Darkness at Noon Free Ebook
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Ar Thur Koestler and Mysticism
AR THUR KOESTLER AND MYSTICISM by NILS BJORN KVASTAD ARTHUR Koestler was an influential writer during the first years after the war. His attacks on communism got a world-wide echo, in particular among intellectuals. To the reading public he was in the first place a political writer. But according to himself the political content is only one aspect of his literary production from his first years as an author. As important were some mystical experiences he had while sitting in one of Franco's prisons awaiting execution during the Spanish Civil War. These experiences had for him certain ethical impli cations, and an important theme in his first books was the contrast between the ethics derived from his mystical experiences on the one hand and Marxist-Leninist ethics as well as the ethical implications of Freudian psychoanalysis on the other. In his autobiography Koest ler writes about how his first books were influenced by his mysti cal experiences, or the 'hours by the window' as he called them: 'In the years that followed I wrote a number of books in which I at tempted to assimilate the (mystical) experiences of cell no. 40. Ethical problems had hitherto played no part in my writing, now they became its central concern. In 'The Gladiators', ( ...), and 'Darkness at Noon', ( .•. ), I tried to come to intellectual terms wi th the in tuiti ve glimp ses gained durin g the 'hours by th e win dow'. Both novels were variations on the same theme: the problem of Ends and Means, the conflict between transcendental morality and social expediency. -
Lost in Back-Translation
24 The German Times October 2018 ARTS & LIFE Lost in back-translation The rediscovered original manuscript of Arthur Koestler’s novel Darkness at Noon allows for a new interpretation of a literary and political classic Rubashov, who is arrested and The book does not reveal the be resold for up to eight times works were all translated from one of the interrogation scenes, BY LUTZ LICHTENBERGER soon thereafter imprisoned. In country in which it is set. At the retail price. By mid-year, the the English. Scammell notes that Rubashov scoffs that “our lead- captivity he is interrogated to several points in the novel there novel had sold 300,000 copies, German-speaking readers would ership [is] more grotesque than t’s the political novel of the excruciating effect by two exam- are indications it may be Nazi and after two years, two million. have regarded the novel as “testi- that jumping jack’s with the little day, a warning signal, a reck- ining magistrates, Ivanov, an erst- Germany, or perhaps communist With the escalation of the Cold mony of a foreign culture.” This, mustache” – a direct reference to Ioning with all forms of totali- while friend and fellow traveler, Soviet Union. Scammel writes War, however, Koestler’s anti- perhaps, encouraged many of Hitler. However, the phrase in tarianism, a riveting literary dys- and Gletkin, a hostile and ruth- that early on, more astute critics totalitarian – indeed universal – them to overlook the passages Daphne Hardy’s original transla- topia. As a matter of fact, Dark- less inquisitor. The two officials called attention to the generally message passed nearly unnoticed. -
![Hungarian Studies Review, 1994): 43-75; and Oliver Botar, Ed., "Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Hungar- Ian-American Politics [Documents]," Ibid., Pp](https://docslib.b-cdn.net/cover/6580/hungarian-studies-review-1994-43-75-and-oliver-botar-ed-laszlo-moholy-nagy-and-hungar-ian-american-politics-documents-ibid-pp-296580.webp)
Hungarian Studies Review, 1994): 43-75; and Oliver Botar, Ed., "Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Hungar- Ian-American Politics [Documents]," Ibid., Pp
From Budapest to New York: The Odyssey of the Polanyis Judith Szapor This article is a short version of Chapter 4 of my manuscript, entitled "The Hungarian Pocahontas;" The Life and Times of Laura Polanyi, 1882-1959, to be published by the University of Toronto Press. In the preceding chapters I describe the first stages of the Polanyis' Odyssey. It included the emigration from Hungary of Laura Polanyi's brothers, Adolf, Karl and Michael, to Italy, Austria and Germany, respectively. They left Hungary, along with scores of left-wing intellectuals, during the period of right-wing repression that followed the post-war demo- cratic and Bolshevik revolutions. By 1939, both Michael and Karl had settled in England. As for Laura Polanyi's immediate family, in the late 1920s and early 1930s her children, Michael, Eva and George Strieker all studied and worked in Austria and Germany. While the latter, her youngest was completing his studies at the University of Vienna, Michael and Eva took a detour to the Soviet Union. By 1932, both had taken up positions as "foreign experts," Michael as a patent expert in Moscow, Eva as a designer, eventually working for the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in Leningrad. Although keeping her homes in Budapest — where her husband lived — and Vienna, Laura accompanied her children to the Soviet Union for extended periods of time. She was there when, in May 1936, Eva was arrested and accused with participating in a plot to assassinate Stalin. Fourteen months later, in September 1937, when Eva was released and expelled from the Soviet Union, the family gathered in Vienna, preparing to leave for the United States. -
