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The Man Who Was Thursday

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 11,311 ratings · 1,201 reviews

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, T...more

Paperback, 198 pages

Published October 9th 2001 by Modern Library (first published January 1st 1908)

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Nov 14, 2012 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, classic-challenge, classic-literature, personal-favourites, humorous, quirky, want, faith, g-k-chesterton

The Man Who Was Thursday is my first venture into the writing of G.K. Chesterton having discovered the existence of this writer earlier in the year. Of course the first I heard of him was in reference to his Father Brown stories, one volume of which I have on my to read stack. I then heard that his most recognised book is this one, so naturally I organised to read it.

The Man Who Was Thursday is truly a classic detective tale, yet it is also an allegory. I didn't realise the book was an allegory...more
The Man Who Was Thursday is my first venture into the writing of G.K. Chesterton having discovered the existence of this writer earlier in the year. Of course the first I heard of him was in reference to his Father Brown stories, one volume of which I have on my to read stack. I then heard that his most recognised book is this one, so naturally I organised to read it.

The Man Who Was Thursday is truly a classic detective tale, yet it is also an allegory. I didn't realise the book was an allegory when I begun reading until I read up on the book and discovered that fact. However on finishing this book I can clearly see the allegorical nature of this book.

What did I love about this book? I loved the whit and humour in the writing. I loved the philosophical asides in the novel and the way in which G.K. Chesterton views humanity. I loved the uniqueness of this book. I may have seen the plot twists way before they happened but I still found everything else wholly unique.

The plot of this novel follows one man, a Philosophical Policeman/Poet as he goes undercover to infiltrate a bizarre group of anarchists. These anarchists each have a name of the week as their title and the main protagonist, Gabriel Syme, is given the title of Thursday. However he quickly discovers that it may be harder to hide who he is in the group than he realises as he discovers some surprises about the anarchists themselves. As for the allegory of the book? It seemed to me that G.K. Chesterton was suggesting that Christian believers are undercover agents if you will in the world and must go nearer to the devil at times than they do. What I mean by that is that I know of churches that believed dancing or drinking slightly was an evil and I think G.K. Chesterton is saying that Christian believers need to be less aloof and religious and more down to earth. That is what I saw in this book anyway...

I will admit I didn't 'get' the entirety of this book. Maybe study would be needed to fully grasp the hidden complexity of this novel. Do I recommend it for everyone? Not for everyone. I recommend it for those who like an allegory, a mystery or a laugh. I recommend it for those who want to read about the many faces we as humans wear to hide our true identities from the anarchists around us.

Postscript:

Others have suggested that the book was about people experiencing pain and hurt in order to also experience joy. I may have to re-read this book or those sections. Is it dated? A little, but still highly readable. It's very surreal and crazy, still can't stop thinking about it's ending and what it all means...

Post-postscript:

I have since reading this days ago discovered more about G.K. Chesterton. He's apparently a noted literary theorist, poet, novelist, short story writer, a friend of George Bernard Shaw, influencer of C.S.Lewis with his apologetics work and witty journalist. He is known as the 'prince of paradox'. I look forward to reading more of his work!(less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Paul rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

They say that LSD was first synthesisterised in 1938, so it couldn't be that. But opium was imbibed in British society as we know from Thomas de Quincy up to Sherlock Holmes, so I'm going with opium.

This strange novel is a phantasmagoria which begins as a surrealistic spoof of Boy's-Own detective adventures in which our hero infiltrates the central council of the evil anarchists who are bent on destroying human society. Gathering more absurd elements (elephant chases through central London, medi...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Praj rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

‘Humanity crushed once again’. ‘50 dead, 120 injured’. ‘Grave face of terror strikes again’. Familiar headlines scream through the pages of the newspapers each time a bomb goes off annihilating blameless lives. Through teeth gritting resilience, public outcry resonates through the deafened ears of failed intelligence and faith in the state’s law and order hangs by a thin string. As the weeks pass by rapid sketches of the alleged bombers, email links, forensic reports, collected evidence from the...more ‘Humanity crushed once again’. ‘50 dead, 120 injured’. ‘Grave face of terror strikes again’. Familiar headlines scream through the pages of the newspapers each time a bomb goes off annihilating blameless lives. Through teeth gritting resilience, public outcry resonates through the deafened ears of failed intelligence and faith in the state’s law and order hangs by a thin string. As the weeks pass by rapid sketches of the alleged bombers, email links, forensic reports, collected evidence from the attacked ground and pictures of rehabilitating victims are splashed across the dailies. If by any chance the investigation comes through, anonymous visages covered with black rags are photographed outside the courtroom, readied for trial procedures, which may go on for months, maybe even years. As the days go by, life returns to normalcy (yes! It is a tricky word); everything is forgotten and the news fade until once again “humanity is crushed” by another dastardly attack. The analytical carnival starts once again. This is the time I dearly wish we had ‘philosophical policemen’ just like Chesterton describes in his book. Policemen- (officers of law), who would discover the book of sonnets and verses from where the crimes will be committed; those that recognize the intricate web of intellectual crimes. The derivation of dreadful thoughts- the human mind, so malicious and calculating camouflaged within an affluent, composed and erudite exterior. It is that very egocentric brainpower which churns out sadistic alterations from harmless verses and then picks vulnerable actors to craft that design into realism.

