Other editions of book The Man Who Was Thursday

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. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)

Often referred to as a metaphysical thriller, G.K. Chesterton’s brilliant 1908 novella The Man Who Was Thursday – A Nightmare is a tour-de-force of suspense-writing.Newly recruited Scotland Yard detective Gabriel Syme infiltrates a dangerous underworld anarchist group with the help of a poet he befriends, named Lucian Gregory. The taut adventure that ensues is part spy narrative, part dystopian novel and part Christian allegory. Chesterton’s unconventional masterpiece has been described as "one of the hidden hinges of twentieth-century writing, the place where, before our eyes, the nonsense-fantastical tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear pivots and becomes the nightmare-fantastical tradition of Kafka and Borges."“As The Man Who Was Thursday proceeds, it becomes a hilarious numbers game with a more serious undertone. Chesterton's thriller is best read slowly, so as to savor his highly anarchic take on anarchy.” - Kerry Fried."A powerful picture of the loneliness and bewilderment which each of us encounters in his single-handed struggle with the universe."- C. S. Lewis.*Includes image gallery.

2011 Reprint of 1908 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare" is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book is sometimes referred to as a metaphysical thriller. Although it deals with anarchists, the novel is not an exploration or rebuttal of anarchist thought; Chesterton's ad hoc construction of "Philosophical Anarchism" is distinguished from ordinary anarchism and is referred to several times not so much as a rebellion against government but as a rebellion against God. The novel has been described as "one of the hidden hinges of twentieth-century writing, the place where, before our eyes, the nonsense-fantastical tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear pivots and becomes the nightmare-fantastical tradition of Kafka and Borges.

Can you trust yourself when you don't know who you are? Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in Europe's Central Anarchist Council and infiltrate their deadly mission, even managing to have himself voted to the position of 'Thursday'. In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, when Syme discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, however, he starts to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies. But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has - its leader: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined...

Customer Reviews Of THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY...Wonderful. Chesterton's prose is dazzling. His use of color and imagery is fresh and lively. The pace is almost frenetic. There is nothing musty about this novel, so give it a try. "Keep in mind, though, it's not a "straight" novel--more of an allegory. But that will only disappoint people obsessed with realism.It seems he only wrote four or five novels. Pity.""Superb stuff. I suspect that I didn't understand much of the deeper meaning but I'm sure it has one. Its a good, rather odd yarn just the same"This is a comment GKC made regarding Thursday:"...The point is that it described, first a band of the last champions of order fighting against what appeared to be a world of anarchy, and then the discovery that the mysterious master both of the anarchy and the order was the same sort of elemental elf who had appeared to be rather too like a pantomime ogre. This line of logic, or lunacy, led many to infer that this equivocal being was meant for a serious description of the Deity; and my work even enjoyed a temporary respect among those who like the Deity to be so described.But this error was entirely due to the fact that they had read the book but had not read the title page. In my case, it is true, it was a question of a subtitle rather than a title. The book was called The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare. It was not intended to describe the real world as it was, or as I thought it was, even when my thoughts were considerably less settled than they are now. It was intended to describe the world of wild doubt and despair which the pessimists were generally describing at that date; with just a gleam of hope in some double meaning of the doubt, which even the pessimists felt in some fitful fashion."

— A Classic — Includes Active Table of Contents — Includes Religious IllustrationsIt is very difficult to classify The Man Who Was Thursday. It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the Father Brown stories should tell a detective story like no-one else. On this level, therefore, The Man Who Was Thursday succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing.Aeterna Press

It is very difficult to classify THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY. It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the Father Brown stories should tell a detective story like no-one else. On this level, therefore, THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing.However, the reader will soon discover that it is much more than that. Carried along on the boisterous rush of the narrative by Chesterton's wonderful high-spirited style, he will soon see that he is being carried into much deeper waters than he had planned on; and the totally unforeseeable denouement will prove for the modern reader, as it has for thousands of others since 1908 when the book was first published, an inevitable and moving experience, as the investigators finally discover who Sunday is.

"The Man Who Was Thursday, is a metaphysical thriller, and a detective story filled with poetry and politics. Gabriel Syme is a poet and a police detective. Lucian Gregory is a poet and a bomb-throwing anarchist. Syme infiltrates a secret meeting of anarchists and becomes 'Thursday', one of the seven members of the Central Anarchist Council. He soon learns, however, that he is not the only one in disguise, and the nightmare begins…"

Poet Gabriel Syme believes in the beauty of order and, as such, is recruited by Scotland Yard to an anti-anarchist police corp. While undercover, Syme meets fellow poet Lucian Gregory, a verse writer devoted to disorder, who introduces him to London’s anarchist underworld. Just as Gregory is to be elected to the central council, Syme’s cover is revealed and he is forced to make a decision that sends the cabal into chaos. Is anyone in this underground faction who or what they seem? Syme suddenly realizes he doesn’t have all the answers.G. K. Chesterton’s masterpiece unfolds itself as a marvel of disguises: political parable, detective novel, Edwardian gothic, spy thriller, and metaphysical mystery—a byzantine maze of deception and subterfuge that surprises to this day.Revised edition: Previously published as The Man Who Was Thursday, a nightmare, this edition of The Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.