Arthur Koestler's Books

Darkness at Noon

A Novel

By: Arthur Koestler

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The newly discovered lost text of Arthur Koestler’s modern masterpiece, Darkness at Noon—the haunting portrait of a revolutionary, imprisoned and tortured under totalitarian rule—is now restored and in a completely new translation. Editor Michael Scammell and translator Philip Boehm bring us a brilliant novel, a remarkable discovery, and a new translation of an international classic. In print continually since 1940, Darkness at Noon has been translated into over 30 languages and is both a stirring novel and a classic anti-fascist text. What makes its popularity and tenacity even more remarkable is that all existing versions of Darkness at Noon are based on a hastily made English translation of the original German by a novice translator at the outbreak of World War II. In 2015, Matthias Weßel stumbled across an entry in the archives of the Zurich Central Library that is a scholar's dream: “Koestler, Arthur. Rubaschow: Roman. Typoskript, März 1940, 326 pages.” What he had found was Arthur Koestler’s original, complete German manuscript for what would become Darkness at Noon, thought to have been irrevocably lost in the turmoil of the war. With this stunning literary discovery, and a new English translation direct from the primary German manuscript, we can now for the first time read Darkness at Noon as Koestler wrote it. Set in the 1930s at the height of the purge and show trials of a Stalinist Moscow, Darkness at Noon is a haunting portrait of an aging revolutionary, Nicholas Rubashov, who is imprisoned, tortured, and forced through a series of hearings by the Party to which he has dedicated his life. As the pressure to confess preposterous crimes increases, he re-lives a career that embodies the terrible ironies and betrayals of a merciless totalitarian movement masking itself as an instrument of deliverance. Koestler’s portrayal of Stalin-era totalitarianism and fascism is as chilling and resonant today as it was in the 1940s and during the Cold War. Rubashov’s plight explores the meaning and value of moral choices, the attractions and dangers of idealism, and the corrosiveness of political corruption. Like The Trial, 1984, and Animal Farm, this is a book you should read as a citizen of the world, wherever you are and wherever you come from.

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272

Publisher

Scribner

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501161318

ISBN 13

9781501161315

The Trail of the Dinosaur

By: Arthur Koestler

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The Trail of the Dinosaur

By: Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler's publications manifest a wide range of political, scientific and literary interests. The Trail of the Dinosaur gathers some of his best-known essays and speeches. The Trail of the Dinosaur , first published in 1955, contains a great deal of Koestler's thinking for the first ten years after the war – a 'farewell to arms' as he wrote in his preface. These essays deal with the political questions that obsessed him for the best part of a quarter of a century. The essays in 'The Trail of the Dinosaur' cover the decade 1946–55-the early or classical period of the Cold War. In that confrontation the West was on the defensive, and the majority of its progressive intellectuals were still turning a benevolently blind eye on Soviet foreign policy and the facts of life behind the Iron Curtain . In the dramatic contest between Whitaker Chambers and Alger Hiss, which has been called the Dreyfus Affair of our century, progressive opinion stood firmly behind Hiss. And when, in the New York Times, I took Chambers' part, I became, if possible, even more unpopular among self-styled progressives than I had been before. In 1937, during the Civil War in Spain, I spent three months under sentence of death as a suspected spy, witnessing the executions of my fellow prisoners and awaiting my own. These three months left me with a vested interest in capital punishment-rather like 'half-hanged Smith', who was cut down after fifteen minutes and lived on.

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Page Count

203

Publisher

A&C Black

Published Date

ISBN 10

1448214165

ISBN 13

9781448214167

Scum of the Earth

By: Arthur Koestler

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Scum of the Earth

By: Arthur Koestler

This was the first book that Arthur Koestler wrote in English. It starts at the beginning of World War II when he was living in the South of France, working on Darkness at Noon. After retreating to Paris, he was imprisoned as an undesirable alien.

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Page Count

288

Publisher

Hippocrene Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0781800196

ISBN 13

9780781800198

Darkness at Noon

By: Arthur Koestler

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Darkness at Noon

By: Arthur Koestler

Rubashov is arrested at night, taken to prison, interrogated, re-interrogated, and is induced to confess to fantastic crimes and conspiracies, then given a public trial and shot. Some five or six weeks elapse between his imprisonment and death, and the tension of those weeks is very powerfully communicated. To the drama of Rubashov's prison-conditioned mind is added a grim description of the G.P.U. method of political interrogation.

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288

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476785554

ISBN 13

9781476785554

The Call-Girls

By: Arthur Koestler

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The Call-Girls

By: Arthur Koestler

In this novel the call-girls are the men and women of the international jet-set who, at the lift of a telephone, will fly from conference to congress to symposium to discuss subjects of world importance. This time the place is Switzerland and the subject Survival...