“Evil philosopher is not trying to alter things but to annihilate them”.

This book is more than a mere plot of undercover detectives and their clandestine exploration of the Secret anarchist Councilmen. Chesterton pens that a small time criminal is more of a good person. His aim is to eradicated only a certain obstacle and not annihilate the edifice. What caught my eye in one of the chapters was the elucidation of stereotyping poverty to rebellious festering.

“You’ve got that eternal idiotic ides that if anarchy came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor been rebels, but they have never been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government. The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn’t; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all. Aristocrats are always anarchists; as you can see from the baron’s wars”.

When a bomber or an active terrorist is caught, he mostly turns out to be from an impoverished background, where his ravenous mind and mislaid faith is manipulated to find refuge in an illusionary godly abode. These are mere actors for crying out loud, chosen by the scheming selfish elements who are coward enough to remain behind the backstage curtains. The affluent as elucidated in this narration are the ones to be feared. They have an abundance of monetary resources, have sheltering capacity in far away lands, if need be and have a mind that concocts the unexpected. Where do you think the enormous funds come for fertilizing terror? I do not want elucidate detailed reports of various pathways of monetary funds wired to definite cults or “charitable” institutions that ultimately fund the immoral actions. But, the currency sure is not a bequest from the poor or some excise complements from our paychecks. The respective courtesy comes from those societal fundamentals that remain unscathed or unfazed by decree. Who do you suppose manages the advanced scientific technologies in various bombing devices? The knowledgeable elite, isn’t it? The erudite or should I say the crème de la crème of religious preachers who instead of spreading peace and equality manipulates vulnerable populace digging their raw wounds every time through words that revolt in their bleeding wounds? I could go on and on, as it angers me to see such naivety among the elements of law and order or purposefully turning a blind eye on the so-called modernists who may be responsible in concocting the ongoing mayhem of lawlessness. Why couldn’t there be some ‘philosophical policemen’ here in India or any place that incessantly plays the role of a powerless victim?

Chapter 4- The Tale of the Detective is the deciding chapter that outlines infinitesimal details of who Gabriel Syme really is. Syme sneaks his way into a clandestine council of seven men, each named after a day of the week. Syme becomes the inevitable Thursday though a pact he made with Lucian Gregory ,a poet and a true anarchist. Fear catches with Syme as his path deepens into the sinister world of the other six council men; the President being the most feared of all. Chesterton throws a light on various aspects of fear that thrives within and outside us. We rebel against the only side that corrupts us. What makes a mutineer and destroy the very notion of survival? We try and run from fear and pain, until one eventually catches up and makes us susceptible to uncouth rudiments that shelter our mental nakedness. It is the most treacherous survival, if every time we need proof of familiarity to feel safe. When fear caught up with Syme suffocating his senses, he would feel protected only if a blue card ( a source of identification given to every policemen in England) was shown to him. How vulnerable was Syme to live in a world of treachery and deceit? Makes me think of all the trepidation we feel every time we walk outside our homes or travel; the security checks, the sense of familiarity that we seek in bloodcurdling situations, the proof of safety that we search or reveal; spins a web of utter vulnerability that looms within the safest corners of our thoughts. The Man Who Was Thursday is a treasure that needs to be dug up by reading between the lines of a puzzling narrative to know what Chesterton is really saying.

“Revolt in its abstract can be revolting. It is like vomiting.”

Lastly, if everything leads to God and when nature if dissected reveals the face of God, then should I assume that evil is illusionary? Is malevolence the creation of couple menacing minds? If God means endurance then why is such mutinous extermination carried in God’s name after all?

