The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Modern Library Classics)

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In an article published the day before his death, G.K. Chesterton called The Man Who Was Thursday "a very melodramatic sort of moonshine." Set in a phantasmagoric London where policemen are poets and anarchists camouflage themselves as, well, anarchists, his 1907 novel offers up one highly colored enigma after another. If that weren't enough, the author also throws in an elephant chase and a hot-air-balloon pursuit in which the pursuers suffer from "the persistent refusal of the balloon to follow the roads, and the still more persistent refusal of the cabmen to follow the balloon."

But Chesterton is also concerned with more serious questions of honor and truth (and less serious ones, perhaps, of duels and dualism). Our hero is Gabriel Syme, a policeman who cannot reveal that his fellow poet Lucian Gregory is an anarchist. In Chesterton's agile, antic hands, Syme is the virtual embodiment of paradox:

He came of a family of cranks, in which all the oldest people had all the newest notions. One of his uncles always walked about without a hat, and another had made an unsuccessful attempt to walk about with a hat and nothing else. His father cultivated art and self-realization; his mother went in for simplicity and hygiene. Hence the child, during his tenderer years, was wholly unacquainted with any drink between the extremes of absinthe and cocoa, of both of which he had a healthy dislike.... Being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy, Gabriel had to revolt into something, so he revolted into the only thing left--sanity.

Elected undercover into the Central European Council of anarchists, Syme must avoid discovery and save the world from any bombings in the offing. As Thursday (each anarchist takes the name of a weekday--the only quotidian thing about this fantasia) does his best to undo his new colleagues, the masks multiply. The question then becomes: Do they reveal or conceal? And who, not to mention what, can be believed? As The Man Who Was Thursday proceeds, it becomes a hilarious numbers game with a more serious undertone--what happens if most members of the council actually turn out to be on the side of right? Chesterton's tour de force is a thriller that is best read slowly, so as to savor his highly anarchic take on anarchy. --Kerry Fried

Book Description

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, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.

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Widely considered as Chesterton's masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) defies classification. Subtitled 'A nightmare' by Chesterton, on one level it is a fast-moving and surreal detective story. Drawing on contemporary fears of anarchist conspiracies and bomb outrages, The Man Who Was Thursday is firmly rooted in its time and place - turn-of-the-century London - but it also defies temporal boundaries. Police Detective Syme finds himself drawn into a world that seems to have gone beyond humanity when he is elected 'Thursday', one of the members of the Central European Council of seven monarchs. Dreamlike, prophetic, and frequently funny, the novel attacks contemporary pessimism and, through a bizarre series of pursuits and unmaskings, returns Syme - and us - to earth more aware of its beauty, promise, and creative potential.

Customer Reviews:

Timeless Entertainment.......2007-05-18

Chesterton sure knows how to write a thriller. Its turns are anything but predictable; its twists are also anything but nonsensical.

Despite Chesterton's intimation that it is simply a nightmare, I find it highly allegorical. Perhaps what's in a man's heart just comes out on the page, whether he intended it or not.

It's interesting that Chesterton picked anarchists as symbolic of the greatest evil of Satan. The book definitely lends itself to allegory, and it seems to have a very ambitious goal: to answer why there is evil in the world. The answer is also very interesting: good people suffer so that in the end when the accuser stands, righteousness will prevail not because it is untested, but exactly because it has been tested and purified. Sunday/Sabbath is a very interesting figure: simply by his presence he exposes everything. The greatest evil and anarchy is the deception that turns brothers against each other, and that evil is nothing MORE than a great deception. It's a very interesting concept, and plays throughout the book in the theme of the rash vows the Days promised to various others--and specifically, Thursday's promise to Gregory.

The book is to be savored like a fine wine: with good food and slowly. You definitely need a few nights to absorb it, and, plan on a rereading. Personally, I loved it. I'm kind of sad *that* dream is over!

A Modern Masterpiece.......2007-04-18

Chesterton, the master of paradox, hits his stride in this dream of paranoia. For those of you who like your thrillers to pack their punches in terms of caliber, pints of blood shed, or body-count, you can all sod off. This is a thriller for the mind and the soul -- its aim is to save you from yourselves.

If you want your English simple, straighforward, fed to you in easy subject-verb-object format, leave as well. This is more post-modern than any of those douchebags you've been fed in your graduate classes at U.C. Santa Barbara.

If Chesterton is not the greatest modern author, then that is only because T.S. Eliot or Evelyn Waugh is slightly better.

The chief pity is that Americans -- most direly in need of this sort of instruction -- will not read this work.

Nihilistic buffoonery that opens the door to truth, understanding and redemption........2007-03-26

Because of our own doing, evil has been given a permanent place in our world, and G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, illustrates that fact perfectly.

