London and the Spectre of Anarchy: Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday as Urban History

Abstract

Summary This article discusses how the criminal threat of anarchist attack was treated in G.K. Chesterton’s novel, The Man Who Was Thursday. The novel captures a particular moment of public concern about terrorism and serves as an object of cultural history in its depiction of London as a den of crime. The plot focuses on an undercover policeman who infiltrates a terror cell. The kind of terrorism depicted was a real threat, yet Chesterton parodied both the aspirations of anarchists, and the anti-terror efforts of law enforcement. This article considers the historical background of anarchism and how the history of the city is part of the novel’s framework.