Chesterton

I've always thought "The Man Who Was Thursday" was a bit Wolfean (albeit less subtle than Wolfe) in it's attempts at deliberately misdirecting the reader, and perhaps also in the really weird twist everything takes at the end. -Rostrum

I think Chesterton's influence is more philosophical than literary. Wolfe has stated many times his vast admiration for Chesterton and Kipling (as well as Mark's Engineering Handbook), and I think that a lot of what he does at shorter lengths could be described as writing Kipling stories with a Chestertonian worldview. Wolfe's portrayed universe is admittedly far darker in tone than Chesterton's. But then, I think Borges once said that Chesterton is really closer to Kafka than anyone thinks, he just hides it well. As to obvious influences, I think Wolfe's essays and interviews have a very Chestertonian feel--Wolfe's always saying G. K.-ish things that at first seem silly, then on reflection appear to possibly be profound truths. And his fondness for ideas like the return of cavalry or MX missles on wooden boats is very Chestertonian in the "cheat-the-prophet" sense. In fact, such ideas seem to me a combination of Kipling's fondness for railroads & other engineering feats and Chesterton's love of the wildly implausible... And if Silk in NIGHTSIDE isn't Father Brown redux, I'll eat my hat.