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 ...
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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."
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Add this copy of The Man Who Was Thursday to cart. $9.43, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2019 by Lulu.com.
Add this copy of The Man Who Was Thursday to cart. $28.34, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Lulu. com.
Not being a scholar, I need to do more research on Chesterton and this is another reason why I like to read so much. It's a gripping story, thoroughly enjoyable though very dark at times. But again, I need to research/look at commentaries of this book by those who have studied it but it wouldn't keep me from recommending it to others.
Mike D
Jul 7, 2011
Deeper than it first seems.
It is a metaphysical, phantasmagoric, paradoxical novel. Every English major should read it.
Chiroptera
Feb 26, 2009
Meh
This book starts out with the promise of an excellent spy thriller. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for it to descend into farcical tomfoolery. The genre I'd assign this book to is magical realism (if that's a legitimate category), and while there is indeed some obvious Christian symbolism, the bulk of the novel is spent in slightly humorous British dialogue and rather childish bumbling around. Think of "Get Smart" without Agent 99.
