The setting is a future London where democracy is dead. A little government minister is made king. The boroughs are sudden...
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Dec 08, 2009
Dan
rated it: 
I once read an Amazon list titled "Chesterton is the Besterton." Now I understand why.
The Napoleon of Notting Hill is set in an alternate 1984, one that isn't much different than 1904. Technology stopped progressing and most people stopped caring about government. Democracy has given way to despotism, because one idiot's opinion is as good as the opinion of all of them, to paraphrase the text. All of this changes when Auberon Quin is randomly selected as the King of Eng More...
The Napoleon of Notting Hill is set in an alternate 1984, one that isn't much different than 1904. Technology stopped progressing and most people stopped caring about government. Democracy has given way to despotism, because one idiot's opinion is as good as the opinion of all of them, to paraphrase the text. All of this changes when Auberon Quin is randomly selected as the King of Eng More...
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Jan 11, 2008
D. J.
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A very strange book. I can honestly say that I've never read anything quite like it before and probably never will. It's a rather surreal story that is equal parts philosophical allegory, fantasy, dystopian fiction and satire. It's all of these things and nothing. Totally original in its genius; totally maniacal in its unfolding. This book is not at all typical. There is no basis for comparison, and I'm still reeling from what I've just read.
The story takes place in 1984, bu More...
The story takes place in 1984, bu More...
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Jan 12, 2012
Lisa
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A political satire written in 1904, about a futuristic London of 1984. The king is randomly chosen from among the citizens. Full of subtle wit, but I had somewhat of a hard time following the plot and quite frankly found it a little boring after the novelty had worn off.
Some of my favorite quotes—gives a sense of the writing style--
“The sane and enduring democracy is founded on the fact that all men are equally idiotic. Why should we not choose out of them one as m More...
Some of my favorite quotes—gives a sense of the writing style--
“The sane and enduring democracy is founded on the fact that all men are equally idiotic. Why should we not choose out of them one as m More...
Jul 29, 2011
Leonie
rated it: 
In a futuristic vision of London in which 1984 is much like 1904 but run like clockwork so that everything is very quiet and sombre and war is eliminated, a strange little man with a perverse, satirical sense of humour is randomly elected king. To amuse himself, he recreates the city as a kind of medieval pageant, endowing the boroughs with traditions and ceremonies of his own invention and forcing various respectable types to be Provosts of their area. It all goes wrong when one young man com
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Jul 27, 2011
(24.12.1993), A very strange read, similar to the Man who was Thursday. It was weird, surreal, fighting in the dark, etc. Fortunately, Chesterton makes his point at the end— what is reality? And is life funny? Well, he didn’t impress me with this one. Yes, our common, dull existence is ironic. We forget what we’re living for (some don’t even know). Is it worth dying over your own claimed territory? Is the patriot a hero or a madman?
The most impressive statement in the tale was in regar More...
The most impressive statement in the tale was in regar More...
Aug 03, 2009
F.R.
rated it:
Chesterton's 'The Man Who Was Thursday' is - whilst heartily recommended - one of the most peculiar novels I have ever read. Having just read 'The Napoleon of Notting Hill', I can say it's just as odd but much funnier.
This is the author's take on science fiction, or perhaps a kind of anti-science fiction. Having taken time to dismiss such prophets as H.G.Wells in the opening paragraphs, Chesterton portrays a late 20th century where things are much the same as the early twentiesth cen More...
This is the author's take on science fiction, or perhaps a kind of anti-science fiction. Having taken time to dismiss such prophets as H.G.Wells in the opening paragraphs, Chesterton portrays a late 20th century where things are much the same as the early twentiesth cen More...
Sep 30, 2009
Werner
rated it:
Broadly speaking, this 1904 imagining of the world of the late 20th century and beyond can be called science fiction, but it's strictly a speculation in the social, not the technological, sciences; Chesterton had little interest in technology, --and, indeed, posits a future with no new technology, its material culture unchanged, when the novel opens, from that of his own Edwardian world. It's also an imagining that, in some particulars, could almost be called surreal, and much of it is laced wi
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(7 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
It has some really funny parts and a unique set-up: A utopian future where everyone agrees to be ruled by a randomly selected king (like jury duty), where the jury pool is made up of boring, dependable english people. But the king selected is an absurdist who decides to use his humor to create a large-scale practical joke. He wants to give all the suburbs their own heraldry, customs and rights: basically to see these businesslike modern people re-enact a Renaissance festival. It's extra abs
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Jul 20, 2011
Odd, odd book that has an alternative Victorian Britain reverting to a happy neo-medievalism in which the commonest of goods has become mysterious and beautiful.
This all comes to pass because the hereditary principle has come to an end and an eccentric civil servant is choosen by lot to become the new Monarch. His creative reinterpretation of London place names at a public lecture (for example Hammersmith becomes the place where the smiths beat the knights from Knightsbridge with th More...
This all comes to pass because the hereditary principle has come to an end and an eccentric civil servant is choosen by lot to become the new Monarch. His creative reinterpretation of London place names at a public lecture (for example Hammersmith becomes the place where the smiths beat the knights from Knightsbridge with th More...
