'But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.'
The ballad of the white horse

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The man who was Thursday

I just finished Chesterton's most famous novel: a sort of detective called 'The man who was Thursday; a nightmare'. I completely enjoyed the middle part of the book, in which Syme gets to know the other members of the Council. It was a great read, with unexpected turns, but completely 'logical'. Towards the end, though, from chapter 13 on, I did not really grasp the story anymore. Chesterton's thinking may have been too deep for me at that moment; I will reread it sometime.
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  1. MikeFebruary 25, 2011 at 1:05 AM

    Towards the end, though, from chapter 13 on, I did not really grasp the story anymore. Chesterton's thinking may have been too deep for me at that moment; I will reread it sometime.

    Don't worry; you're not alone. :-) A lot of people have felt the same way. The protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel This Side of Paradise, for instance, is said to have read TMWWT which "he liked without understanding." And Orson Welles, in his introduction to his radio dramatization of TMWWT, stated "It can be guaranteed that you will never, never guess the solution until you get to the end; it is even feared- that you may not guess it then. You may never guess what The Man Who Was Thursday is about. But, definitely- if you don't, you'll ask."

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