![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A detective story without detection and a tale without a clear ending, The Man Who Was Thursday is typical Chestertonian and a clear example of the great writer’s propensity for paradox. ![]() The novel, subtitled A Nightmare, follows the poet Gabriel Syme as he manages to infiltrate a highly ordered anarchist society and becomes one of the seven members of the high council. Part of the reason lies in how Chesterton uses paradox to convey Christian truths. Why is this so, and why should every Christian read The Man Who Was Thursday? Though the story is fundamentally Christ-centered and penned by a renowned theologian, the novel has appealed to both Christians and non-Christians for decades. When first published in 1908, reviewers instantly praised it as “amazingly clever,” “a remarkable acrobatic performance” and “a scurrying, door-slamming farce that ends like a chapter in the Apocalypse.” One critic wrote that he read the book in a single sitting, putting it down at the end “completely dazed.” The Man Who Was Thursday was an immediate and overwhelming triumph and its success has continued through today, remaining Chesterton’s most famous novel. The Man Who Was Thursday is among the greatest Christian novels ever written. ![]()
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