HE CONTRIBUTION of GEORGE ORWELL and ARTHUR KOESTLER to the POLIT- ICAL THEORY of TOTALITARIANISM ~Oland James Wensley
~HE CONTRIBUTION OF GEORGE ORWELL AND ARTHUR KOESTLER TO THE POLIT ICAL THEORY OF TOTALITARIANISM ~oland James Wensley ·A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts , Department of Economies and Political Science, McGill University, Montreal. August, 1964. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE i-v CHAPTER I: The Men and the Age 1-18 Situation in the 1930's Pl-2; Koestler's personal background P3-6; Koestler's background related to his thought P6-10; Orwell's personal background Pl0-12; Orwell's background related to his thought Pl2-16; Koestler and Orwell compared in general terms Pl7-18. CHAPTER II: Spain 1937 - The Impact of Totalita rianism on Koestler and Orwell 19-34 Situation in Spain 1936-37, Pl9-20; Koestler's Spanish experience P21-26J Orwell's Spanish experience P26-30; meaning of the Spanish experience for Koestler and Orwell as defined in terms of ''li.m.ited '' and "luxuriant r• totalita rianism P31-34. CHAPTER III: Arthur Koestler and Limited Totalita rianism 35-61 Koestler's view of man and society P35-38J Koestler's idea of the genesis of totalitarianism P39-41; attraction of Communism for Koestler P41-43; Koestler's conception of Stalinism P44-48; Koestler's theory of history P47-48; Koestler's idea of totalita rianism P48-56; the meaning of '' limi ted '' totalitarianism in Koestler's work ex pounded P56-61. CHAPTER IV: George Orwell and Luxuriant Totalita rianism 62-83 Orwell's view of man and society P62-64; Orwell's ideas compared with Koestler's on this P65-69; Orwell's extension of the anomalies of the modern age P69-73; Orwell on totalitarian stability1 distortion of reality, and the in vasion of the human personality P73-80; Orwell's conception of luxuriant totalitarianism P80-83. -
View: "Koestler"
Books Book Review: "Koestler" The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic. By Michael Scammell '85GSAS. By Michael Kimmage | Winter 2009-10 Arthur Koestler in New York City. (Bettman / Corbis) When Arthur Koestler arrived in New York City in March 1948 to launch an American speaking tour, his visit was front-page news. An audience of 3000 filled Carnegie Hall, eager to hear Koestler’s thoughts on “the radical’s dilemma” and on America’s pressing need to confront Soviet communism. Koestler had gained worldwide fame for his novel Darkness at Noon, published in 1940. The hero of the novel is Nicholas Rubashov, a devout communist caught in Stalin’s net in the 1930s for straying from the party line. Before his inevitable execution, he is interrogated and forced to confess to ludicrous crimes. At the heart of his ordeal is an “absolute faith in History”: Stalin may be fallible, but the Soviet cause is infallible and can be made to justify countless deaths, including Rubashov’s own. The novel’s taut, philosophical style made it a staple of international literary culture, damaged the Communist Party’s global reputation, and made its author an icon of the engagé intellectual. For much of the Cold War, Koestler was a celebrity anti- communist. Yet when Koestler, the author of some 30 books, died in 1983, his chosen legacy was detached from political parties, movements, and causes. In his will, he left most of his estate to endow an academic chair in parapsychology. This unorthodox evolution can now be traced in Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic, a new biography by Michael Scammell ’85GSAS, professor of creative writing at Columbia. -
Download PDF Version of Full Issue
Tradition & Discovery The Polanyi Society Periodical Volume XXX Number 2 2003--2004 Preface.................................................................................................................................2 News and Notes..................................................................................................................3 Information on Electronic Discussion Group.................................................................3 Annual Meeting Minutes...................................................................................................4 2004 Polanyi Society Annual Meeting Call for Papers...................................................5 Letters about Polanyi, Koestler, and Eva Zeisel.............................................................6 Walter Gulick Information on Polanyi Society WWW Resources.......................................................10 Tacit Knowledge/Knowing and the Problem of Articulation......................................11 Yu Zhenhua Submissions for Publication............................................................................................23 Personal Knowledge and Human Creativity.................................................................24 Percy Hammond Notes on Contributors.....................................................................................................34 A Disembodied Adventurer .......................................................................................... 35 Richard Gelwick Polanyi Society Membership...........................................................................................40 -