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Page Count

191

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1448210011

ISBN 13

9781448210015

Arrow in the Blue

By: Arthur Koestler

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Arrow in the Blue

By: Arthur Koestler

The first volume of the remarkable autobiography of Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon. In 1931, Arthur Koestler joined the Communist Party, an event he felt to be second only in importance to his birth in shaping his destiny. Before that point, he lived a tumultuous and varied existence. He was a member of the duelling fraternity at the University of Vienna; a collective farm worker in Galilee; a tramp and street vendor in Haifa; the editor of a weekly paper in Cairo; the foreign correspondent of the biggest continental newspaper chain in Paris and the Middle East; a science editor in Berlin; and a member of the North Pole expedition of the Graf Zeppelin. Written with enormous zest, joie de vivre and frankness, Arrow in the Blue is a fascinating self-portrait of a remarkable young man at the heart of the events that shaped the twentieth century. The second volume of Arthur Koestler's autobiography is The Invisible Writing.

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Page Count

384

Publisher

Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409002934

ISBN 13

9781409002932

Bricks to Babel

A Selection from 50 Years of His Writings, Chosen and with New Commentary by the Author

By: Arthur Koestler

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Bricks to Babel

A Selection from 50 Years of His Writings, Chosen and with New Commentary by the Author

By: Arthur Koestler

A collection compiled from Koestler's lifetime writings follows his progress from seeking political solutions to solve mankind's problems to his attempting to find ultimate meaning in science and philosophy

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Page Count

697

Publisher

Random House Incorporated

Published Date

ISBN 10

0394518977

ISBN 13

9780394518978

Reflections on Hanging

By: Arthur Koestler

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Reflections on Hanging

By: Arthur Koestler

Reflections on Hanging is a searing indictment of capital punishment, inspired by its author's own time in the shadow of a firing squad. During the Spanish Civil War, Arthur Koestler was held by the Franco regime as a political prisoner, and condemned to death. He was freed, but only after months of witnessing the fates of less-fortunate inmates. That experience informs every page of the book, which was first published in England in 1956, and followed in 1957 by this American edition. As Koestler ranges across the history of capital punishment in Britain (with a focus on hanging), he looks at notable cases and rulings, and portrays politicians, judges, lawyers, scholars, clergymen, doctors, police, jailers, prisoners, and others involved in the long debate over the justness and effectiveness of the death penalty. In Britain, Reflections on Hanging was part of a concerted, ultimately successful effort to abolish the death penalty. At that time, in the forty-eight United States, capital punishment was sanctioned in forty-two of them, with hanging still practiced in five. This edition includes a preface and afterword written especially for the 1957 American edition. The preface makes the book relevant to readers in the U.S.; the afterword overviews the modern-day history of abolitionist legislation in the British Parliament. Reflections on Hanging is relentless, biting, and unsparing in its details of botched and unjust executions. It is a classic work of advocacy for some of society's most defenseless members, a critique of capital punishment that is still widely cited, and an enduring work that presaged such contemporary problems as the sensationalism of crime, the wrongful condemnation of the innocent and mentally ill, the callousness of penal systems, and the use of fear to control a citizenry.

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Page Count

256

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820355356

ISBN 13

9780820355351

Darkness at Noon

By: Arthur Koestler

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Darkness at Noon

By: Arthur Koestler

Originally published in 1941, Arthur Koestler's modern masterpiece, "Darkness At Noon," is a powerful and haunting portrait of a Communist revolutionary caught in the vicious fray of the Moscow show trials of the late 1930s. During Stalin's purges, Nicholas Rubashov, an aging revolutionary, is imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the party he has devoted his life to. Under mounting pressure to confess to crimes he did not commit, Rubashov relives a career that embodies the ironies and betrayals of a revolutionary dictatorship that believes it is an instrument of liberation. A seminal work of twentieth-century literature, "Darkness At Noon" is a penetrating exploration of the moral danger inherent in a system that is willing to enforce its beliefs by any means necessary.

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Page Count

211

Publisher

Penguin Classics

Published Date

ISBN 10

0140181202

ISBN 13

9780140181203

Thieves in the Night

By: Arthur Koestler

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Thieves in the Night

By: Arthur Koestler

Thieves in the Night : Chronicle of an Experiment was written in 1946. Originally intended to be the first of a trilogy, Koestler later concluded that the book stood on its own and plans for further novels made redundant. Based on the author's own experiences in a kibbutz, it sets up a stage in describing the historical roots of the conflict between Arabs and Jewish settlers in the British ruled Palestine. The book tackles many subjects, such as Zionism and idealism. Koestler was Zionist early in life, but later abandoned the idea. The title is a Biblical reference, quoted on the title page: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." (2 Peter 3:10)

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Page Count

408

Publisher

A&C Black

Published Date

ISBN 10

1448210003

ISBN 13

9781448210008

Promise and Fulfilment - Palestine 1917-1949

By: Arthur Koestler

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Promise and Fulfilment - Palestine 1917-1949

