G. K. Chesterton – författare

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G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday is a thrilling novel of deception, subterfuge, double-crossing and secret identities, and this Penguin Classics edition is edited with an introduction by Matthew Beaumont.The Central Anarchist Council is a secret society sworn to destroy the world. The council is governed by seven men, who hide their identities behind the names of the days of the week. Yet one of their number - Thursday - is not the revolutionary he claims to be, but a Scotland Yard detective named Gabriel Syme, sworn to infiltrate the organisation and bring the architects of chaos to justice. But when he discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, Syme begins to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies, unravelling the mysteries of human behaviour and belief in a thrilling contest of wits. But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined ...In his introduction, Matthew Beaumont examines the book's themes of identity and confrontation, and explores its intriguing title. This edition also contains a chronology, notes and suggested further reading.G.K. Chesterton (1874-1938) attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best-known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938. If you enjoyed The Man Who Was Thursday, you might enjoy Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, also available in Penguin Classics.'The most thrilling book I have ever read'Kingsley Amis, author of Lucky Jim

The complete adventures of the well-loved clerical sleuth, collected in one brilliant volume.Shabby and lumbering, with a face like a Norfolk dumpling, Father Brown makes for an improbable super-sleuth. But his innocence is the secret of his success: refusing the scientific method of detection, he adopts instead an approach of simple sympathy, interpreting each crime as a work of art, and each criminal as a man no worse than himself. This complete edition brings together all of the Father Brown stories, including two not previously available in Penguin: 'The Donnington Affair', in which Chesterton rises to the challenge of solving a murder-mystery half written by someone else (Max Pemberton), and 'The Mask of Midas', which was found in Chesterton's papers after his death. It also includes an introduction and notes by Michael D. Hurley.G.K. Chesteron was born in 1874. He attended the Slade School of Art, where he appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown, before turning his hand to journalism. A prolific writer throughout his life, his best-known books include The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922), The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) and the Father Brown stories. Chesterton converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and died in 1938.Michael D. Hurley is a Lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St Catharine's College. He has written widely on English literature from the nineteenth century to the present day, with an emphasis on poetry and poetics. His book on G. K. Chesterton was published in 2011.

The Penguin English Library Edition of The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton'"A man's brain is a bomb," he cried out, loosening suddenly his strange passion and striking his own skull with violence. "My brain feels like a bomb, night and day. It must expand! It must expand! A man's brain must expand, if it breaks up the universe"'In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in Europe's Central Anarchist Council and infiltrate their deadly mission, even managing to have himself voted to the position of 'Thursday'. When Syme discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, however, he starts to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies. But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined ...The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

A new selection of the much-loved Father Brown stories, now part of the Penguin English Library'No man's really any good till he knows how bad he is, or might be'With his round, unassuming face, his pipe and umbrella, the bumbling priest Father Brown makes for an improbable detective. Yet his innocent air hides a piercing understanding of the criminal mind, and a boundless knowledge of human nature. This selection brings together some of the best of G. K. Chesterton’s beloved stories, in which we see the clerical sleuth foiling a jewel thief in London, solving a macabre mystery in a Scottish castle and unravelling dark deeds in a sleepy English suburb. With a beautiful new cover design by award-winning designer Coralie Bickford-Smith and presented in the delightful Penguin English Library series, this new selection brings together the very best of the Father Brown stories, inviting new readers to discover one of the most unforgettable characters in literature.

London, 1984. England has given up on democracy and selects its rulers by lottery. This time it is the turn of clerk Auberon Quin, a prankster who decrees that each borough of London become an independent mediaeval state, complete with costumes and coats of arms. The citizens bear his joke with varying levels of patience – until Adam Wayne, the intractable Provost of Notting Hill, sword in hand, takes the game far too seriously.First published in 1904, G. K. Chesterton's deliriously eccentric debut novel is a wild, topsy-turvy satire on a land ruled by fools.

'Why anyone would pick up a book with that formidable title eludes me,' writes Philip Yancey of G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy. 'But one day I did so and my faith has never recovered. I was experiencing a time of spiritual dryness in which everything seemed stale, warmed over, lifeless. Orthodoxy brought freshness and, above all, a new spirit of adventure.''We direly need another Chesterton today, I think. In a time when culture and faith have drifted even further apart, we could use his brilliance, his entertaining style, and above all his generous and joyful spirit. He managed to propound the Christian faith with as much wit, good humour and sheer intellectual force as anyone in this century.'Since its first publication in 1908, this classic work has represented a pivotal step in the adoption of a credible faith by many other Christian thinkers, including C. S. Lewis. Written as a spiritual autobiography, it stands as a remarkable and inspirational apologetic for Christianity.

The father of modern detectivesAs punctilious as Poirot, as Miss Marple and as sharp as Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown ranks higher than all of them in the pantheon of literary sleuths. For the confessional, this humble, innocent little priest has gained a deep intuitive knowledge of the paradoxes of human nature. So when murder, mayhem, and mystery stalk smart society, only father Brown can be counted upon to discover the startling truth.The most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction and chronology of Chesterton's life and times.