Feb 05, 2008
Gabriel
rated it:
Not as elliptical as "The Man Who Was Thursday," but easily as enjoyable. Posited as an attack on the self-seriousness of Wells, and reads like Wells with a sense of humor (and a bit more intelligent as well). Not that I don't like Wells, too.
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Aug 06, 2011
Ben
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Set in 1904, Chesterton writes about England in 1980 with static technology. This is a book about those who consider the world as simply a joke and those with unbridled passion for a cause.
King Auberon Quin, appointed by lottery, restores medieval living to England. One man takes the king's proposal to reinstate region pride and staunchly opposes a trans-London road that traverses his county (Notting Hill consists of one to three of London's streets-perhaps 300 people total in the cout More...
King Auberon Quin, appointed by lottery, restores medieval living to England. One man takes the king's proposal to reinstate region pride and staunchly opposes a trans-London road that traverses his county (Notting Hill consists of one to three of London's streets-perhaps 300 people total in the cout More...
Sep 10, 2011
lamesalmon
rated it:
Using the conceit of a future London splitting into neighborhood-based factions steeped in olde-timey grandeur, this book examines the meaning of nationalism, loyalty, and sincerity. It ultimately concludes that <spoiler>laughter (in the laughing-at or mockery sense) and respect are complementary responses that humanity has (or should have) toward most cultural institutions. This is a fine idea, as far as it goes -- being able, for example, to see the constructed nature of patriotism and n
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Nov 11, 2010
Megan
rated it:
It is 1980 (the future) but everything is pretty much the same as at the turn of the century. Everything has become more gray, more normal, and the king is chosen through alphabetical order, since it is just as good as through birth.
In this humorless world lives Auberon Quin, a satirist, who thinks everything is funny. When he is chosen to be king, he decides to turn the world on its head. He draws up a proclamation, separating London into her different burroughs, making them walled c More...
In this humorless world lives Auberon Quin, a satirist, who thinks everything is funny. When he is chosen to be king, he decides to turn the world on its head. He draws up a proclamation, separating London into her different burroughs, making them walled c More...
Jul 04, 2011
Sparrowfall
rated it:
This book proves to me that a great virtue of conservatism lies in its appreciation of and respect for diversity -- the diversity of local histories and traditions. This sort of diversity can lead to execesses and exclusionary practicies. But when properly viewed and lived (and when other local customs and histories are viewed in the same manner) the small, proud history of a community can be a noble and moving thing because it is so fundamental to our ways of life and it connects us profoundly
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Jul 29, 2011
Dave/Maggie
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Yeah, I like Chesterton. And I love this novel. Written at the beginning of his career, The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a multi-layered allegory and philosophical statement, rolled into one. Published in 1904, …Napoleon… is, as the synopsis states, "a futurist fantasy… set in 1984." Opening with a good humored (but stinging) broadside at futurists and ersatz prophets in general, Chesterton goes on to set the stage: an anemic UK in which the public’s world-weariness and cynicism actuall
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Jun 30, 2010
Jose
rated it:
This is a story about a joke. It is also a story about belief, and the conflict that arises because of that belief. It is a story about how a joke and belief can change a world by changing the minds and spirits of those who inhabit it.
A man becomes King, and treats this responsibility as a joke, capering and buffooning his way through life, realising that in the coming together of great nations a stilted seriousness has long since stifled humour.
In his humour he conceives More...
A man becomes King, and treats this responsibility as a joke, capering and buffooning his way through life, realising that in the coming together of great nations a stilted seriousness has long since stifled humour.
In his humour he conceives More...
Apr 09, 2010
Rodrigo Cesáreo
rated it:
¿Cual fue el problema con este libro? quizá que lo leí en ingles, y que sumado al lenguaje de Chesterton, a veces no sabia si no entendía el idioma o al autor...
Una cosa muy recomendable es que conozcas Londres, yo lo empece ahí, y cuando volví a mi casa lo colgué bastante.
Diria entonces, que no tiene una trama atrapante, pero que igualmente es una historia hermosa (y esa es la palabra correcta), y por eso le deje el puntaje que le deje.
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Una cosa muy recomendable es que conozcas Londres, yo lo empece ahí, y cuando volví a mi casa lo colgué bastante.
Diria entonces, que no tiene una trama atrapante, pero que igualmente es una historia hermosa (y esa es la palabra correcta), y por eso le deje el puntaje que le deje.
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Sep 24, 2009
Scott
rated it:
The great library downtown has been overrun with mold, and nearly all British and American literature is in quarantine ... this could be a very long, slow autumn. But fortunately, last week I found a few stacks that escaped the infection, and on them I came across Chesterton's delightful first novel, The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), a metropolitan fairy tale for grown-ups, set in Peter Pan's own neighborhood.
Unlike Barrie, Chesterton doesn't sprinkle us with fairy dust and whisk More...
Unlike Barrie, Chesterton doesn't sprinkle us with fairy dust and whisk More...
