Arthur Koestler The Homeless Mind - Hardcover

Cesarani, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434113050 ISBN 13: 9780434113057

Publisher: Random House UK, 1998

Synopsis

A cultural and intellectual icon of the twentieth century, Arthur Koestler commanded the world's attention when he laid bare the horrors of Soviet-style totalitarianism in the acclaimed novel, Darkness at Noon. Now historian David Cesarani makes use of unprecedented and unrestricted access to Koestler's private papers -- as well as KGB and FBI documents newly available since the collapse of the Soviet Union -- to present along-awaited reevaluation of both the public and private man.Once a communist, Koestler led the intellectual counterattack that, according to Cesarani, culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall. In addition, his writings on science introduced millions to revolutionary theories of evolution and the workings of the mind. But behind his brilliance there was a rumored dark side -- one that is carefully substantiated by Cesarani, who presents proof of beatings and rapes, as well as a complete account of Koestler's tragic dual suicide with his third wife in 1983.With research hailed as "impressively thorough, " The Times (London), Cesarani "documents a disquieting chapter of history and the success of a determined pressure group in British politics" (Sunday Telegraph). Arthur Koestler: The Homeless Mind is the most complete -- and most controversial -- biography of this intellectual titan of the twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author:

David Cesarani is professor of Modern Jewish History at Southampton University and director of the Wiener Library in London, England. He is the author of Justice-Delayed, an acclaimed study of how Britain became a refuge for Nazi war criminals, and a history of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper. He has published widely on the Holocaust, Zionism and Jews in Britain.

From Publishers Weekly:

Correcting historians' omission of Koestler's (1905-1983) role in communism's fall, British historian Cesarani places the author of Darkness at Noon in the front ranks of Cold Warriors. In addition, he deals with not only Koestler's later interest in science (and the paranormal), but also his contradictory and profoundly flawed character. While Koestler mythologized himself in his multivolume autobiography, and muzzled his official biographer in 1982, Cesarani has had the benefit of Koestler's complete literary estate, his FBI files and the KGB's notorious "Special Archive" to detail the writer's political and intellectual wanderings. Cesarani charts Koestler's political odyssey from his early involvement with Zionism in Palestine in the 1920s through his membership in the Communist Party in Nazi Berlin and Civil War Spain to his denunciation of Stalinism in England during WWII. During his Cold War notoriety, however, the writer was embarking on a new course into biology and physics, and on a search for a rational philosophy to replace Marxism. Whatever Koestler's shifting intellectual creeds, Cesarani underscores his Jewish identity, which Koestler consistently underplayed yet could not ignore. In more disturbing revelations, besides Koestler's lifelong womanizing and three marriages (the last ended in dual suicide), Cesarani uncovers the details of one sexual assault and concludes that Koestler was a "serial rapist." In chronicling Koestler's remarkable political journey, public resolution and private wrongs, Cesarani's biography manages to be both authoritative and ambivalent. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House UK
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0434113050
• ISBN 13: 9780434113057
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496