At the very beginning of the novel, the daylight scene of the neighborhood changes by nightfall to a reality that is mind-bending and questionable, at best: "More especially this attractive unreality fell upon it about nightfall, when the extravagant roofs were dark against the afterglow and the whole insane village seemed as separate as a drifting cloud. " Page eight. As that evolution of perception can be placed upon an environment, again by our doing, how can that affect the perception of the people who are occupied within its confines? It does, yet it does so on a deeper plain. When is the presentation of goodness real goodness versus goodness out of obligation or duty? And can the person discern kindly obligation vis-a-vis authentic Christian goodness? Or are the two so firmly meshed together that they can not be extricated, for past events have indeed raised that question mark. It is a slippery slope, and one must always be on guard when goodness is used in order to obtain something compared to when something is offered freely without expectations or obligations, and we are speaking about the philosophical, and especially the theological here. Who can be trusted, and who can not be? Even though the act of proving oneself is cyclical, who is more credible, the one or the other, and what if the two are a part of the same circle and there is a divide, as say in religion? Who will predominate? Who is truer to God? And are facades used to mislead people? It has happened before.

What I enjoyed very much about The Man Who Was Thursday was that it raised an assortment of these types of questions upon my reading it, and they too were applicable in regards to faith and the Catholic Church, whose exposed duplicity (and I say that without spite) also raised a vast array of questions. As human beings are inherently fallible, religious or otherwise, it is faith (choose your denomination) that is the stabilizer for the unsteady human condition: "'You were,' said Syme seriously, and hung the heavy lantern over the front. There was a certain allegory of their whole position in the contrast between the modern automobile and its strange, ecclesiastical lamp." P. 137. The strange, ecclesiastical lamp was doubtlessly symbolic of the light of Christ, the light of God, who is Truth in times of duplicity and doubt, where people, the anarchists, who appear to be anything what they really are. And when you can not even trust those who are close to you, which happens quite frequently to the characters in The Man Who Was Thursday, via fumbling idiocy and gnawing black doubt, you can only trust the light and blood of Christ as the last vestage of hope, for that love is life changing, and pages 163 through 167 are vital to the minute comprehension of that unknown gloriousness, for Sunday, towards the latter end of the novel, for escape purposes, rises via the aid of a balloon in a bumbling form of resurrection that is humanly endearing, pleasing and desirious in its own right.

Another element that makes The Man Who Was Thursday so appealing is that it has such an in-your-face truth offering in respects to people of power and authority and those who abuse that authority that is anything but faith-oriented: "The only crime of the Government is that it governs. The unpardonable sin of the supreme power is that it is supreme. I do not curse you for being cruel. I do not curse you (though I might) for being kind. I curse you for being safe! You sit in your chairs of stone, and have never come down from them..." Page 180. For someone in any capacity of religious or poiltical authority, who abuse their power and overlook their fallibility, to be privy to an act of evil (you choose what evil) and yet stay stoned silent, that is where that Light needs to seep into. Let not pride or the haughty veneer of what one is or desires to be prevent that.

In order to accept faith, one must know fully what he or she is, and that is what makes the novel so uplifting and jolly; it is an optimistic novel, because it mocks the bleakness of nihilism. Chesterton even has the happy-go-lucky audacity of inserting himself in the novel, but he does so with the full knowledge of where he came from, and where, in the end of life, he is fortunately going towards. "Chesterton is so thrilled by his acrobatic stroll along the razor's edge of nihilism that he earns hus sunniness a new on every page."--xvi. It is because he was never alone. We do seem to forget that every now and then.

Mind-warping and mind-expanding!.......2007-03-22

The Man Who Was Thursday is a Christian allegory, but it is not a simple allegory of the Christian faith, ala The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This book is an allegory by a Christian thinker, for Christians. The Anarchists of this book are not the real-life bomb-throwers, but represent free will - the freedom to do evil. The policemen represent the Christian's desires to reign in the evil, and Sunday represents the Universe, the ultimate giver of good and evil.

Is this a great philosophical work, a key to understanding the ultimate nature of God? Well, you'll have to read that and decide for yourself. As for me, I found it to be a fascinating and at time unsettling work. It's easy to see why this book is considered a Christian classic, and its also easy to see why so many people read it and declare that they had no idea what it was about.

This is another one of those mind-warping book that is difficult to understand, but mind-expanding as you begin to grasp what the author is saying. I highly recommend this book!

Thursday's Child has far to go.......2007-01-30

The plot of this book is crafted with mechanical precision. Start to read and you've pulled the switch and it all gets rolling. Each word, sentence and paragraph accumulates into a picturesque ride moving initially at a cruising pace. Then the story continues to develop page-by-page gaining momentum and the reader at warp speed is drawn completely into Chesterton's improbable world. It is a not so subtle allegory of broadly drawn characters and events informed by what I interpret as the author's deeply held religious convictions. Here is planet Earth and the jolly, impish God overseeing every little thing of his creation. It's rough out there all right but hard work and great fortitude will see us mortals through. This is just what Thursday and the other bogus "anarchists" find through all their trials and lunacy. The Man Who was Thursday is not a great book (there are many people that think it is) but it is entertaining; clever through rather sophmoric. It occurred to me that the old Monty Python gang could have made it into a great movie that would have done justice to its zaniness. Maybe Tim Burton?

Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton: The Club of Queer Trades : The
<BR> Man Who Was Thursday : The Ball and the Cross : The Napoleon of Notting Hill

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The finest book in the collected works series of GKC.
Fun to read!
Three Great Books in One Volume

Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton: The Club of Queer Trades : The
Man Who Was Thursday : The Ball and the Cross : The Napoleon of Notting Hill
G. K. Chesterton
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
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Customer Reviews:

The finest book in the collected works series of GKC........2002-02-28

The Club of Queer Trades - Not quite like the Father Brown mystery stories but very close. GKC traces the adventures of a club comprised of men and women who invented their own trade. You usually don't understand the trade until the end of the story, and the book never disappoints.

The Man Who Was Thursday - This is probably the most famous of all Chesterton books. The book describes the attempts of a Scotland yard detective to infiltrate a secret anarchist society. The garden party conversations between anarchists are laugh out loud funny. I'm still fascinated by the ending, mainly because I don't understand it.

The Ball and Cross - Chesterton's hilarious story of how an adamant Catholic duels to the death with an ardent atheist is a worthy read. Chesterton systematically critiques popular delusions of educated thinking as the book unfolds. The atheist and the Catholic grow closer together through their duel, and realize that they understand each other better than the other characters understand either of them. Chesterton's wit is second to none and if you liked Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis, you will love this book.

I've loaned two of these books to friends, and both of them were immediate fans. If you find this collection interesting, try the Napoleon of Notting Hill also by GKC.

Fun to read!.......2001-08-17

The Club of Queer Trades is by far the funniest story I have ever read! I assure you that it will keep you rolling on the floor from the beginning to the end of the story.

Three Great Books in One Volume.......2000-09-01

G. K. Chesterton was probably the greatest optimist who ever lived. He BELIEVED where most of us give up and become despondent. The three stories in this volume take place in a strange twilight world in which the author, as he says in THURSDAY, makes you want to see the lamppost by the light of the tree rather than vice versa. This, by the way, is his most profound and eccentric book.

In THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY, we see an incredible global conspiracy dissipate like swamp gas. (As Calvin Coolidge once said, nine out of ten of the troubles one sees down the road swerve off and disappear before they get to you.) THE BALL AND THE CROSS is about two heretics who appear to fight each other to the bitter end, until they find a worse enemy. And THE CLUB OF QUEER TRADES is a delightful entertainment made up of wonderful shaggy dog stories, much like THE PARADOXES OF MR POND.

Customer Reviews:

On Thursday..........2007-03-10

For a book that's as short as this one, "The Man Who Was Thursday" is pretty packed.

G.K. Chesterton's classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, human nature, and a few dozen other weight concepts. And somehow he manages to mash it all together into a delightful satire, full of tongue-in-cheek commentary that is still relevant today.

As the book opens, Gabriel Symes is debating with a soapbox anarchist. The two men impress each other enough that the anarchist introduces Symes to a seven-man council of anarchists, all named after days of the week. In short order, they elect Symes their newest member -- Thursday.

But they don't know that he's also been recruited by an anti-anarchy organization. And soon Symes finds out that he's not the only person on the council who is not what he seems. There are other spies and double-agents, working for the same cause. But who -- and what -- is the jovial, powerful Mr. Sunday, the head of the organization?

Hot air balloons, elaborate disguises, duels and police chases -- Chesterton certainly knew how to keep this novel interesting. Though written almost a century ago, "The Man Who Was Thursday" still feels very fresh. That's partly because of Chesterton's cheery writing... and partly because it's such an intelligent book.

He doesn't avoid some timeless topics that make some people squirm. Humanity (good and bad), anarchy, religion and its place in human nature, and creation versus destruction all get tackled here -- disguised as a comic police investigation. And unlike most satires, it isn't dated; the topics are reflections of humanity and religion, so they're as relevant now as they were in 1908.

But the story isn't pedantic or boring; Chesterton keeps things lively by having his characters act like real people, rather than mouthpieces. From Symes to the Colonel to the mysterious Sunday himself, they all have a sort of friendly, energetic quality. "We're all spies! Come and have a drink!" one of the characters announces cheerfully near the end.

And of course, once the madcap police investigations are finished, there's still a mystery. Who is Sunday? What are his goals? And for that matter, WHAT is Sunday -- genius, force of nature, villain or god? The answer is a bit of a surprise, and as a reflection of Chesterton's beliefs, it's a delicate, intelligent piece of work.

And what of Martin Gardner's annotations? Well, they vary in usefulness -- sometimes he adds to your understanding of Chesterton's interests and possible intentions, and sometimes he goes off in rambling tangents that choke the original text.

"The Man Who Was Thursday" is a wacky, literate little satire that will both amuse and educate you. Not bad for a book often subtitled "A Nightmare."

Quirky, But Well Done.......2005-04-11

I feel a little deflated after completing "The Man Who Was Thursday." I would like to be able to imagine what it would have been like to read this book when it was first printed, before having Gardner & Chesterton explain the meaning of the "Sunday" character. Not that I would have figured it out on my own...

If you haven't read TMWWT before, I suggest you skip over Gardner's introduction and dive right in. Then go back and read Gardner's introduction and afterword to see if you've caught Chesterton's meaning. Granted, the text of the book doesn't go to any lengths to make its allusions unmistakable. Without Gardner and Chesterton's explanations, I believe you could take Sunday about any way you liked, somewhat like the Old Monk Michael in "The Ball and the Cross".

