Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)
    Unavailable
    The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)
    Unavailable
    The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)
    Ebook209 pages3 hours

    The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)

    By G. K. Chesterton

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton. The book is sometimes referred to as a metaphysical thriller.

    In Edwardian era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti-anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him at a party and they debate the meaning of poetry. Gregory argues revolt is the basis of poetry. Syme demurs, insisting the essence of poetry is not revolution, but rather law. He antagonizes Gregory by asserting the most poetical of human creations is the timetable for the London Underground. He suggests Gregory isn't really serious about his anarchism. This so irritates Gregory that he takes Syme to an underground anarchist meeting place, revealing his public endorsement of anarchy is a ruse to make him seem harmless, when in fact he is an influential member of the local chapter of the European anarchist council.

    The central council consists of seven men, each using the name of a day of the week as a code name, and the position of Thursday is about to be elected by Gregory's local chapter. Gregory expects to win the election, but just before the election Syme reveals to Gregory after an oath of secrecy that he is a secret policeman. Fearful Syme may use his speech in evidence of a prosecution, Gregory's weakened words fail to convince the local chapter he is sufficiently dangerous for the job. Syme makes a rousing anarchist speech and wins the vote. He is sent immediately as the chapter's delegate to the central council.

    In his efforts to thwart the council's intentions, however, Syme discovers five of the other six members are also undercover detectives; each was employed just as mysteriously and assigned to defeat the Council. They all soon find out they were fighting each other and not real anarchists; such was the mastermind plan of their president Sunday. In a surreal conclusion, Sunday himself is unmasked as only seeming to be terrible; in fact, he is a force of good like the detectives. However, he is unable to give an answer to the question of why he caused so much trouble and pain for the detectives. Gregory, the only real anarchist, seems to challenge the good council. His accusation is they, as rulers, have never suffered like Gregory and their other subjects, and so their power is illegitimate. However, Syme is able to refute this accusation immediately because of the terrors inflicted by Sunday on the rest of the council.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookRix
    Release dateJun 9, 2019
    ISBN9783736803558
    Unavailable
    The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)
    Author

    G. K. Chesterton

    G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was a prolific English journalist and author best known for his mystery series featuring the priest-detective Father Brown and for the metaphysical thriller The Man Who Was Thursday. Baptized into the Church of England, Chesterton underwent a crisis of faith as a young man and became fascinated with the occult. He eventually converted to Roman Catholicism and published some of Christianity’s most influential apologetics, including Heretics and Orthodoxy. 

    Read more from G. K. Chesterton

    Related to The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)

    Related ebooks

    Satire For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Sep 1, 2023

      Amber accord of Shalimar arrived before her into a room set like a scene from Scheherezade: Oriental rugs, brass lamps mantled with jujube glass. She entered slightly out of breath, one end of a silk sari afloat behind her, embraced my sister, called

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Prophet of Nothingness

      Sep 12, 2021

      The Prophet of Nothingness
      9 min read

    • Article

      'The Hazel Wood' Has Few Uses For Enchantment

      Jan 30, 2018

      In Melissa Albert's dark take on fairy tales, 17-year-old Alice has spent her entire life on the run from her family legacy: a terrifying mythical world created by her grandmother, a famous author.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Blue-collar Bard

      Jul 13, 2020

      The Blue-collar Bard
      13 min read

    • Article

      Her Dark Materials

      May 6, 2022

      A novel-in-verse written in dense Dorset vernacular, Orlam is a curious and enchanting thing. Like a dark poetic almanac, it charts a year in which its heroine, nine-year-old Ira-Abel Rawles, leaves behind the innocence of her childhood. Orlam takes

      1 min read

    • Article

      Folklore AND FICTION

      Nov 2, 2023

      Folklore AND FICTION
      4 min read

    • Article

      Editor

      Nov 5, 2020

      Editor
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Book I Kept for the Cover

      Apr 13, 2018

      The Book I Kept for the Cover
      5 min read

    • Article

      Remastering The Mythos: Questions For Ruthanna Emrys

      May 4, 2017

      When Ruthanna Emrys first read H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," her sympathies were squarely with the monsters — and that sympathy was the seed of her new book, Winter Tide.

