Darkness at Noon
by Koestler, Arthur
- Used
- Condition
- Fine. A beautiful, unread copy. Signed on a front free end paper.
- Seller
-
Columbia, Pennsylvania, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
Darkness at Noon, by Hungarian-born British writer Arthur Koestler, is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the government that he had helped to create. The novel is understood as an allegory to the USSR in 1938, the Great Purge, and the Moscow Trials. However, the text never mentions the Soviet Union or Russia (just “Country of the Revolution” and “Over There”) or Joseph Stalin (only “Number One,” a menacing dictator). Perhaps the lack of specific references is Koestler’s way of making the story seem more universal, but it’s clear he has in mind actual places, people, and events. Koestler was actually a proponent of Marxism-Leninism until Stalin’s 1938 Purge and the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact. Afterwards, he edited an anti-Hitler, anti-Stalin newspaper. Koestler wrote the novel in German while living in Paris, from where he escaped in 1940 just before the Nazi troops arrived. Darkness at Noon owes its publication to the decision of sculptor Daphne Hardy, Koestler’s lover in Paris, to translate the text into English before she herself escaped. Koestler wrote Darkness at Noon as the second part of a trilogy; the first volume is The Gladiators (1939), first published in Hungarian. It is a novel about the subversion of the Spartacus revolt. The third novel is Arrival and Departure (1943), about a refugee during World War II. By then living in London, Koestler wrote the third in English. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Darkness at Noon number eight on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Sidney Kingsley adapted it for Broadway in 1951.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Mullen Books, Inc. ABAA / ILAB (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 161558
- Title
- Darkness at Noon
- Author
- Koestler, Arthur
- Format/Binding
- Leather bound
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine. A beautiful, unread copy. Signed on a front free end paper.
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- Signed Limited Edition
- Publisher
- The Franklin Library
- Place of Publication
- Franklin Center, Pennsylvania
- Date Published
- 1979
- Keywords
- Gallimaufry; Franklin Library; Arthur Koestler ; Arthur Koestler ; ;
Terms of Sale
Mullen Books, Inc. ABAA / ILAB
S&H is complicated, so please inquire for actual rates to your location if outside the US! Minimum s&h within the US $8.99, via media mail or first class if small. Discounts on shipping for multiple items. Overseas or overnight at cost +$4 supplies and handling. We currently are not shipping to Germany via Biblio - please contact us for information. Items returnable with prior notice if not as described within 7 days of delivery. Items 16 pages or less not returnable at all.
About the Seller
Mullen Books, Inc. ABAA / ILAB
About Mullen Books, Inc. ABAA / ILAB
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Raised Band(s)
- Raised bands refer to the ridges that protrude slightly from the spine on leather bound books. The bands are created in the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...