Koestler

Best known as the author of the classic "Darkness at Noon", Koestler was one of the most influential and controversial intellectuals, involved in and commenting on almost every political movement of the twentieth century. As young man, he was a committed Zionist and moved to Palestine; he was imprisoned and sentenced to death in Franco's Spain; escaped Occupied France; and, was a member of the Communist party for seven years, later becoming one of its fiercest critics with the publication of "Darkness at Noon". Without sentimentality, Scammell gives a full account of Koestler's turbulent private life: his drug use, manic depression, the frenetic womanizing that doomed his three marriages and led to an accusation of rape, and his startling suicide pact with his wife in 1983. Koestler also gives a full account of the author's voluminous writings, making the case that the autobiographies and essays are fit to stand beside "Darkness at Noon" as works of lasting literary value. Michael Scammell creates an indelible portrait of this brilliant, unpredictable, and talented writer, once memorably described as 'one third blackguard, one third lunatic, and one third genius'.

ISBN 0571138535   Pages 720 ISBN13 9780571138531 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 1065 Publisher Faber and Faber   Published in London Imprint Faber and Faber   Height (mm) 243 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 160 Publication date 18 Feb 2010   Spine width (mm) 60 DEWEY 828.91209   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

		Prologue
		Koestler Family Tree
PART ONE		A LONG APPRENTICESHIP
		The Author as Journalist (1905-1936)
Chapter One		Beginnings		3
Chapter Two		A Budapest Childhood		13
Chapter Three		Rise, Jew, Rise		23
Chapter Four		ZIONIST		33
Chapter Five		A RUNAWAY AND A FUGITIVE		46
Chapter Six		First Steps in Journalism		56
Chapter Seven		Hello to Berlin		66
Chapter Eight		In the Gale of History		77
Chapter Nine		Red Days		88
Chapter Ten		Anti-Fascist Crusader		101
Chapter Eleven		Marking Time		116
Chapter Twelve		Prisoner of Franco		125
Chapter Thirteen		Turning Point		140
PART TWO		FAME AND INFAMY
		The Author as Novelist (1936-1946)
Chapter Fourteen		The God that Failed		155
Chapter Fifteen		No New Certainties		164
Chapter Sixteen		Darkness visible		173
Chapter Seventeen		Scum of the Earth		183
Chapter Eighteen		Darkness Unveiled		193
Chapter Nineteen		In Crumpled Battledress		203
Chapter Twenty		The Novelist's Temptations		214
Chapter Twenty-One		Identity crisis		227
		More...

 Be the first to write a customer review