While the foreword and afterword are thorough and interesting, Gardner's annotations through the text are a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes he rambles on over two pages of footnotes, bringing in ancillary details about London notables who lived near the setting of the action. Other times he waxes eloquent about scientific principles tangentially related to Chesterton's story. While many of his footnotes are exceedingly helpful, others are just weird. It appears, for example, that Gardner is a big Sherlock Holmes fan, given the relatively large presence that Holmes has in the footnotes.

Anyway - a great book with a worthy annotation.

an overlooked classic.......2003-01-20

The obvious (and probably most common) comparison is to Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent." Both explore anarchy and revolution and have at their centers double agents. In many ways, though, the two works don't compare. Conrad's work is much darker; his London is infinitely bleaker and grosser than Chesterton's. Indeed, Conrad spends much more time describing his settings and creating the dark mood. Moreover, Conrad is more concerned than Chesterton with the psychological motivations underlying anarchy. These are not at all shortcomings in Chesterton's brilliant work; the two writers, each excellent in their own ways, simply focused on different things and had different goals and lessons to teach.

On its surface, "The Man Who Was Thursday" is the tale of a detective who infiltrates the inner circle of a group of anarchists and assumes a position on its board, whose seven members all bear names of days of the week. Syme, the detective, is Thursday; the mysterious, enigmatic leader is Sunday. Much of the fun of this book is in the twists and turns, so I won't give anything away. Some of the surprises (or revelation) are predictable, but many are not, and one typically builds on all the rest--keeping even the most predictable of them fresh and intriguing. At a deeper level, Chesterton explores the nature of good and evil, of fate and free will, of order and chaos, and also of faith. Indeed, Chesterton's vision of Christianity penetrates his work, sometimes explicitly (particularly the concluding chapters) and often implicitly and more symbolically. It underlies much of the book.

"Thursday" is a difficult book to understand, and the allegory is not easy to see or decipher. This is certainly a book that deserves many re-readings. On this note, Martin Gardner's introduction and notes provide a great framework for beginning to penetrate the book's deeper meanings. Moreover, his descriptions of the relevant geography and landmarks of London prove both helpful and fascinating.

This is a true masterpiece, unfortunately overlooked by far too many who have never heard of Chesterton or who don't know he wrote excellent fiction in addition to his fine Christian apologetics. Anyone stands to profit from reading "The Man Who Was Thursday." And this edition only enhances the experience.

Great Book; Good Annotation.......2001-01-17

If you have never read this book, DO IT NOW! And buy this copy. For just a little more than the paperback, you get Gardner's notes which help to shed some light on the neighborhoods of London and Chesterton's story. I was not familiar with the layout of London and his annotations gave some interesting facts and tidbits. Also, this is a hard text to tackle and Gardner's thoughts help introduce new ways to understand Chesterton's work.

a thinkers thriller.......2001-01-09

Definition is impossible : The Man Who was Thursday is not quite a political bad dream, nor a metaphysical thriller, nor a cosmic joke in the form of a spy novel, but it is something of all three. What it has most of is a boys' adventure story, which might help to explain my early excitement but not so much my continuing devotion. And what a title! I will not divulge its meaning here, but I cannot resist saying that anybody who at the sight of it does not feel a faint tingle of excitement and a breath of wonder is not really a fit person to be reading the book. -Kingsley Amis, Introduction to the Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics version

G. K. Chesterton's classic novel manages to provide a thriller that starts out like a Sherlock Holmes adventure and ends like Raiders of the Lost Ark, while at the same time offering a profound contemplation of the existence of evil in the world, the role of free will in the universe, the willingness of God to allow Man to suffer, and various other vexing metaphysical questions. Both the basic story and the religious philosophy are exciting, and though generations of readers have complained that the final chapter is too difficult to follow, the Annotated version has explanatory essays by Martin Gardner and there's an excellent essay of his available online, which do a great job of explaining just what Chesterton is up to. It is very much a Christian fantasy (or "Nightmare" to use Chesterton's own subtitle) but can be read with enjoyment by anyone who loves a good adventure yarn and doesn't mind being made to think.

Customer Reviews:

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday..........2006-10-11

For a book that's only about a hundred pages long, "The Man Who Was Thursday" is pretty packed.

G.K. Chesterton's classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, human nature, and a few dozen other weight concepts. And somehow he manages to mash it all together into a delightful satire, full of tongue-in-cheek commentary that is still relevant today.

As the book opens, Gabriel Symes is debating with a soapbox anarchist. The two men impress each other enough that the anarchist introduces Symes to a seven-man council of anarchists, all named after days of the week. In short order, they elect Symes their newest member -- Thursday.

But they don't know that he's also been recruited by an anti-anarchy organization. And soon Symes finds out that he's not the only person on the council who is not what he seems. There are other spies and double-agents, working for the same cause. But who -- and what -- is the jovial, powerful Mr. Sunday, the head of the organization?

