G. K. Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday (2009, The Floating Press)
E-book
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2009 by The Floating Press.
The metaphysical thriller The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, written by G. K. Chesterton in 1908, deals with a philosophical or theological anarchism; more a rejection of God than a rejection of government. The novel was described by Adam Gopnik 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."
“The whole gave him a sensation, the vividness of which he could not explain, that Nature was always making quite mysterious jokes.”
A very strange tale that turns from a crime story to a farce to an expressionist play to a Christian-philosophical treatise. It somehow manages to stay perfectly coherent throughout, with the unbelievable end scene a quite logical last step in a sequence of ever more outrageous scenes. Still, it leaves a somewhat sad feeling to see the fun and whimsy of the first half be pushed aside by the more serious and self-important realisations of the second, and the final impression is of a lecture received after setting out for a light distraction.
Denne boka dukka opp på ei liste over klassikere, men var den eneste på lista jeg ikke en gang hadde hørt om. Så jeg kasta meg inn i den uten å lese meg noe opp først. Boka er en slags thriller, men den er tidvis absurd, satirisk og leker en del med språket. Derfor ble jeg umiddelbart minna om Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett og den typen britisk litteratur. Plottet kunne vært en episode av The Prisoner: En poet blir verva inn i en (anti-)intellektuell politistyrke som skal avdekke en anarkistkonspirasjon. Men så baller det på seg i alle retninger. Slik sett var det ei overraskende bok å finne på en klassikerliste, men fornøyelig å lese fra ende til annen (selv om den noe allegoriske slutten ikke var så spennende).
book 22 of my reading challenge
https://blog.arkadi.one/the-man-who-was-thursday-by-g-k
3.5 stars
3.5 i guess?
A bit melodramatic but an excellent allegory of today's political dilemmas, in the US. It is almost prescient...
Combine three parts [b:Steppenwolf|16631|Steppenwolf|Hermann Hesse|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389332672s/16631.jpg|57612], one part [b:Chronicles of Narnia|11127|The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449868701s/11127.jpg|781271], add a dash of [b:Atlas Shrugged|662|Atlas Shrugged|Ayn Rand|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405868167s/662.jpg|817219], blend furiously.
After having read the reviews on The Man Who Was Thursday on this thread, I feel I have little more I could also possibly add to benefit any future potential reader of the book. However, I will put in my two-penn'orth. Chesterton's writing I find delightful, it provides plentiful wit and well-placed paradox that keeps the story alive and flush with surprises. Although this story in one aspect provides all the merriment of a madcap detective adventure, it also, and in Chesterton's own words, describes how pessimism can be shrouded in so much negativity that it fails to discern the real hope of the matter. I do enjoy Chesterton even though I don't share his religious points of view, I certainly can digest with interest his views from a theological standpoint. The Man Who Was Thursday is deftly played out with humorous pace and the fine touches of observation well …
After having read the reviews on The Man Who Was Thursday on this thread, I feel I have little more I could also possibly add to benefit any future potential reader of the book. However, I will put in my two-penn'orth. Chesterton's writing I find delightful, it provides plentiful wit and well-placed paradox that keeps the story alive and flush with surprises. Although this story in one aspect provides all the merriment of a madcap detective adventure, it also, and in Chesterton's own words, describes how pessimism can be shrouded in so much negativity that it fails to discern the real hope of the matter. I do enjoy Chesterton even though I don't share his religious points of view, I certainly can digest with interest his views from a theological standpoint. The Man Who Was Thursday is deftly played out with humorous pace and the fine touches of observation well served by a writer whose own delicate attention to prose makes for an inviting read.
The best parts of this are definitely Chesterton's humor. The plot is better taken as an elaborate slapstick, which according to his own essays on the subject it was really meant to be. A satire on pessimistic philosophy taken perhaps a few chapters too far.
