era (especially!) was swathed in tweed ... and it definitely needs a revival, especially for the fat man.

We *must* make it so!

Here Here!!

Get busy, guys - and take lots of pictures! :D

The photo of Chesterton looking over his shoulder through the window is so, so sexy. You DO realize he's looking right at ME, don't you? :D

But of course! :D

Great post. I especially like the cartoon of Chesterton performing a handstand.

It's inspiring me to do a post on fat men's silhouettes. Thanks for reading! :D

I love that photo of him as a younger man, with those delicious curls...

Don't you want to run your hands through them? :D

I love the whimsical handstand one too. And I agree on the subject of pigs. The old fashioned fat breeds of pig are just wonderful to look at. The new breeds of pig, who are naturally very lean (and interestingly, much less good-natured) are a travesty that is linked with our modern human tastes for thinness for both ourselves and our animals.

And also linked to our modern inability to appreciate traditional food. I remember one Christmas when I made it my project to find a ham with the *fat left on* (so I could stick cloves and pineapple in it.) Now it is easier to find "heritage" pork, but the mainstream wants meat lean to the point of dry tastelessness.

This was delightful to read (and see!). I love the descriptions of the pigs. We raised pigs for 4-H a few times. They're fascinating animals, though when we had them I was much younger and smaller (and I'm no giant now at 5ft 1in!), and I liked them okay but was mostly wary, and afraid to feed them. They were a scrappy lot, and seemed to derive some kind of convivial joy out of pushing at the feeding trough (I think snout-jousting to see who could get the most of the shared meal was a sort of bonding for them... in hindsight, we didn't know a lot about the mental and emotional needs of pigs at the time, and they were probably bored, so meals were likely the intellectual as well as the gastronomic highlight of the day). At any rate, with their low center of gravity, nobody can knock you over quite as effectively as a good 200 pound pig, and boy does it ever hurt when they subsequently step on you!

But to say that pigs are fat and ugly (which many people do) is just a gross lie about them that I cannot get behind. Even the "fat" pigs look just as they should, and I agree with Chesterton here, they're lovely animals. They have graceful lines, and they're actually quite athletic. They can't run the mile and they can't leap. They weren't designed for that. But nothing can push or dig (and they dig by rooting with their NOSE, c'mon, can you push that many tons of earth with YOUR face that fast?) with the power of a pig in his prime. They're also fierce and terrible fighters, which is why it's wise to tame your farmyard pigs. Large-scale hog farming (where such personalized raising is not a viable option) is a dangerous business indeed.

Anyway, excuse me for waxing on about the power and grace of the pig, I had meant to comment on Chesterton. That final photo is really wonderful, and what an imposing figure he cuts! His face is positively regal in that shot. It's interesting to see the stern side of one who seems to have been so whimsical and artistic. Larger than life, indeed!

I wonder if Chesterton was affected by a certain amount of melancholy. Sometimes it's hard to be whimsical all the time ...

He suffered bouts of depression. :( But from what I can tell it was often creative depression, in the sense that as he worked through an issue important to him, the depression functioned as a mourning of the ideas or whatever he was giving up to get to this new level of understanding. Which hurt just as much as any depression, but at least you get something out of it, if you will.

He also preferred to do his drawings on brown paper, like the brown of a paper sack from the grocery store. He said he never understood why people insisted that white was a neutral background - "white is a color, as a matter of fact it is all colors" I believe was part of his argument in favor of his preference.

Sheryl

Wow. What an amazing man.

Have you ever read one of his novels, "The Man Who Was Thursday?"

Alas, no; he's on my "to-read" list but I haven't gotten to him yet. He's one of the writers I've always had a hunch I would appreciate more in my mature years. Of course, I'm 48 now --- probably time to get around to him! *g*

"The Man Who Was Thursday" has a delightful fat man character, although he's *not* what you would expect.

*adds to list*

Thanks for the reccy, I'll definitely seek it out soon. I'd read it anyway, but I particularly need something like that right now. I've been reading a lot of Amelia Peabody books I was given, and although generally I like her writing I do get tired of the way that fat people in her stories are nearly always either villains or buffoons. I could use a delightful fat character as a change of pace.

He always carried a sword cane, in great hopes of being able to have the opportunity to thwart bad guys someday. :D

Sheryl

What a character. I love his dramatic capes, too; apparently his wife Frances came up with them.