      5 min read

    • Article

      30 Books in 30 Days: Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life

      Feb 22, 2017

      In the 30 Books in 30 Days series leading up to the March 16 announcement of the 2016 National Book Critics Circle award winners, NBCC board members review the 30 finalists. Today, NBCC board member Kate Tuttle offers an appreciation of biography fin

      2 min read

    • Article

      Submission Calendar

      Apr 13, 2022

      AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize GAUDY BOY Poetry Book Prize LEEWAY FOUNDATION Transformation Awards FREE LOST HORSE PRESS Idaho Prize for Poetry MCGILL UNIVERSITY Montreal International Poetry Prize PITTSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY Cow

      1 min read

    • Article

      American Poetry Review

      Nov 1, 2021

      Editor Elizabeth Scanlon Business Manager Mike Duffy Editorial Assistant Thalia Geiger General Counsel Dennis J. Brennan, Esq. Contributing Editors Christopher Buckley, Deborah Burnham, George Economou, Jan Freeman, Leonard Gontarek, Everett Hoagland

      1 min read

    • Article

      Must-Read Poetry: March 2019

      Mar 4, 2019

      For several reasons, there is only one thing I demand from my own lines, or from any poetry I love—I want to read it and to have a sense of having lived. The post Must-Read Poetry: March 2019 appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Literary Advantages

      Apr 25, 2020

      Even though many don’t offer payment and some are more popular than others, literary journals are a great way to get your writing’s foot in an editor’s door. Some writers may overlook smaller publications in order to concentrate on bigger projects, b

      11 min read

    • Article

      Unafraid Of The Dark

      Mar 27, 2018

      SOME YEARS AGO, in a workshop, I wrote about my sister’s self-destructive adolescence. I recounted her recklessness with boys and alcohol, the anger that erupted like a geyser inside her, and her hell-bent desire to run away—which she did by joining

      10 min read

    • Article

      Editorial

      Aug 8, 2019

      ISSUE 25 — FANTASY AUTUMN 2019 There are no limits on fantasy. Yet, in literature it is so heavily steeped in genre it’s impossible not to think of warring kingdoms, dragons, unicorns, witches and other supernatural tropes. Fantasy with a capital F i

      1 min read

    Reviews for The Man Who Was Thursday (New Edition)