The Prisoner Intellectuals
Published on The New Republic (http://www.tnr.com) The Prisoner Intellectuals • Paul Berman • May 5, 2010 | 6:34 pm Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth Century Skeptic By Michael Scammell (Random House, 689 pp., $40) I. The opening pages of Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon are thrilling to read. In a very few sentences, Koestler managed to wrap his arms around one of the huge and mysterious philosophical master-themes of the last two centuries, and, in a muscular feat of poetic compression, to reduce his giant theme to a handful of simple images: The cell door slammed behind Rubashov. He remained leaning against the door for a few seconds, and lit a cigarette. On the bed to his right lay two fairly clean blankets, and the straw mattress looked newly filled. The wash-basin to his left had no plug, but the trap functioned. The can next to it had been freshly disinfected, it did not smell. The walls on both sides were of solid brick, which would stifle the sound of tapping, but where the heating and drain pipe penetrated it, it had been plastered and resounded quite well; besides, the heating pipe itself seemed to be noise-conducting. The window started at eye- level. And Rubashov observes the vista beyond the window bars: the snow, the moon, the Milky Way, a marching sentry, the yellow light of electric lanterns. You will remember that Rubashov is a hardened militant of the Communist revolution. In the old days, when he was a high-ranking commissar, he used to enforce Communist discipline on the party rank-and-file in different parts of the world, in the interest of the Soviet Union. -
Infallibility Complex: the British Left and the Soviet Union, 1930-1950
Infallibility Complex 31 Infallibility Complex: The British Left and the Soviet Union, 1930-1950 Greer Rose Gamble Third Year Undergraduate, Macquarie University In his 2003 Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million, British novelist Martin Amis asks a pertinent question: why. Why ‘everybody knows of Auschwitz and Belsen’ but ‘nobody knows of Vorkuta and Solovetsky’, why ‘everybody knows of Himmler and Eichmann’ but ‘nobody knows of Yezhov and Dzershinsky’; and crucially, why ‘everybody knows of the 6 million of the Holocaust’ but ‘nobody knows of the 6 million of the Terror Famine’.1 Comparative historians have attempted to remedy this disparity, but the situation remains such that even Robert Conquest, Cold War era chronicler of the Stalinist Terror, replied when asked why he considered Hitlerism to be “worse” than Stalinism, ‘Because I feel it to be so.’2 This article intends not to challenge the elevation of the Third Reich over the USSR in historical comparisons of evil, but rather to look at why the Terror has not been granted the same prominence. I argue that a portion of responsibility for the disparity, as it applies to the Anglosphere at least, can be ascribed to a deliberate campaign of misinformation undertaken by parts of the Western literary Left, including of course the Communist and fellow-travelling but also occasionally the liberal democratic Left, in the 1930s and 40s. We will see that members of these groups took an active interest in the Soviet Union, and through their travels and researches were often among the first Westerners to discover information about state atrocities. -
A Different 'Darkness at Noon'
The New York Review of Books April 7, 2016 A Different ‘Darkness at Noon’ by Michael Scammell Rene Saint Paul/RDA/Everett Collection Arthur Koestler, circa 1950 Last July a German doctoral student named Matthias Weßel made a remarkable discovery. He was examining the papers of the late Swiss publisher Emil Oprecht for a dissertation on Arthur Koestler’s transition from writing in German to writing in English at the end of the 1930s. Oprecht was a left-wing fellow traveler who had founded his famous publishing house Europa Verlag in Zurich in 1933, and was well known for his anti-Nazi views and support for writers in exile, including Thomas Mann, Stefan Zweig, Ignazio Silone—and the young Arthur Koestler. Weßel told me that at the time, “I was looking for letters and royalty reports, because I wanted to know how many copies were printed of the first German edition of Koestler’s Spanish Testament.” He failed to find the answer to his question, but while looking over the Europa holdings in the Zurich Central Library he came across a cryptic entry: “Koestler, Arthur. Rubaschow: Roman. Typoskript, März 1940, 326 pages.” This was extremely odd. Weßel knew of no such novel (Roman) in Koestler’s German writings, but the name Rubaschow rang a bell. Rubaschow (in English, Rubashov) is the hero of Koestler’s finest novel, Darkness at Noon. Weßel hardly dared think about what he had found, suspecting a sequel or perhaps a false entry, for it was well known that the original text of the novel—the last one Koestler wrote in German before he switched to English—was lost during his flight from France at the start of World War II. -
The Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde of 20Th Century Intellectual History
The Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde of 20th Century Intellectual History ANYONE INTERESTED in intellectual history from the great depression of the thirties to the post war 1980s will be familiar with the impact of Arthur Koestler, whose famous assault on Stalinism and the Soviet Union in his novel Darkness at Noon was a widely praised international bestseller. There was a vehemently critical biography written by David Cesurani, Arthur Koestler—The Homeless Mind published in London in 1998. It was an opinionated attack on Koestler’s personality and moral stature. It also portrayed him as a brutal womanizer and a self-loathing Jew. A more scholarly biography has now appeared written by Michael Scammell, the well-known biographer of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Scammell’s work does not have the polemical, hyperbolic prose of Cesurani but it too is a strongly opinionated defense of Koestler, seeing him as one of the greatest intellectual journalists and writers of the 20th century. Scammell describes Koestler as a Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, both intellectually brilliant and often mean-spirited, a bourgeois in domestic habits, bohemian in public, both idealistic and cynical, generous and kind on the one hand and brutal and even violent on the other. Books about Koestler are not likely to be written with a detached scholarly disinterest. Scammell’s biography is nearly 700 pages long. It has been acclaimed as a masterpiece of intellectual history. Koestler had an extraordinarily full life participating in nearly every intellectual, cultural, and scholarly debate and controversy of his time as well as being an actual participant in many major events including the Spanish Civil War, World War II and as a dissident voice throughout the post war years. -
The Tenacious Liberal Subject in Soviet Studies*
The Tenacious Liberal Subject in Soviet Studies* Anna Krylova American scholars of Soviet Russia have demarcated their scholarship of the 1990s as a distinct period in Soviet studies. Scholarly work set itself off from the previous academic period by the events of 1991, newly available documents from Russian archives, and innovative interpretive frameworks. “New” has become the defining word of the decade. The emphasis on novelty announced the break with the past and, simultaneously, admonished contemporary scholars to distance themselves from previous schools of interpretation. In a review article in the Journal of Modern History, entitled “1991 and the Russian Revolution: Sources, Conceptual Categories, Analytical Frameworks,” Stephen Kotkin exemplifies this tendency and exhibits its problematic consequences. His stated project, to reinterpret the entire Soviet period against previous scholarship rather than in dialogue with it, results not only in a dismissive vocabulary regarding the “caricaturish notions” of the totalitarian school of the 1950s and the 1960s and the “clumsiness” of the revisionists of the 1970s and the 1980s, but in simplifications of the pre-1991 conceptual legacy.1 However, attempts to efface the past often backfire: by obscuring from the reader (and perhaps the author himself) intellectual indebtedness to the discipline, they reduce the conceptual escape to empty rhetoric. While appreciating the innovative contributions of scholarship on the Soviet Union of the 1990s, this chapter questions the claims of sharp “epistemological breaks” with the scholarly past and explores conceptual continuities in Soviet studies since World War II. My vehicle for this investigation is the genealogy of the category “Soviet man.” I focus on the ways that American scholars researching the 1930s have conceptualized the Stalinist subject, and particularly on the political and cultural roots of their conceptualizations. -
How Should One Evaluate the Soviet Revolution?
A&K Analyse & Kritik 2017; 39(2):199–221 Vittorio Hosle*¨ How Should One Evaluate the Soviet Revolution? https://doi.org/10.1515/auk-2017-0013 Abstract: The essay begins by discussing different ways of evaluating and making sense of the Soviet Revolution from Crane Brinton to Hannah Arendt. In a sec- ond part, it analyses the social, political and intellectual background of tsarist Russia that made the revolution possible. After a survey of the main changes that occurred in the Soviet Union, it appraises its ends, the means used for achieving them, and the unintended side-effects. The Marxist philosophy of history is inter- preted as an ideological tool of modernization attractive to societies to which the liberal form of modernization was precluded. Keywords: Ethical evaluation of social events, Soviet revolution, continuities be- tween pre-revolutionary and Soviet Russia 1 Introduction We may want to let the short twentieth century begin in 1914 or in 1917, but the So- viet Revolution will remain one of the most important events in the past century. To its comprehensive evaluation a century after the fact, perhaps a philosopher may contribute something useful. For the Soviet Revolution is, first, such a com- plex phenomenon that the perspectives of a single discipline, and even of various single disciplines juxtaposed to each other, will miss something important about this historical event. A philosopher, although a dilettante concerning each indi- vidual facet of the phenomenon, may enjoy a bird’s eye view, which can never replace but can maybe complement the specialists’ analyses. There is, second, the need for a normative evaluation of what happened to the Soviet Union and Russia in the course of the last hundred years.