Darkness at Noon

by Arthur Koestler Narrated by Frank Muller

Overview

A fictional portrayal of an aging revolutionary, this novel is a powerful commentary on the nightmare politics of the troubled 20th century. Born in Hungary in 1905, a defector from the Communist Party in 1938, and then arrested in both Spain and France for his political views, Arthur Koestler writes from a wealth of personal experience. Imprisoned by the political party to which he has dedicated his life, Nicolas Rubashov paces his prison cell, examining his life and remembering his tempestuous career. As the old intelligentsia is eradicated to make way for the new, he is psychologically tortured and forced to confess to preposterous crimes. Comparing himself to Moses, led to the Promised Land but refused entry, he sees only darkness at the end of his life where once he saw such promise for humanity. Frank Muller's narrative expertise is perfect for this haunting work. Rubashov's personal agony becomes Muller's as he presents Koestler's relevant and important questions to a world entering a new millennium.

Editorial Reviews

Harold Strauss

It is the sort of novel that transcends ordinary limitations, and that may be read as a primary discourse in political philosophy. It is a far cry from the bleak topical commmentaries that sometimes pass as novels. The magic effect of Darkness at Noon is its magnificant tragic irony.-- Books of the Century; New York Times review, May 1941

Times Literary Supplement

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.

The Guardian (UK)

Darkness at Noon still lives as a study of fear and victimhood, of state brutality, of unjust imprisonment, of interrogation and forced confession.

Acton Commentary

"What makes Darkness at Noon such an enduring artistic work is Koestler’s firsthand knowledge of his source material."

Los Angeles Review of Books - Maya Chhabra

"The translation itself shines. It is a smooth, gripping read, and contains passages inserted after Hardy’s translation was made, which now appear in English for the first time...This is a valuable translation of a novel that continues to enthrall."

New York Herald Tribune

"A rare and beautifully executed novel."

Bookslut - Michael Schaub

"Koestler demonstrates you needn't sacrifice prose for ideas...This is a book that needs to be read...This is a story that everyone needs to know, one that cuts to the heart of what it means to be a prisoner without rights."

The New Yorker - Adam Kirsch

"Its central theme will probably always seem timely, because every political creed must eventually face the question of whether noble ends can justify evil means...a subversive book even today.

Wall Street Journal - Andrew Stuttaford

"Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon was one of the most influential novels of the 20th century, and the 20th century would have been a better century had it been more influential still."

Foreign Policy - Nancy Updike

"Koestler’s novel is worth reading (or rereading). It shows how easily a smart person can justify monstrous acts."

Slate - Christopher Hitchens

Arthur Koestler "left behind him a body of work that will always be absorbing and challenging to anyone who admires men of principle or who enjoys the battle of ideas for its own sake."

New Statesman (UK)

"One of the few books written in this epoch which will survive it."

The New York Times Book Review

"It is the sort of novel that transcends ordinary limitations...written with such dramatic power, with such warmth of feeling, and with such persuasive simplicity...The magic effect of Darkness at Noon is its magnificent tragic irony."

Times Literary Supplement (UK)

"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."

Air Mail - Aatish Taseer

"There is nothing stilted about the new Darkness at Noon. It is a seamless, chilling book about the demands ideology makes on truth."

The Times Literary Supplement (London)

"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."

The Wall Street Journal

"Among the first former communists to expose the horror lurking behind the ideology's promise of utopia was the Hungarian-born British journalist Arthur Koestler. His Darkness at Noon (1941) is perhaps the greatest anticommunist novel of all time: at once a warning about the nature of the Soviet regime, issued at a time when few in the West wanted to hear it, and a grand novel of ideas in the tradition of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Thomas Mann."

From the Publisher

"One of the few books written in this epoch which will survive it."
— New Statesman (UK)

"It is the sort of novel that transcends ordinary limitations. Written with such dramatic power, with such warmth of feeling, and with such persuasive simplicity that it is as absorbing as melodrama."
— The New York Times Book Review

"A rare and beautifully executed novel."
— New York Herald Tribune

"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."
— The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171168063
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	12/11/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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