The Man Who Was Thursday (2009, Random House Publishing Group)
eBook
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2009 by Random House Publishing Group.
G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.From the Trade Paperback edition.
“The whole gave him a sensation, the vividness of which he could not explain, that Nature was always making quite mysterious jokes.”
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).
