About this title: Taken together, Arthur Koestler's volumes of autobiography constitute an unrivalled study of twentieth-century man and his dilemma. "Arrow in the Blue" ended with his joining the Communist Party and "The Invisible Writing" covers some of the most important experiences in his life. We see him in Germany, Russia, England, France and Spain, working ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: The Beacon Press, Boston
Date Published: 1955
Description: Good. Mild foxing. Mild wear to edges. No DJ. Some Loose Pages, Good Reading Copy. Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Macmillian Company
Date Published: 1954
Description: Fine. No dust jacket. Spine & joints tight, pages clean, cover seems almost new-slight bumping on the corners, no fading or discoloration. 432p., ill., 22 cm. First Edition. First printing stated on copyright page. Hardcover has beige/green cloth-covered boards with black cloth-covered spine and white spine and cover lettering. A few Black and white photographs. Binding and hinges tight. Corners and spine ends very slightly bumped. Pages unmarked and clean. 431 pages. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Macmillan Company, N Y
Date Published: 1954
Description: Good in Good jacket. Very Good-in Very Good-jacket 8vo. 431pp. Has light wear. DJ has light soiling. DJ has some foxing. Internally Clean. Lang: English. Vols: 1, Wt: 2lbs. read more
Edition: 1st Edition 1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: MacMillan Co., New York, NY
Date Published: 1954
Description: Map, Photo, Political Cartoon. NearFine/Good. W/Dust Jacket 431pgs 1" DJ chip foot of spine, DJ tears 1" (3), 1/2" (2), o.w. clean, tight & bright. NO ink names, bookplates etc. Price. Unclipped. read more
Description: 2nd printing of the 1969 Uniform Danube edition. 526 pp. Koestler's first volume of autobiography, 'Arrow in the Blue, ' ended with his joining the Communist Party; this second volume "covers some of the most important experiences in his life.... and ends with his escape from Occupied France in 1940 to England, where he found stability and a new home. " Harcover in price-clipped dj. VG/VG. read more
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Stein and Day, New York
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780812829983ISBN:0812829980
Description: Fine in Very Good jacket. 8vo-8"-9" Tall. Quarter bound in red cloth. Clean, crisp and unmarked. The Danube Edition. 526 pp. Dust jacket, rubbed, with several small chips, offered in new mylar cover. read more
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: Macmillan, New York
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780025651906ISBN:0025651900
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. 8vo. (xv), 526 pp., illus. Second impression of the Danube edition. Price-clipped jacket and the book have some slight edgewear. read more
Description: Good. Cover worn at edges, stated first edition, some penciled in notations, Used-Good. Sound Copy. Mild Reading Wear. No Dust Jacket. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Stein & Day Pub
Date Published: 1984-08
ISBN-13:9780812862188ISBN:081286218X
Description: Good. This book is in very good condition except the cover has a spine crease, and the bottom of the spine is scuffed. The pages are very clean, unmarked and this would make a great reading copy. Ships within 24 hrs. Reliable Customer service. read more
"At the end of the book Koestler claims that his life was not extraordinary- that any European intellectual of his era would be able to recount about the same experiences. Let's see- started out his journalistic career penniless in Palistine, sleeping on a dentist's couch that he rented for the nights and vacated during business hours, to successful editor in Germany until he was outed as a communist under Hitler, spent time traveling around communist Russia, enprisioned by Franco, and again by Vichy France, and again by Britian after fleeing France, allowed into America only under congressional order. Yup, standard issue life there.
His book is only so-so as introspection, though after reading several of his books I would call him as solid INTP and with that in mind his introspections can be somewhat meaningful. But the history is irreplaceable, and his first hand account of interactions with one political disaster after another is a warning every future generation should read."
"koestler was famous euro man of letters, widely and wildly misinterpreted because he was so out of the box. embraced by the right for his expose of the central european show trials in what is considered his masterpiece, the novel, "darkness at noon", actually mediocre compared to the great memoirs that appeared after survivors of the trial were released after stalin died (szasz, loebl, london).
quality aside, it made an enormous splash at the time, comparable to solzhenitsyn 20 years later, exposing to the west the sheer diabolism of the soviet maneuvers to brand the east european communist heroes of wwII as cia spies in order to attain russian control. he was so disgusted by his embrace by the right that he turned away from politics to science writing and explorations of history and consciousness. was especially good at restoring the reputations of hungarian geniuses slandered by history.
the thirteenth tribe is his demonstration that east european jews did not migrate from spain after the expulsion by the inquisition, but rather from the east through the caucasus in the 8th and 9th centuries after the emperor of the khazars decided to institute a state religion by inviting christian, muslim, and jewish theologians to make competitive presentations. the jews won.
there's a killer novel by the slav milorad pavic, "dictionary of the khazars", that goes into imaginative detail about said competition.
the very great koestler book, shunned by left and right, is the second volume of his autobiography, called "the invisible writing", and which tells the story of his transformation from one on the communist international's chief propagandists to, with orwell, the chief theoretician of ethical opposition to stalinism."
"The second act in a life that seemed like an intellectual indiana jones. Reporter, novelist, spy, Koestler spent the 30s and 40s one step ahead of the nazi, and then the soviet secret police."
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