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Oct 08, 2010 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Man Who Was Thursday reads like P.G. Wodehouse writing from a Phillip K. Dick plot while on a Nyquil bender. It begins with two poets arguing in the park about whether poetry is more akin to law or anarchy. It turns out that the poet espousing anarchy is actually a member of an anarchist soceity and takes Syme, the other poet, to their meeting place to prove it after a vow of secrecy. Syme is actually a member of an anti-anarchy branch of Scotland Yard and usurps Gregory's spot as the new Th...more

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Oct 24, 2008 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fiction, library-books

A very original, wonderfully quirky, thought-provoking little book about an English detective who infiltrates a group of anarchists. Part fantasy, part mystery, part philosophical, lots of Christian symbolism that is not apparent until later in the book, but you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy it. There is so much going on here that I will have to reread it at some point.

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May 14, 2011 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

Boy, this was really good until it wasn't at all anymore. An intriguing story which suddenly turned into some sort of muddled message about patriotism? Capitalism? Christianity? Anarchy? Communism? The soul of all mankind? How redheads are hot and god is fat? Don't know, don't care.

Blah. Skip it.

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Aug 30, 2008 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, classics, top-shelf

I lost my backpack thanks to this book.

It was years and years ago, probably my first winter in Japan, and I'd picked up this book at Maruzen. I had heard about Chesterton, mainly from the dedication page of Pratchett and Gamian's Good Omens ("The authors would like to join the demon Crowley in dedicating this book to the memory of G.K. Chesterton. A man who knew what was going on.") and the title looked weird enough to be entertaining. So, I was reading the book on the train, as I often do, and...more

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Jan 04, 2008 Skylar Burris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This short novel is intriguing, humorous, clever, and spotted with stunning descriptions. Ostensibly, it is a tale of an undercover police man (Syme) seeking to infiltrate an organization of anarchists, controlled by the "Council of Seven Days" under the leadership of a man named Sunday. The novel is not as obviously allegorical as The Ball and The Cross, at least not until near the end, when it become entirely symbolic. I struggled with Chesteron's meaning when I concluded the novel, unsure of...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Brian Robbins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Four reasons for reading this book:
1) Having just finished "100 years of Solitude" I wanted something to restore my confidence in story-telling, and this looked like a good rip-roaring little tale.
2) It's been sat on my shelves for a couple of years unread.
3) I enjoyed a recent read of his “The Victorian Age in Literature”.
4) I've seen it cited by critics of C S Lewis & Charles Williams as an influence on the novels of both of them, and I like what they wrote.

The book certainly restored...more

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May 08, 2012 Ethan rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first book I've read since I have decided to "read again", I enjoyed it, but wonder how much was due to it being a well-written, entertaining and profitable read, and how much was simply the joy of reading a good book again for the first time in very many months.

Certainly NOT the best book I've every read, I doubt that I would ever choose to read it again. Nonetheless, Chesterton is witty, funny, comical, deep and seriously thought-provoking, all at the same time, and I'd readily pick-up ano...more

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Jan 31, 2009 Terence rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Terence by: Maevisvintage, Michael Dirda

To be honest, I'm still trying to get my head around the book's ending, where the wheels-within-wheels machinations of the anarchists and the special police squad dedicated to eradicating them come to an earth-shattering finale.

Or does it...

The subtitle of the novel "A Nightmare," may not be entirely figurative.

And then there's an underlying idea that we're dealing with fundamental forces of the universe which becomes explicit in the final chapter (Professor Sunday is clearly a God figure, the o...more

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Jun 13, 2008 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-a-lifetime

The question "What is your favorite book?" has always been impossible for me to answer, but this is the only book I have ever felt comfortable defaulting to. I've read it at least a half a dozen times since I discovered a copy of it in a used bookstore when I was in middle school; I will probably reread it a dozen more in the next ten years. I get something different out of it every time I reread it.