Hot air balloons, elaborate disguises, duels and police chases -- Chesterton certainly knew how to keep this novel interesting. Though written almost a century ago, "The Man Who Was Thursday" still feels very fresh. That's partly because of Chesterton's cheery writing... and partly because it's such an intelligent book.

He doesn't avoid some timeless topics that make some people squirm. Humanity (good and bad), anarchy, religion and its place in human nature, and creation versus destruction all get tackled here -- disguised as a comic police investigation. And unlike most satires, it isn't dated; the topics are reflections of humanity and religion, so they're as relevant now as they were in 1908.

But the story isn't pedantic or boring; Chesterton keeps things lively by having his characters act like real people, rather than mouthpieces. From Symes to the Colonel to the mysterious Sunday himself, they all have a sort of friendly, energetic quality. "We're all spies! Come and have a drink!" one of the characters announces cheerfully near the end.

And of course, once the madcap police investigations are finished, there's still a mystery. Who is Sunday? What are his goals? And for that matter, WHAT is Sunday -- genius, force of nature, villain or god? The answer is a bit of a surprise, and as a reflection of Chesterton's beliefs, it's a delicate, intelligent piece of work.

"The Man Who Was Thursday" is a wacky little satire that will both amuse and educate you. Not bad for a book often subtitled "A Nightmare."

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The Man Who Was Thursday
G. K. Chesterton
Manufacturer: Hovel Audio
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This is quite possibly, Chesterton's most famous novel. All that G.K. Chesterton's critics labeled him- devotional, impious, confounding, intelligent, humorous, bombastic- he wove into The Man Who Was Thursday. This page-turner sends characters bobbing around a delightfully confusing plot of mythic proportions. The story begins when two poets meet. Gabriel Syme is a poet of law. Lucian Gregory is a poetic anarchist. As the poets protest their respective philosophies, they strike a challenge. In the ruckus that ensues, the Central European Council of Anarchists elects Syme to the post of Thursday, one of their seven chief council positions. Undercover. On the run, Syme meets with Sunday, the head of the council, a man so outrageously mysterious that his antics confound both the law-abiding and the anarchist. Who is lawful? Who is immoral? Such questions are strangely in the presence of Sunday. He is wholly other. He is above the timeless questions of humanity and also somehow behind them.

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Thinking about Thursday
On Thursday...

The Man Who Was Thursday
G. K. Chesterton
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Thinking about Thursday.......2007-09-22

G K Chesterton was a man of many parts. Until now I mainly knew him as a champion of Christendom, an arch-foe of eugenics and an advocate for 'distributism', his "small is beautiful" economic alternative to Big Capitalism and Big Socialism.

Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday" was my first experience with Chesterton the novelist. I wanted to like it but came away slightly disappointed. But maybe that's my fault, not his. I expected a thriller, in the mode of the Hitchcock movies I love. There are certainly thriller elements in Thursday, but it is I suspect, on reflection, as much a satire as anything else. There are also, I'm told, numerous allegorical references most of which I missed. The great 'Scientific American' mathematics correspondent Martin Gardner wrote an "Annotated Thursday", which I'm told helps illustrate Chesterton's very subtle images. I haven't read it and may have to to get a better appreciation of this undoubtedly well , finely crafted book.

Written in 1908, "Thursday" may have pioneered the modern spy novel. In some ways a century later it still seems very modern. Sure today we talk of 'terrorists', not 'dynamiters', but Chesterton's 'anarchist' baddies seem more modern than the 'reds' and 'nazis' of most 20th century spy thrillers. "Thursday" is set in the Edwardian world of Hansom Cabs and balloons, not the speeding cars and ubiquitous helicopters of modern action movies. Yet the story line seems modern. Undercover policemen disguised as anarchists. Undercover anarchists within the police. The high anarchist council itseld stacked to the rafters with undercover policemen. In the real world, fifty years on, the FBI's "Cointelpro" program, and the police penetration of the Black Panthers, seems an example of life imitating Chestertonian art.

Twists. Counter-twists. Counter-counter-twists. Hitchcock and the whole modern "spy" genre would seem to owe a lot to Chesterton. In some ways the 1908 "Thursday" has some parallels to the very "hip" "swinging sixties" spy spoofs. Thursday includes an elephant chase, a balloon escape and a whole dream story. In parts it's "spy/satire" reminded me of the James Coburn spoofs "Our Man Flint" and, the great, "The President's Analyst".

Chesterton does manage to sneak in, here and there, a few references relevant to his political and religious concerns. Here's one that sounds very contemporary and you could easily imagine it being quoted by Naomi Klein and other 21st century "anti-globalisation" activists.

"..The poor have 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 were always anarchists..."

Chesterton makes his political and religious points lightly and sparingly. They are asides, comments, not speeches. You could miss them if you weren't looking or if you didn't know what you were looking for. The story, not the sermon, ...and in 'Thursday' there are no sermons.., comes first. That would seem to be the ideal way for a novelist, or any artist, to make a political point.

On Thursday..........2006-03-10

For a book that's only about a hundred pages long, "The Man Who Was Thursday" is pretty packed.

G.K. Chesterton's classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, human nature, and a few dozen other weight concepts. And somehow he manages to mash it all together into a delightful satire, full of tongue-in-cheek commentary that is still relevant today.

