Widely considered as Chesterton's masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) defies classification. Subtitled `A Nightmare' by Chesterton, on one level it is a fast-moving and surreal detective story. This critical edition includes several short related pieces, `A Picture of Tuesday', `The Book of Job', and `The Diabolist', as well as a map of Edwardian London and detailed explanatory notes. - ;Widely considered as Chesterton's masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) defies classification. Subtitled `A Nightmare' by Chesterton, on one level it is a fast-moving and surreal detective story. Drawing on contemporary fears of anarchist conspiracies and bomb outrages, The Man Who Was Thursday is firmly rooted in its time and place - turn of the century London - but it also defies temporal boundaries. Police detective Syme finds himself drawn into a world that seems to have gone beyond humanity when he is elected `Thursday', one of the members of the Central European Council of seven anarchs. Dreamlike, prophetic, and frequently funny, the novel attacks fin-de-si--egrave--;cle pessimism and, through a surreal series of pursuits and unmaskings, returns Syme - and us - to earth more aware of its beauty, promise, and creative potential. This critical edition includes several short related pieces, `A Picture of Tuesday', `Introduction to the Book of Job', and `The Diabolist', as well as a map of contemporary London and detailed explanatory notes. -