『목요일이었던 남자』의 난센스, 역설 그리고 신비주의

Abstract

G. K. Chesterton, a celebrated late Victorian author, extols the virtues of nonsense literature in his essay “A Defense of Nonsense,” and employs paradoxes in his novel The Man Who Was Thursday. This essay attempts to decipher the reasons behind Chesterton's admiration for such literary devices as nonsense and paradox, through a comprehensive examination of the novel. The story is replete with paradoxical elements, with the character of Sunday being the epitome of nonsense or paradox. All the characters in the novel struggle to define Sunday due to the seemingly nonsensical and paradoxical descriptions they provide. They refer to him as “the earth,” “the sun,” “shapeless protoplasm,” or “the universe.” These descriptions illustrate the inability to logically or rationally define Sunday. As an avowed Catholic, Chesterton espouses mysticism, which posits that truth cannot be logically or rationally explicated. This resembles apophatic theology in Orthodox Christianity, which holds that the essence of God is beyond human comprehension, as language is insufficient to describe the divine. The Man Who Was Thursday, abundant with nonsense and paradox, may prove to be a perplexing experience for readers. However, it seems to be precisely what Chesterton intended to convey: the mysticism of truth.