As the book opens, Gabriel Symes is debating with a soapbox anarchist. The two men impress each other enough that the anarchist introduces Symes to a seven-man council of anarchists, all named after days of the week. In short order, they elect Symes their newest member -- Thursday.

But they don't know that he's also been recruited by an anti-anarchy organization. And soon Symes finds out that he's not the only person on the council who is not what he seems. There are other spies and double-agents, working for the same cause. But who -- and what -- is the jovial, powerful Mr. Sunday, the head of the organization?

Hot air balloons, elaborate disguises, duels and police chases -- Chesterton certainly knew how to keep this novel interesting. Though written almost a century ago, "The Man Who Was Thursday" still feels very fresh. That's partly because of Chesterton's cheery writing... and partly because it's such an intelligent book.

He doesn't avoid some timeless topics that make some people squirm. Humanity (good and bad), anarchy, religion and its place in human nature, and creation versus destruction all get tackled here -- disguised as a comic police investigation. And unlike most satires, it isn't dated; the topics are reflections of humanity and religion, so they're as relevant now as they were in 1908.

But the story isn't pedantic or boring; Chesterton keeps things lively by having his characters act like real people, rather than mouthpieces. From Symes to the Colonel to the mysterious Sunday himself, they all have a sort of friendly, energetic quality. "We're all spies! Come and have a drink!" one of the characters announces cheerfully near the end.

And of course, once the madcap police investigations are finished, there's still a mystery. Who is Sunday? What are his goals? And for that matter, WHAT is Sunday -- genius, force of nature, villain or god? The answer is a bit of a surprise, and as a reflection of Chesterton's beliefs, it's a delicate, intelligent piece of work.

It's also worth noting that the Digireads edition of this book is a very good one; it's about the size of a Dover Thrift book, but has relatively good paper, a flexible cover, and a tight binding that puts up with plenty of general book abuse. As inexpensive editions go, this is a good one.

"The Man Who Was Thursday" is a wacky little satire that will both amuse and educate you. Not bad for a book often subtitled "A Nightmare."

Average customer rating:

Very good resource for Chesterton fans
Good book, terribly annotated
Metaphysical thriller
What a nightmare!
On Thursday...

The Man Who Was Thursday
G. K. Chesterton
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1586170422

Book Description

This edition of Chesterton's masterpiece and most famous novel, The Man Who Was Thursday, explicates and enriches the complete text with extensive footnotes, together with an introductory essay on the metaphysical meaning of Chesterton's profound allegory. Martin Gardner sees the novel's anarchists as symbols of our God-given free will, and the mysterious Sunday as representing Nature, with its strange mixture of good and evil when considered as distinct from God, as a mask hiding the transcendental face of the creator. The book also includes a bibliography listing the novel's many earlier editions and stage dramatizations, as well as numerous illustrations that further illuminate the text. Illustrated

Customer Reviews:

Very good resource for Chesterton fans.......2007-01-15

To the text widely considered to be Chesterton's masterpiece, Martin Gardner (who has also provided notes for Alice in Wonderland among others, along with writing widely on mathematical puzzles) adds helpful explanatory notes. The book also includes illustrations, some more helpful than others. While Gardner's notes are valuable, some elements perhaps deserving of a note do not receive one (for instance, a line of Old French from the Song of Roland). Gardner's introduction advances his (persuasive) reading of Thursday, which along with the notes makes this volume interesting, engaging and especially helpful for those teaching Thursday

Good book, terribly annotated.......2006-08-23

This was a pretty good book, as others have attested. My beef is with the worthless annotations. Actually, they are less than worthless because they contain major plot spoilers. As far as I can tell, the notes break down as follows:

40% Numerous descriptions of London streets, neighborhoods that have absolutely no bearing on the plot and can easily be obtained on the Web by anyone who really cares about things like exactly where Charing Cross is and what kinds of shops it has in it.

35% Irrelevant literary cross-references that have no bearing on the work's plot or themes. These are most likely to occur when the annotator is reminded of some poem from the same period from another one of his books, and wants to speculate on whether Chesterton might have read it.

17% Corrections of Chesterton's own quotes and allusions, which apparently he did mostly from memory and so misses a word or two here and there

3% plot spoilers.

5% I guess were sort of useful, though the annotater is so pretentious it's hard to admit. But you should avoid reading them, because you never know which ones might be plot spoilers.

I would also comments that most of the cultural references that actually caused me to pause and question the text were not footnoted.

In his defense, I will say that the annotator provides a fairly good introduction. But don't read it until after you've read the book (more spoilers).

