(urth) Possible Source for the "White Fountain"
David F. Driscoll
driscoll at grinnell.edu
Sat Mar 11 19:36:09 PST 2006
Hi! This is my first post to the list, but I've read a lot of the
archives in the past. I did a search and didn't find anything about this,
so hopefully I'm not going old ground here.
In one of Chesterton's Father Brown stories, the action revolves around a
tall, handsome sun-god worshipper (the priest Kalon) who sets up shop in
an American-style office building in London. He's presented very
negatively and often contrasted with the short, round-faced Christian
priest Father Brown. At one point, he stands on a balcony and prays:
"O sun," cried the prophet, "O star that art too great to be allowed among
the stars! O fountain that flowest quietly in that secret space that is
called space. White Father of all white unwearied things, white flames and
white flowers and white peaks. Father, who art more innocent than all thy
most innocent and quiet children; primal purity, into the peace of
which--" (G.K. Chesteron, "The Eye of Apollo," in _The Father Brown
Omnibus_ p. 181).
Wolfe has surely read this passage - his fondness for Chesteron is well
known, and the Father Brown stories are some of Chesteron's most famous
works. Of course, the phrase "White Fountain" is never explicitly said
here, but we get a "White Father" with a comparison to a fountain in the
previous sentence. It's at least a possibility - I'm not entirely sure
it's correct.
David Driscoll
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