The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare

About the book

Gabriel Syme argues for order in a world attracted to the glamour of rebellion. His encounter with a professed anarchist leads him into a secretive organisation whose council members take the names of days of the week. From this premise, Chesterton builds a narrative of pursuit, verbal paradox, sudden reversals, and increasingly uncertain identities. London streets and improbable adventures acquire the heightened atmosphere promised by the subtitle, A Nightmare. The reader follows Syme's effort to discover whom he can trust while the very categories of enemy and ally become difficult to maintain. The book can be enjoyed as an eccentric thriller, but its shifting logic also asks about fear, authority, friendship, and the search for meaning beneath an apparently hostile world.

• Order and disorder
• Appearance and identity
• Trust

Why read it

For a philosophical chase story whose surprises keep changing the kind of book you think you are reading.

English text