    4/5

    1,455 ratings51 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      A brilliant book?
    • 5/5
      With amazing suspense and continual anticipation, Chesterton positions the reader to the edge of their seats on a wild ride with twists, turns, and delightful encounters. It was a joy to read this work of genius. It was a shorter book. However, with the style and prose of Chesterton, it takes longer than usual. It was well worth the time and investment.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed reading this startling, at times riotously funny, often gorgeously written book. The ending perplexed me, however, and that's why I ultimately dropped my rating to 4 stars. I wouldn't recommend this as anyone's first foray into Chesterton, but if you've enjoyed Orthodoxy, this is likely a good place to start with his fiction. He's a marvelous writer.
    • 4/5
      Levity with a purpose is how I might describe the overall feel of The Man Who Was Thursday. Chesterton creates a tangle of wonderful characters fighting out order vs. anarchy without really knowing who is on which side, and although the prose is light and the dialogue is clever, the allegory certainly has serious things to say to the reader.
    • 5/5
      I suspect that this dream will linger within me for years to come. The philosophical and political currents pale compared to the intrinsic visions within, the idea that the six all saw their childhood in the penultimate geography is a telling terror.
    • 5/5
      This is a heck of a book. Do not shelve it next to The Iron Dragon's Daughter because I think they would annihilate each other or something.
    • 5/5
      This is one very good book! Well written, short and fun. I need to re-read it though, thoroughly deserves a re-read.
    • 4/5
      A long time ago I read several of the Father Brown mysteries. This is a less-conventional bird, but didn't live up to its billing as an unpredictable ride. This novel's genre is heralded as difficult to pin down, but it's easily categorized as Christian allegory. There's plenty of meant-to-be-fun nonsense about police versus anarchists that becomes a slog if you see the emerging pattern. Much of this tale rings less farcical in today's world. Anarchists are anything but comic when anyone with an extreme viewpoint seems abundantly prepared to inflict massive casualities to make their point. Modern perspective's wounding of this story comes to a head with the conclusion. Read as giving answer to terrorists, it's a terribly poor one. I'm not convinced it was a great answer by the allegory interpretation either, but at least more palatable.
    • 5/5
      first line: "The suburb of Saffron Park lay on the sunset side of London, as red and ragged as a cloud of sunset."I love Chesterton's language: from brilliantly witty dialogue to perfect visual descriptions. While social philosophy is not something about which I'd generally read, I love how this book presents it. Chesteron sublimates the silly, and treats the cosmos like a carnival. In his world, things may not always make sense...but I think that for Chesterton, more important than complete understanding is complete experience.
    • 5/5
      Obviously intended as a theodicy, but has things to say on a sociological and political level, too. The overarching themes are so big and grave that the insanity of the plot catches you unawares; I actually doubt it would have worked if not for the writing style. With regular pithy insights and some fantastic imagery, Chesterton forces you to take his story seriously, and you are rewarded, in the end, when the absurdity of the plot is equated to the absurdity of the universe. Worth reading unless one is completely allergic to Christian allegories. (So sayeth a dedicated atheist.)
    • 3/5
      Read this at 20 and now again 35 years later. Chesterton can certainly write. Some of the images are startlingly beautiful, but the philosophy is a bit much to take. I'm sure the Chesterton lovers can make sense of it all, but to me it was a hodge-podge of conservative Christianity and Buddhism.
    • 3/5
      A detective inflitrates a gang of anarchists in London, cunningly gaining entry to the super-secretive 'Council of Days', led by the godly Sunday. His mission: to prevent a plot to blow up the Czar on his visit to Paris.The first half of the book is an exciting tale of wit and invention, but soon the tale becomes grossly absurd; the climax is surely allegorical but for me it was greatly unsatisfying, especially considering all the drama that had led to it.
    • 1/5
      I found a recommendation of this book in an article in the Atlantic, sought it out online and acquired an unusual printed on demand hardcover - it has Harry Lyme from the Thin Man movie on the cover. I was disappointed. The plot is the gradual revelation of a group of anarchists as all being in an intellectual police force, all recruited by the same man who is also the head of the anarchists association. They are named for the days of the week, with “Sunday” as the chief anarchist. There is a great deal of philosophical speculation and discussion, and an improbable chase across London, ending in the revelation that Sunday is somehow God Almighty. Antique language, unbelievable plot and characters, ending in religious blather.
    • 3/5
      It would probably be best to get hit by a bus just before you get to the end of this book. Tense chase sequences and a quickly increasing desire to find out exaclty what is going on are let down by the ridiculous half baked ending. A good yarn but the exciting romp through europe and london only lead to disapointment and a little bit of anger.