By: Arthur Koestler

PROMISE AND FULFILMENT Palestine. PREFACE: THIS book consists of three parts, Background, Close-up and Perspective . The first part is a survey of the develop ments which led to the foundation of the State of Israel. It lays no claim to historical completeness, and is written from a specific angle which stresses the part played by irrational forces and emotive bias in history. I am not sure whether this emphasis has not occasionally resulted in over-emphasis as is almost in evitable when one tries to redress a balance by spot-lighting aspects which are currently neglected. But it was certainly not my intention, by underlining the psychological factor, to deny or minimize the importance of the politico-economic forces. My aim was rather to present, if I may borrow a current medical term, a psycho-somatic view of one of the most curious episodes in modern history. The second part, Close-up, is meant to give the reader a close and coloured, but not I hope technicoloured, view of the Jew

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Page Count

335

Publisher

Ramage Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1406747238

ISBN 13

9781406747232

The Nazi Séance

The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle

By: Arthur J. Magida

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The Nazi Séance

The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle

By: Arthur J. Magida

... A disturbing journey into a Germany as it descends into madness, aided by a "clairvoyant" Jew oblivious to the savagery of men who pursued a Reich that they fantasized would last a thousand years"--Jacket.

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Page Count

287

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0230620531

ISBN 13

9780230620537

Five Political Plays

1997 / Cheap Thrill / Zero Hour / Learning to Live with Personal Growth / Sisters in the Great Day Care War

By: Arthur Milner

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Five Political Plays

1997 / Cheap Thrill / Zero Hour / Learning to Live with Personal Growth / Sisters in the Great Day Care War

By: Arthur Milner

This is a collection of five plays by Arthur Milner. They were first produced between 1984 and 1990, during a period when the author was playwright-in-residence at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa, Canada. All feature Milner’s fast-paced dialogue, quick and unexpected humor, and sharp political eye.

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Page Count

297

Publisher

iUniverse

Published Date

ISBN 10

1532058829

ISBN 13

9781532058820

Blind Men and Elephants

Perspectives on Humor

By: Arthur Asa Berger

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Blind Men and Elephants

Perspectives on Humor

By: Arthur Asa Berger

In Blind Men and Elephants, Arthur Asa Berger uses case histories to show how scholars from different disciplines and scholarly domains have tried to describe and understand humor. He reveals not only the many approaches that are available to study humor, but also the many perspectives toward humor that characterize each discipline. Each case history sheds light on a particular aspect of humor, making the combination of approaches of considerable value in the study of social research. Among the various disciplines that Berger discusses in relation to humor are: communication theory, philosophy, semiotics, literary analysis, sociology, political science, and psychology. Berger deals with these particular disciplines and perspectives because they tend to be most commonly found in the scholarly literature about humor as well as being those that have the most to offer. Blind Men and Elephants covers a wide range of humor, from simple jokes to the uses of literary devices in films. Berger observes how humor often employs considerable ridicule directed at diverse groups of people: women, men, animals, politicians, African Americans, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, gay people, straight people, and so forth. The book also explains the risk factor in ridicule as a humorous device. Blind Men and Elephants depicts how one entity or one situation can be viewed in as many different ways as the number of people studying it. Berger also shows how those multiple perspectives, the Rashomon Effect, can be used together to create a clearer understanding of humor. Blind Men and Elephants is a valuable companion to Berger's recent effort about humor, An Anatomy of Humor, and will be enjoyed by communication and information studies scholars, sociologists, literary studies specialists, philosophers, and psychologists.

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Page Count

273

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351293702

ISBN 13

9781351293709

The Sleepwalkers

A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe

By: Arthur Koestler

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The Sleepwalkers

A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe

By: Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler's extraordinary history of humanity's changing vision of the universe In this masterly synthesis, Arthur Koestler cuts through the sterile distinction between 'sciences' and 'humanities' to bring to life the whole history of cosmology from the Babylonians to Newton. He shows how the tragic split between science and religion arose and how, in particular, the modern world-view replaced the medieval world-view in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. He also provides vivid and judicious pen-portraits of a string of great scientists and makes clear the role that political bias and unconscious prejudice played in their creativity.

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Page Count

709

Publisher

Penguin UK

Published Date

ISBN 10

0141394544

ISBN 13

9780141394541

Book's by Arthur Koestler

Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon

The Trail of the Dinosaur

The Trail of the Dinosaur

Scum of the Earth

Scum of the Earth

Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon

The Call-Girls

The Call-Girls

Arrow in the Blue

Arrow in the Blue

Bricks to Babel

Bricks to Babel

Reflections on Hanging

Reflections on Hanging

Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon

Thieves in the Night

Thieves in the Night

Promise and Fulfilment - Palestine 1917-1949

Promise and Fulfilment - Palestine 1917-1949

The Nazi Séance

The Nazi Séance

Five Political Plays

Five Political Plays

Blind Men and Elephants

Blind Men and Elephants

The Sleepwalkers

The Sleepwalkers

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