The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G.K. Chesterton

(The MIT Press, 2023)

Reviewed by Duncan Lawie

This fresh publication as part of the Radium Age series posits The Napoleon of Notting Hill as worthy of fresh examination. It is a fun read, but a strange avatar of science fiction. Madeline Ashby’s new introduction shows where ideas in the book are reflected in subsequent history, as well as situating the novel in a literary context. Insightfully, she tells us that this tale “suggests that the best outcome is something that must be strived for, and that succumbing to the seemingly harmless aesthetic whims of a tyrant is still [none the less] succumbing to a tyrant.”

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Review from BSFA Review 23 - Download your copy here.