The story itself makes no sense, until you come back to the subtitle: A Nightmare. Like a dream,...more

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Feb 08, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label

This week: The Man Who Was Thursday (1908), by GK Chesterton
#4 in this essay series

The story in a nutshell:
Part detective tale, part absurdist comedy, The Man Who Was Thursday tells the story of poet and intellectual Gabriel Syme, living in the bohemian London neighborhood...more

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Jun 30, 2010 Bettie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: BBC7 listeners

Shelves: fraudio, fantasy, amusing, boo-scary, philosophy, teh-brillianz, re-read, summer-2010, published-1908

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 14, 2012 Jeni rated it 3 of 5 stars

Whoa.. most of this book was like any other British literature of its time, but then when you get to the end, the author goes way out on a limb and makes you STREEETCH your imagination, and comprehension. The whole thing kept me waiting and wondering what would happen at the end, and then when I got to the end, I was like.. "What the??" Keep in mind, the title includes the words "A Nightmare". The end was definitely more dream-like than realistic, and my brain spent many days afterwards chewing...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Laura by: Neil Gaiman

Shelves: english, fantasy, madness, paranoid

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In a recent episode of Doctor Who, this exchange occurs between the big bad (The House) and the Deus ex Machina – er, the hero – er, The Doctor –

The House: Fear me. I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords.
The Doctor: Fear me. I’ve killed all of them.

And the overarching story came crashing down around my ears. Right. Our hero. The Man in the Box; the God in the Machine; the man who killed the Time Lords. Neil Gaiman wrote the episode. Neil Gaiman has cited Chesterton as an inspiration. Hm.

Gaiman’s...more In a recent episode of Doctor Who, this exchange occurs between the big bad (The House) and the Deus ex Machina – er, the hero – er, The Doctor –

The House: Fear me. I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords.
The Doctor: Fear me. I’ve killed all of them.

And the overarching story came crashing down around my ears. Right. Our hero. The Man in the Box; the God in the Machine; the man who killed the Time Lords. Neil Gaiman wrote the episode. Neil Gaiman has cited Chesterton as an inspiration. Hm.

Gaiman’s not the only one. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12303.... Another chum mentioned liking this particular book. So I gave it a try.

It was worth the time. Syme, a man who hates anarchists, gets recruited into Scotland Yard to be part of a special anti-anarchist task force by a shadowy man whose face he never sees. Syme talks his way into a Secret Anarchist Election Inna Bunker, claiming to be an emissary of “Sunday,” the shadowy leader of our shadowy group. Syme is elected to the Anarchist Central Committee, a group of seemingly repulsive monsters. All members are named for days of the week. Syme becomes Thursday and bravely sallies forth to the meeting. There, Sunday outs a secret policeman in their midst, sends him on his way, and dispatches a secret assassin. Thursday, aided by another member of the central counsel who, it turns out, is also a secret policeman, recruited by the same shadowy Scotland Yard official, sets forth to stop him. Fortunately, it turns out the assassin is also a secret policeman. Revelations reveal themselves, and yes, Sunday is behind them all.

I suspect there’s a religious allegory in here, perhaps in the “Have you considered my servant Job”/“lead us not into temptation,” variety. Sunday is both the ultimate secret policeman, the head of the anarchists, and, perhaps, god himself, if the final dinner party is to be believed. He’s a madman who draws other men into his madness. He is the author of their fate. If I didn’t know through other sources that Chesterton was an orthodox Christian, this would be a fairly sharp critique of the faith. Or maybe it still is, from an adherent who is not afraid to think deeply and critically.

On a trivial, political level, it’s a hilarious exploration about how Taking Steps Against The Threat can create the very threat overtly opposed. Darn convenient for those who are in the business of Keeping Us Safe. Yeah, hardly a unique story, but I can’t personally remember reading much written before this book that took that on.

(Fear me. I’ve killed hundreds of Time Lords…)

Because of Gaiman, I know that Chesterton said once, “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten," which suggests that he wasn’t one of those people who wrote the same story again and again. No dragons are beaten in this story, though there is an elephant chase. Glad I read it, though the prose style was enough of a slog that I am not feeling inspired to pick up anything else.
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Apr 13, 2008 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008

Kingsley Amis tells us it is "not quite a political bad dream, nor a metaphysical thriller, nor a cosmic joke in the form of a spy novel, but it has something of all three". However you describe it, it's hilarious. It gives "The Third Policeman" a run for its money, both for how funny it is, as well as the unabashed goofiness of its central conceit.

Read it in one sitting. Then read it again.

Scuttling off to look for more Chesterton .....

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Mar 05, 2013 Irazema rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Llegué a Chesterton a través de una cita encontrada en un libro de Umberto Eco, la cual me llamó mucho la atención, al grado de querer saber más sobre la persona que la dijo. Cuándo leí sobre él la información que estaba más a la mano, supe que las historias de Chesterton, solían contener muchas alegorías cristianas, y esta historia no fue la excepción.