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Jan 24, 2010
Terence
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The first chapter of Notting Hill lays out the author’s theory about the “art of prophecy.” Prophets observe the fads and fallacies of their own eras and project their logical conclusions into the future. Thus, H.G. Wells envisions a secular, scientific utopia where religion and superstition are banished to histories. Or there’s Cecil Rhodes’ vision of a British empire, racially separate from its “dark children” but ruling benevolently over the world. In our own time, I think Chesterton might ha
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Sep 16, 2010
Don Incognito
rated it:
The Napoleon of Notting Hill is one of the best books you've probably never read. Even for some literature majors and heavy readers, probably; it was never required reading for me. Some conservatives are familiar with it. That's how I heard of it--a reference from paleoconservative critic Thomas Fleming.
Written in the 1900s by an Englishman named G.K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a fantasy set in 1984--coincidentally, the same year George Orwell's novel is set in. In this fu More...
Written in the 1900s by an Englishman named G.K. Chesterton, The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a fantasy set in 1984--coincidentally, the same year George Orwell's novel is set in. In this fu More...
Jul 29, 2009
Ayu
rated it:
Even though there are only 129 pages of The Napoleon of Notting Hill, this first novel of Mr. Chesterton contains lots of things worth-contemplating. First published in 1904, it’s set 80 years in the future, which means in 1984 (a year so much explored by authors!). However, different from the visions of Orwell and Wells, Chesterton imagined London in 1984 is similar to the city in 1904. There isn’t any Big Brother or high technology.
One thing has changed though, people do not belie More...
One thing has changed though, people do not belie More...
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Jul 30, 2011
Phil
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Although Chesterton's first published novel, The Napoleon of Notting Hill contained the essence of his political philosophy. Unlike so many of his illustrious contemporaries, Chesterton did not believe in "science" and "progress" as the solution to all social problems.
It is an odd book, and I am sure many a contemporary reader would be turned off by his Victorian/Edwardian style.
My only comment: Reading the text not-too-closely, one can see the plot t More...
It is an odd book, and I am sure many a contemporary reader would be turned off by his Victorian/Edwardian style.
My only comment: Reading the text not-too-closely, one can see the plot t More...
Jan 03, 2011
Morag
rated it:
What would happen if London was a collection of little city states? What would happen if a small and disregarded state (Notting Hill) chose to hold out against the collective might of the others? Since Notting Hill is ruled by a fanatic of the right sort, it is not the pushover that the other leaders expect. This is a somewhat silly book, especially in the early chapters, but in Chesterton's usual fashion, contains some very pertinent observations about the human condition
Jun 18, 2010
Daniel
rated it:
Although Notting Hill is conceptually devoid of any incorrigible archrival it does instead plainly state offered opining. And occurrences, prevailing occurrences, also seem to run deep. This tome could best be summarized through plagiarism although quite honestly I couldn't be bothered.
If there were a theme under guise of a thread running through the very middle parts of the thing it might be the very following: Honour can ultimately prevail eventually. This theme, however, is ne More...
If there were a theme under guise of a thread running through the very middle parts of the thing it might be the very following: Honour can ultimately prevail eventually. This theme, however, is ne More...
Feb 15, 2010
Jeffrey
rated it:
Chesterton's first novel is framed beautifully on both ends. His mockery the human condition is funny, instructive, and never shrill. The middle portion of the book, however, does get dreary and drag on at times. But it's most definitely worth a read, possibly even for its take on the history of heraldry alone.
Bonus fact: This turn of the century foray is set 80 years after its date of composition, 1904. It was a favorite of Eric Blair, who is supposed to have had a copy with him at More...
Bonus fact: This turn of the century foray is set 80 years after its date of composition, 1904. It was a favorite of Eric Blair, who is supposed to have had a copy with him at More...
Jan 03, 2010
Trin
rated it:
If I could think of a non-creepy way to send this book to Misha Collins, I would do so in an instant. Like The Man Who Was Thursday, it’s darkly comic and brilliant, but in a way that feels separate and fresh from the later book. This novel follows what happens when a man who cares only to maximize his amusement is made King of England, and treats this appointment entirely as one great joke. As one can imagine, things get someone out of hand, and the results are both hilarious and horrifying. As
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Feb 07, 2010
Andrea
rated it:
Delightful really, I will never see London buroughs but in terms of emerald and scarlet and crimson, and am shortly making a pilgrimage to Pump Street. Not that I believe in finding the wonder of the world in recreating a violent past...but I do think that apothecary shops should be reclaimed. And grocers.
May 23, 2009
Another short novel from Chesterton, Napoleon bids you enter a world where the neighborhoods of London have become sovereign nations and war against each other. The book is whimsical, inspiring, and riveting! It really is a must read. Though one could say that about nearly everything G.K. wrote...
Dec 23, 2011
arg/machine
rated it:
This surreal Chesterton classic is in the public domain, with a free electronic copy available here.
Jan 30, 2011
Colleen
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This was a really funny book but I would not have read it on my own - I read it for a class. Still, it was definitely worth reading and Chesterton is hilarious. I would recommend this for people who like uniquely funny, short books.