    • 4/5
      This book is part thriller, part fantasy, and even part comedy. It is certainly a strange combination, and not always successful. The was written during a time of anarchist bombings in London, and takes the core idea of the plot from those events. Detective Syme is assigned by Scotland Yard to infiltrate a group of anarchists. Each man is named for a day of the week. As he gets to know the men, he begins to fear for his safety. But the more he learns, the more he realizes none of them are exactly what they appear to be on the surface. The complete title of this novella is The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare. I think one must keep that in mind when reading, as the events and situations can come at the reader at near breakneck speed. The book's ending was a bit disappointing, but overall I will give this one 3-1/2 stars.
    • 4/5
      Weird but absolutely brilliant.
    • 5/5
      Few books managed to give us the sensation that the world may be dream. This is one of those books. Chesterton's allegory give us a feeling of unreal world, where we are no more awaken than the protagonist. He created a world that Robert Louis Stevenson and Lewis Caroll before him and Borges and Kafka after managed to create. A nightmare that we follow with hardship.
    • 2/5
      The author's vivid descriptions of scenery and settings, as well as certain philosophy, make for memorable reading.The plot moves along with intriguing mystery and excitement, then becomes redundant and thoroughly improbable, but worse, boring.
    • 4/5
      How does one review this? Let's see, it is the story of a dream, and as with all dreams I suppose, is open to interpretation. I'm not sure what to make of the meaning of it, the meaning floats in and out of my mind and I can't pin it down. However, the story itself was fun, quick to read and full of lovely word images. Now I must go and read more about it, then possibly read it again. Reading it again would be a pleasure.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed this book until I got to the end. I was expecting a straightforward mystery/thriller, and then the ending was really strange. G.K. Chesterton is hard to understand sometimes.
    • 5/5
      A fantastical story with more twists and turns than a labyrinth; this was a great read. I was able to anticipate some of the “surprises” but that in no way diminished my pleasure and the ending was magnificent—although many reviewers disliked it because it did not neatly tie up all the loose ends. However, this book was not about answers but questions.
    • 2/5
      Martin Amis calls it 'thrilling' in the introduction to my version of the book. I failed to find it so. I was attracted to the book by a passage from it that I read. The passage was the one describing Gabriel Syme's childhood. It is probably the best bit, and the rest of the book fails to live up to the humour of those paragraphs. The story line was not very surprising (and not even completely coherent, I suspect). Chesterton presents Christianity as the only answer to Chaos. I wonder if he would still think that in today's world.
    • 4/5
      At once lapidary, rich with ideas and a farcical romp.
    • 5/5
      Oakes is right about this one. Of course, Oakes is usually right.
    • 4/5
      Concise, fast moving, profound, and often funny. What's not to like?
    • 4/5
      Strange story, typically Chesterton, magic realism of his own kind, wonderful details. There is some point to this book, I think, but with GK the point is not the thing. The magic is more interesting than the realism, and there is more of it.
    • 3/5
      Der Abenteuerroman datiert aus dem Jahr 1907 und ist vom Stil her doch etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig. Inhaltlich geht es um eine Anarchisten-Elitevereinigung, deren sieben Mitglieder die Wochentage als Decknamen tragen. Die erste Hälfte gestaltet sich relativ spannend, spätestens dann aber zeichnet sich der Ausgang der Geschichte zu deutlich ab und mindestens das letzte Drittel gestaltet sich sehr langatmig. Zudem finden sich doch einige krasse Handlungsbrüche und Ungereimtheiten im Handlungsaufbau. Da hilft es auch nur bedingt, dass dem Leser letztendlich offenbart wird, dass es sich bei dem Erlebten der Protagonisten nur um einen Traum handelt. Allerdings: Einem Autor, dem folgendes, wunderbares Zitat zugeschrieben wird, verzeiht man so einiges: "Märchen erzählen Kindern nicht, dass Drachen existieren. Kinder wissen um deren Existenz. Märchen erzählen Kinder, dass man Drachen töten kann."
    • 4/5
      Expect the unexpected.
    • 4/5
      Both policemen and anarchists go undercover as anarchists. If there were a central message, it escaped me, but the novel contains many entaining parts.
    • 3/5
      I do love Chesterton's writing, but this one got away from me a little bit. I had difficulty following the characters (could have been a personal problem).Gabriel Syme, poet & undercover detective, meets a man on the street, and after challenging him about his supposed anarchism, follows him to a meeting of anarchists. Somehow, Gabriel ends up being voted to the "grand council" of anarchists, all of whom are named after the days of the week. Gabriel becomes Thursday, and finds himself caught between planning a bombing and, of course, the fact that he is a policeman. The story gets more and more bizarre and convoluted, often hilarious, until towards the end, when I found it a mess.But it wasn't long, and I'm glad I read it.