La historia es de lectura ligera y rápida, no por eso aburrida. Desde las primeras páginas me sentí atrapada. El autor es tan descriptivo, que po...more Llegué a Chesterton a través de una cita encontrada en un libro de Umberto Eco, la cual me llamó mucho la atención, al grado de querer saber más sobre la persona que la dijo. Cuándo leí sobre él la información que estaba más a la mano, supe que las historias de Chesterton, solían contener muchas alegorías cristianas, y esta historia no fue la excepción.

La historia es de lectura ligera y rápida, no por eso aburrida. Desde las primeras páginas me sentí atrapada. El autor es tan descriptivo, que por momentos sentía estar viendo en mi cabeza, como en una película, cada una de las escenas. Otras veces, tuve incluso la sensación de estar soñando, me decía a mí misma "esto tiene que ser parte de un sueño, que alguien tuvo alguna vez"

Gabriel Syme es un detective, quien pertenece a un selecto grupo de la policía, que se caracteriza por tener miembros cultos e intelectuales. Por casualidad logra llegar infiltrado a una de las reuniónes de un grupo anarquista, mismos a los que él combate. Con astucia, logra convertirse en un miembro del consejo general del anarquismo europeo, desempeñando el papel de Jueves. El consejo estaba formado por 7 miembros, cuyos nombres clave, eran los 7 días de la semana.

A partir de ahi empieza su aventura a veces lleno de miedo, a veces lleno de valor, pero siempre fiel a su palabra y a sus convicciones. Poco a poco va descubriendo que no está sólo dentro del consejo, si no que hay otros detectives infiltrados. Sus aventuras suceden como si fueran parte de un sueño incómodo, hasta terminar en una inesperado descenlace, al menos para mí.

Al final, Chesterton no quería hablarnos de la anarquía, ni de la policía, di de hechos históricos. Si no más bien representar, a través del anarquismo, la lucha contra Dios.

Más allá de la lectura: Entre otras reflexiones que prefiero guardar para mí, este libro me hizo pensar sobre cómo muchas veces perdemos tiempo luchando contra quienes debieran ser aliados, mientras los verdaderos enemigos de la humanidad, llámese ignorancia, corrupción, enfermedad, hambre... siguen creciendo.(less)

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Jul 25, 2008 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: london

A very odd Victorian thriller which reads sort of like if CS Lewis wrote an anarchist mystery novel. I didn’t really enjoy it, found the characters and situations too implausible to take seriously and not implausible or unhinged enough to enjoy as satire (which I think was the intent more often than not).

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Sep 18, 2008 matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: i want to say "everyone", but it would be dishonest

Shelves: dear-to-my-heart, to-reread

nobody reads chesterton but me, it seems, but they should! not so much the father brown stuff, though. this piece of work is just that, and, yet, so much more. i just can't explain it. yes, christianity's mixed up in it, but you'd hardly know if they didn't write it all over the cover. gah! read it!

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May 16, 2012 Kaph rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1000-books, london-town, game-is-afoot, cream-of-the-crop, g1000-scifi-and-fantasy

Verdict: A rip-roaring gem of a mystery disguised as an allegory shrouded in adventure and set in the best nightmare ever.

The other week, in a fit of optimism I demanded of Google to know if it had any news of Susanna Clarke’s sequel. As usual, even the almighty Google had nothing and so I eventually meandered to Clarke’s website and perused already perused content in an effort to fill the void. That was when I found a page in which the inestimable Mrs. Clarke delineated her favourite books. Emm...more

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Mar 27, 2008 jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

this book is enjoyable on many levels: as a compelling mystery, as a humorous and well-crafted yarn, as classic british literature (1908), and as penetrating allegory. chesterton's novel excels at each count, and was composed without a trace of sanctimony.

more aptly, writing about the man who was thursday in 1929, chesterton asserts, "the bolshevists have done a good many silly things; but the most strangely silly thing that i ever heard of was that they tried to turn this anti-anarchist roman...more

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Oct 29, 2007 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Man Who Was Thursday is not an allegory. It is called an allegory for want of a better word, but there is absolutely no symbolism or metaphor. It is completely literal in every way, and the reader who feels the need to say 'allegory' is simply thinking too hard. The ending, especially, is reminiscent of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think that Lewis and Chesterton are making similar points, and that they are both talented enough to be able to whack their readers over the head with...more

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May 13, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, classics

Such an interesting classic, largely allegorical. Written at a time when anarchy was a true movement, Chesterton uses it to represent evil, and, conversely, the police to represent good. Lots of adventure, including a duel with swords. It's fun with the good versus evil part, even if you don't happen to agree with the spirtual conclusions drawn. The prose is quite good. I happen to like alliteration, and couldn't help but notice when Chesterton used it to describe something or to make a point: O...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 26, 2012 Rajiv rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first third of the book was amazing. The second third was great. The last third didn't make sense. Oh, and don't get me started on the ending!

