Arthur Koestler
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 216 pages Rating: 4.04 | 25169 Users | 1365 Reviews
Specify Regarding Books Darkness at Noon
| Title | : | Darkness at Noon |
| Author | : | Arthur Koestler |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 216 pages |
| Published | : | March 1984 by Bantam Books (first published 1940) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Historical. Historical Fiction. Politics. Literature. Cultural. Russia. Novels |
Commentary In Favor Of Books Darkness at Noon
Darkness at Noon (from the German: Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by the Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best-known work tells the tale of Rubashov, a Bolshevik 1917 revolutionary who is cast out, imprisoned and tried for treason by the Soviet government he'd helped create. Darkness at Noon stands as an unequaled fictional portrayal of the nightmare politics of our time. Its hero is an aging revolutionary, imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the Party to which he has dedicated his life. As the pressure to confess preposterous crimes increases, he relives a career that embodies the terrible ironies and human betrayals of a totalitarian movement masking itself as an instrument of deliverance. Almost unbearably vivid in its depiction of one man's solitary agony, it asks questions about ends and means that have relevance not only for the past but for the perilous present. It is —- as the Times Literary Supplement has declared —- "A remarkable book, a grimly fascinating interpretation of the logic of the Russian Revolution, indeed of all revolutionary dictatorships, and at the same time a tense and subtly intellectualized drama."Details Books Supposing Darkness at Noon
| Original Title: | Sonnenfinsternis |
| ISBN: | 0553265954 (ISBN13: 9780553265958) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Nicolas Salmanovitch Rubashov |
Rating Regarding Books Darkness at Noon
Ratings: 4.04 From 25169 Users | 1365 ReviewsEvaluate Regarding Books Darkness at Noon
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him" - Cardinal Richelieu. Nicholas Rubashov is about to find out that sometimes it doesn't even take six lines...(view spoiler)[ Bettie's Books (hide spoiler)]
There are only two conceptions of human ethics, and they are at opposite poles. One of them is Christian and humane, declares the individual to be sacrosanct...the other starts from the basic principle that a collective aim justifies all means, and not only allows, but demands that the individual should in every way be subordinated and sacrificed to the community.Koestler believes in socialism; his question is, if achieving socialism means torturing and murdering a few people, do we throw out
A 20th-century classic that succeeds on two levels: As a searing indictment of totalitarian political systems, and as an absorbing human drama. My initial feeling of revulsion toward the protagonist, Rubashov -- a former high-ranking government functionary, now imprisoned and charged with crimes against the state -- ultimately gave way to a grudging sense of compassion. At the story's climax I somehow resisted the urge to set down the book, walk down the hallway, and start drumming my hands on
Definitely one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. I am embarrassed, frankly, that I'm 37 and reading this only now. This is a work I should have read in high school, then in college, then again almost every year since. Standing guard silently behind greats like Orwell and Hitchens is Arthur Koestler. Rubashov is one of the best-realized characters and Darkness at Noon is a near-perfect novel. Dostoevsky would have killed Koestler with an axe, and Tolstoy would have pushed his ass in
What had he said to them? "I bow my knees before the country, before the masses, before the whole people...." And what then? What happened to these masses, to this people? For forty years it had been driven through the desert, with threats and promises, with imaginary terrors and imaginary rewards. But where was the Promised Land? Did there really exist any such goal for this wandering mankind? That was a question to which he would have liked an answer before it was too late. Moses had not been
Darkness at Noon is one of the classics of anti-totalitarian literature, often mentioned alongside novels such as Brave New World and 1984. While both these novels are fictions based on an idea of a totalitarian state, Darkness at Noon is a clear allegory of Soviet Russia during the 1930's - the time of the Moscow show trials and the Great Purge.Although the author openly acknowledges this in the preface, the country in which the book is set is never named - though he includes specific details
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