Metaphysical thriller.......2006-07-14

This novel is very eccentric, strange and unclassifiable. As Kingsley Amis says in the introduction, it is a mix between political nightmare, metaphysical thriller, and cosmic joke in the shape of a spies' novel. Turns out there is, apparently, a secret anarchist movement set to destroy the world. There is, also, a "philosophical police" whose end is to inflitrate and tear apart the movement. Gabriel Syme, a young poet-policeman, manages to infiltrate and be chosen as "Thursday" (the Central Committee is composed of seven guys, each one code-named a day of the week). There is much to give away, so I'll just say that little by little, after a series of impossible, fantastic, and terrifying adventures, Syme discovers the secret of the sect. More than the plot, though, what is remarkable about this book is the mixture of British wit and the capacity for paradox, with profound (but never pedantic) reflections on the stupidity, simpleness and perversity of anarchism and terrorism. What starts as a somewhat conventional novels develops into a fast and crazed journey throught the abysses of fanaticism and the limits of reason. Full with images reminding of fantasies like Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita", the novel eventually resembles the nightmares we all have, but that only a genius like Chesterton manages to remember, record and illustrate. It is seldom that you can accurately use the term "hallucinating" to depict a novel, and this one certainly deserves it.

What a nightmare!.......2006-05-16

The man in the dark who hired Syme was huge. Syme, even though he couldn't see a thing, knew that the speaker was of massive proportions.

Then, at the first council breakfast, we see that Sunday is a big big man, too big for the balcony. At that moment we know that the two men are one and the same. So, Syme's and others' continuing wonders of who Sunday is or who the man who hired them is comes across as childish. We suspect it, why can't they?

Also, after the first "spy" we know that all of them will turn out to be police officers, so that was a little tiresome too.

But, I really enjoyed some scenes. For instance, Syme's anticipated dialogue with the Marquis:

'Has it by any chance occurred to you,' asked the Professor, with a ponderous simplicity, 'that the Marquis may not say all the forty-three things you have put down for him?'

Connection to current events: The police (symbolizing all the ruling powers) is as ridiculous as the terrorists. In fact, in the book there are no anarchists, except maybe for Gregory (that poor man, I felt so sorry for him). I am thinking that maybe we can adapt the moral of the story to the current paranoia. We started to think that everyone might be a terrorist. London police killed an innocent man mistaking him for a terrorist.

The silliness of the police also reminded me a little of a certain president, how he must have felt after going to war to find weapons of mass destruction and then admitting that there never was any.

Lale

On Thursday..........2006-03-26

For a book that's as short as this one is, "The Man Who Was Thursday" is pretty packed.

G.K. Chesterton's classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, human nature, and a few dozen other weight concepts. And somehow he manages to mash it all together into a delightful satire, full of tongue-in-cheek commentary that is still relevant today.

As the book opens, Gabriel Symes is debating with a soapbox anarchist. The two men impress each other enough that the anarchist introduces Symes to a seven-man council of anarchists, all named after days of the week. In short order, they elect Symes their newest member -- Thursday.

But they don't know that he's also been recruited by an anti-anarchy organization. And soon Symes finds out that he's not the only person on the council who is not what he seems. There are other spies and double-agents, working for the same cause. But who -- and what -- is the jovial, powerful Mr. Sunday, the head of the organization?

Hot air balloons, elaborate disguises, duels and police chases -- Chesterton certainly knew how to keep this novel interesting. Though written almost a century ago, "The Man Who Was Thursday" still feels very fresh. That's partly because of Chesterton's cheery writing... and partly because it's such an intelligent book.

He doesn't avoid some timeless topics that make some people squirm. Humanity (good and bad), anarchy, religion and its place in human nature, and creation versus destruction all get tackled here -- disguised as a comic police investigation. And unlike most satires, it isn't dated; the topics are reflections of humanity and religion, so they're as relevant now as they were in 1908.

But the story isn't pedantic or boring; Chesterton keeps things lively by having his characters act like real people, rather than mouthpieces. From Symes to the Colonel to the mysterious Sunday himself, they all have a sort of friendly, energetic quality. "We're all spies! Come and have a drink!" one of the characters announces cheerfully near the end.

And of course, once the madcap police investigations are finished, there's still a mystery. Who is Sunday? What are his goals? And for that matter, WHAT is Sunday -- genius, force of nature, villain or god? The answer is a bit of a surprise, and as a reflection of Chesterton's beliefs, it's a delicate, intelligent piece of work.

"The Man Who Was Thursday" is a wacky little satire that will both amuse and educate you. Not bad for a book often subtitled "A Nightmare."

Chesterton Day by Day: The Wit and Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton

Average customer rating:

The quotes were selected by Chesterton himself, so they represent what he thought was important.
G.K Chesterton

Chesterton Day by Day: The Wit and Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Manufacturer: Inkling Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1587420147

Book Description

Here's a delightful collection of G. K. Chesterton quotes from 1900 to 1911, one for each day of the year--all selected by Chesterton himself. Every word of his 1912 classic is in this newly typeset edition. There are also newly created notes shedding light on events from his day that have been dimmed by the passage of time. In addition, there is a bibliography of sources and a detailed 17-page index to guide you to the quotes you need. Finally, there are several humorous sketches by Chesterton.

This book was previously published in the U.K. in 1911 as A Chesterton Calendar and in the U.S. in 1912 as The Wit and Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton. It includes Chapter 13, "The Movable Feasts," which was left out of the U.S. edition.

Customer Reviews:

The quotes were selected by Chesterton himself, so they represent what he thought was important........2007-01-17

This book serves two purposes. It is intended to be a daily devotional (like Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest"), focusing on G. K. Chesterton's wit and wisdom. The quotes were selected by Chesterton himself, so they represent what he thought was important, as opposed to reading another person's second-guessings.