The thing is, I truly enjoyed the book. It offers a great discussion of anarchism, religion, and other minor topics. However, it is mired by flowery language that seems to serve no purpose other than to fill the pages.

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Mar 10, 2009 James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, read-and-reread, fantasy, doppelganger

More than one hundred years ago in 1908 Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote a mysterious fantasy called The Man Who Was Thursday. Sixty years later while I was a student at The University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin I discovered this wonderful book.
Part metaphysical, part philosophical, Chesterton's creation fascinates me as the policeman from Scotland Yard, Gabriel Syme, poet extraordinaire, battles with "anarchists". The conspiracy he discovers and the way that Chesterton tells the story is...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I'm torn between 3 and 4 here and actually had 3. I rethought it and went with 4. This is an odd book, well written and very creative. It is however very dated in the way it's written and while the writing and dialogue are in fact quite beautiful it will be for some a little hard to follow or stay with. Sadly since it's day the style of writing found here has come to be thought somewhat flowery or florid. Still, if you can relax and think of what you're reading I believe you'll like this book.

Wi...more

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Aug 31, 2010 Nick rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: gothic, victorian

Strange mixture of Keystone cops and the Anarchist movement. And with bizarre results. The ending is a mishmash of possibilities. But the whole point is probably made in the first couple of chapters with the discussion between the protagonist and his redheaded friend (and his redheaded sister) about poetry as a saviour of civilization. Most of the book is an enjoyable romp, as the protagonist jumps from one member of a "secret" organization of anarchists to another, discovering each of their "se...more

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Aug 27, 2009 Cwn_annwn_13 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: from-public-library

This book which was written in the early 1900s is about a Policeman/Poet that infiltrates a group of anarchists who are bent on breaking down society. There is some witty dialogue and satire in this but for the most part I couldn't get into it.

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Gentlemint: The Man Who Was Thursday - April BOTM	3	4	Apr 06, 2013 11:30am
Ballantine Adult ...: * BAF book for August 2012: The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton	12	15	Aug 16, 2012 04:11pm

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About G.K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him (and his Autobiography), he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the twent...more Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him (and his Autobiography), he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the twentieth century. He said something about everything and he said it better than anybody else. But he was no mere wordsmith. He was very good at expressing himself, but more importantly, he had something very good to express. The reason he was the greatest writer of the twentieth century was because he was also the greatest thinker of the twentieth century.

Born in London, Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s, but never went to college. He went to art school. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly. (To put it into perspective, four thousand essays is the equivalent of writing an essay a day, every day, for 11 years. If you’re not impressed, try it some time. But they have to be good essays, all of them, as funny as they are serious, and as readable and rewarding a century after you've written them.)

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper.

This man who composed such profound and perfect lines as "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried," stood 6’4" and weighed about 300 pounds, usually had a cigar in his mouth, and walked around wearing a cape and a crumpled hat, tiny glasses pinched to the end of his nose, swordstick in hand, laughter blowing through his moustache. And usually had no idea where or when his next appointment was. He did much of his writing in train stations, since he usually missed the train he was supposed to catch. In one famous anecdote, he wired his wife, saying, "Am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?" His faithful wife, Frances, attended to all the details of his life, since he continually proved he had no way of doing it himself. She was later assisted by a secretary, Dorothy Collins, who became the couple’s surrogate daughter, and went on to become the writer’s literary executrix, continuing to make his work available after his death.

This absent-minded, overgrown elf of a man, who laughed at his own jokes and amused children at birthday parties by catching buns in his mouth, was the man who wrote a book called The Everlasting Man, which led a young atheist named C.S. Lewis to become a Christian. This was the man who wrote a novel called The Napoleon of Notting Hill, which inspired Michael Collins to lead a movement for Irish Independence. This was the man who wrote an essay in the Illustrated London News that inspired Mahatma Gandhi to lead a movement to end British colonial rule in India. This was a man who, when commissioned to write a book on St. Thomas Aquinas (aptly titled Saint Thomas Aquinas), had his secretary check out a stack of books on St. (less)

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“Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree. That is not a cloud, but the back of a cloud. Cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face? If we could only get round in front--” — 115 people liked it

“Always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do?” — 84 people liked it

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