Short work, read it on the recent plane flight to DC.I didn't know much about Chesterton, and still don't. He converted to Catholicism - seems like several of these English authors did - and there is some kind of message of hope and goodness here.
But mostly the story just struck me as weird.
The protagonist (Syme, a/k/a "Thursday") is a policemen who infiltrates a council of anarchists - seven folks, each named for a day of the week, and led by the formidable Sunday. Syme figures out that almost everyone on the council is not what he expected.
Plenty of well-written passages and sayings. I liked Syme's speech when he is being recruited to join the anti-anarchist department of the police force . . . "Yes, the modern world has retained all those parts of police work which are really oppressive and ignominious, the harrying of the poor, the spying upon the unfortunate. It has given up its more dignified work, the punishment of powerful traitors in the State and powerful heresiarchs in the Church. The moderns say we must not punish heretics. My only doubt is whether we have a right to punish anybody else."
The anarchist council, using Sunday's idea, conducted their business in plain sight (for example, discussing bombings in an open-air restaurant setting). This was thought to reduce suspicion.
No comments:
Post a Comment