One good point is that it has moveable feasts in an appendix, like Lewis's "The Business of Heaven." A down point is that the book lacks an entry for Leap Day. This is a common mistake made by all devotionals I own, except for Chambers's. If you are smart enough to include the Roman Catholic feast days (which you would expect from Chesterton), then why can't you remember Leap Day? It is beyond me!

The second purpose of the book is an unintentional one. This book serves as a de-facto quote book. I love quote books, since they serve as random sampler for a person's thought. C. S. Lewis said, "The only use of selections is to deter those readers who will never appreciate the original, and thus save them from wasting their time on it, and to send all the others on the original as quickly as possible." (The Quotable Lewis, #447)

This book accomplishes both: it is a wonderful daily devotional, and it whets the appetite for more.

G.K Chesterton.......2006-03-15

I bought this book for my grandmother and she loves it. It's hard for her to sit and read for a lond piriod of time. This book is nice because it has one little reading for every day. I would highly recomend this book.

Average customer rating:

On Thursday...

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare
G. K. Chesterton
Manufacturer: Idylls Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1595970010

Product Description

Originally published in 1908, G.K. Chestertons classic nightmare-mystery-fantasy of Police vs. Dynamiters, Law vs. Anarchy and Religion vs. Nihilism has influenced writers as diverse as Franz Kafka and C.S. Lewis, and remains as exuberant and imaginative, as original and prophetic as when if first appeared.

Customer Reviews:

On Thursday..........2006-05-09

Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say): Reflections on Literature and Faith

Average customer rating:

The power of honesty
Beautiful and Fascinating

Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say): Reflections on Literature and Faith
Frederick Buechner
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 006251752X
Release Date: 2001-08-07

Amazon.com

Great literature is like a spiritual informant, helping readers derive meaning out of the best of times and the worst of times. In Speak What We Feel, novelist and preacher Frederick Buechner pays homage to the worst of times, examining the life and writings of four esteemed writers and how they each came to terms with despair on the page. The title, Speak What We Feel, alludes to the bravery of William Shakespeare, Gerald Manley Hopkins, Mark Twain, and G.K. Chesterton--all of whom opened the veins to their hearts and let their emotions bleed upon the page. "Vein-opening writers are putting not just themselves into their books, but themselves at their nakedest and most vulnerable," writes Buechner. Not all writers do it all the time, he notes, and many writers never do it at all. "But for the four writers these pages are about, each did it at least once, and that is the most important single thing they have in common."

Writers who are fascinated with the process of creativity will find these essays particularly satisfying, especially the musings on Mark Twain, in which Buechner explains the internal angst that brought Huck Finn to life. Be warned that readers will probably glean more pleasure from this lovingly rendered (but occasionally dry) book if they already possess an appreciation and familiarity with the works of the writers. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

In this compelling book, the great contemporary spiritual writer and novelist Frederick Buechner plumbs the mysteries and truths behind the literature that speaks to him most powerfully. Buechner presents the four authors who have been his greatest influences, focusing on the question that has emerged at the center of his life-how to face mortality, failure, and tragedy. Through sensitive biographical exploration and close reading of Gerard Manley Hopkins's sublime later sonnets, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, and William Shakespeare's most powerful play, King Lear, Buechner invites readers to discover the deeper joy and purpose of reading. He shows how these writers -- by putting their passion and pain into their work -- have enabled him to bear the weight of his own grief and sadness by "speaking out from under the burden of theirs." Buechner's ruminations on their writings leads to the revelation that God accepts us for doing the best we can, even if our lives are in some ways a failure; even if we have lived a life haunted by tragedy, as Buechner's has been haunted by his father's suicide.

Buechner connects his readings to the fabric of his life and the lives of his subjects as he explores the ways in which these writers have shaped him and enhanced his faith. Buechner's insights into the power and imagination of their work resonate with his love for all that literature has given him throughout his life -- a passion he generously shares with us in Speak What We Feel.

Customer Reviews:

The power of honesty.......2006-10-08

In this book, Buechner describes the lives and discusses some of the literary works of four well-known writers.

Each of the four has incorporated into his writing clues to some of the lessons learnt from the harsh realities of life. Buechner has always been a strong advocate of "telling it like it is", in contrast to a tendency in parts of the Christian Church to "say what we ought to say".

If you're looking for a writer who's prepared to face up to the sometimes very difficult aspects of life, but who maintains an active faith, this book (and Buechner's other books as well) should prove richly rewarding.

Strongly recommended!

Beautiful and Fascinating.......2003-04-07

I recently got this book out of the library in order to teach a poem on Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of the writers Buechner discusses in the text. I was astonished at Buechner's incredible diction, phrasing, and word pictures. I had not read anything else of his before, but now I want to buy this book! His writing has an incredibly mysitcal quality, which he uses to broaden our knowledge of ability to enjoy four notable authors, while showcasing his own unique vision and humility. The book is moving and gritty - it put me in tears on several occasions, and I do not cry easily. If you are at all a fan of Hopkins, Twain, Chesterton, or Shakeapeare you must read this book!

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