What do you think?
Rate this book
Koestler. Literacka i polityczna odyseja dwudziestowiecznego sceptyka
Koestler. Literacka i polityczna odyseja dwudziestowiecznego sceptyka, mająca już amerykańskie i brytyjskie wydanie, to dla czytelnika zainteresowanego historią intelektualną XX wieku, a zwłaszcza zjawiskiem komunizmu, pozycja, która ma wszelkie szanse stać się klasyczną. Jej autor, Michael Scammell zyskał światową sławę już w roku 1984 jako biograf Sołżenicyna.
Niniejsza, oparta na setkach materiałów źródłowych biografia to wierny i bogaty w szczegóły portret niezwykłego pisarza, który stale wykraczał poza swoje – wydawałoby się ustalone - granice. Jak pisał o nim Dariusz Tołczyk – „Arthur Koestler to, podobnie jak Sołżenicyn, centralna postać dwudziestowiecznej debaty intelektualnej wokół komunizmu. Tym razem chodzi o byłego wyznawcę komunizmu, który, wskutek konfrontacji własnych idei i wyobrażeń z rzeczywistością tego systemu, przeszedł ewolucję wewnętrzną i stał się jednym z najbardziej elokwentnych krytyków tej ideologii. Zauroczenie komunizmem oraz proces umysłowego i moralnego uwalniania się od tej fascynacji to jeden z najważniejszych tematów w historii intelektualnej XX wieku. Bez niego nie sposób zrozumieć przedziwnej siły oddziaływania tej ideologii, zwłaszcza na intelektualne elity epoki. Komunizm można uznać za największy dramat dwudziestego wieku, a Arthur Koestler był jednym z jego głównych świadków, analityków i demaskatorów. Jego wiedza na ten temat pochodziła z pierwszej ręki, z osobistych fascynacji, przeżyć, obserwacji, emocji i refleksji – czyli z jego własnej biografii. Michael Scammell podjął się zadania rekonstrukcji tej biografii w jej wymiarze jak najbardziej osobistym i intymnym, a jednocześnie zahaczającym o wielkie intelektualne debaty i historyczne dramaty epoki. Śledząc osobiste losy Koestlera, przyglądamy się życiu intelektualnemu na Węgrzech, w diasporze żydowskiej Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej, w Niemczech, Palestynie, Izraelu, Wielkiej Brytanii, Stanach Zjednoczonych i oczywiście w Związku Sowieckim i jego krajach satelickich poznajemy ogromną ilość postaci ówczesnej kultury, polityki i życia umysłowego.
Niniejsza, oparta na setkach materiałów źródłowych biografia to wierny i bogaty w szczegóły portret niezwykłego pisarza, który stale wykraczał poza swoje – wydawałoby się ustalone - granice. Jak pisał o nim Dariusz Tołczyk – „Arthur Koestler to, podobnie jak Sołżenicyn, centralna postać dwudziestowiecznej debaty intelektualnej wokół komunizmu. Tym razem chodzi o byłego wyznawcę komunizmu, który, wskutek konfrontacji własnych idei i wyobrażeń z rzeczywistością tego systemu, przeszedł ewolucję wewnętrzną i stał się jednym z najbardziej elokwentnych krytyków tej ideologii. Zauroczenie komunizmem oraz proces umysłowego i moralnego uwalniania się od tej fascynacji to jeden z najważniejszych tematów w historii intelektualnej XX wieku. Bez niego nie sposób zrozumieć przedziwnej siły oddziaływania tej ideologii, zwłaszcza na intelektualne elity epoki. Komunizm można uznać za największy dramat dwudziestego wieku, a Arthur Koestler był jednym z jego głównych świadków, analityków i demaskatorów. Jego wiedza na ten temat pochodziła z pierwszej ręki, z osobistych fascynacji, przeżyć, obserwacji, emocji i refleksji – czyli z jego własnej biografii. Michael Scammell podjął się zadania rekonstrukcji tej biografii w jej wymiarze jak najbardziej osobistym i intymnym, a jednocześnie zahaczającym o wielkie intelektualne debaty i historyczne dramaty epoki. Śledząc osobiste losy Koestlera, przyglądamy się życiu intelektualnemu na Węgrzech, w diasporze żydowskiej Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej, w Niemczech, Palestynie, Izraelu, Wielkiej Brytanii, Stanach Zjednoczonych i oczywiście w Związku Sowieckim i jego krajach satelickich poznajemy ogromną ilość postaci ówczesnej kultury, polityki i życia umysłowego.
776 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
26 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Read
October 23, 2022One might have hoped that the concept of ideologies had been suitably discredited since Koestler wrote Darkness At Noon in ‘39. But apparently not. They’re still very much alive and well in 2022. Swivel eyed libertarian loonies in the Conservative Party are doing a great job of destroying the UK’s market based economy, Putin is murdering innocent children in the name of an irredentist autocratic oligarchy, Orban is putting the Hungarian people’s interests above those of ‘Brussels’ whilst lining his pockets with ‘Brussels’ cash & in the US, they’re struggling to bring a criminal called Trump to justice.
Koestler’s biography explores his failure to elaborate beneficial political & social ideologies in the 20th century. As a kid in 1918 he witnessed Count Mihály Károlyi declare the founding of the First Hungarian People's Republic. He was heavily involved in Zionism and witnessed the first Arab Israeli war. And yet ironically he’s most famous for writing Darkness At Noon, in which he exposes the moral bankruptcy of Soviet communism, the first of his ideological crutches.
Koestler wasn’t a very nice person, in particular his relationships with women were abusive and sordid. His mum was a real harridan. By degrees arguementative, insecure and an intellectual bully. But yes a very powerful writer*, searching for a reason to believe in humanity. No wonder he was such a pessimist.
There’s a small triangle in Budapest that extends from the city park (városliget) west towards the synagogue in Dohány utca in which were born a greater density of Nobel prize winners than anywhere else on planet earth. Though he didn’t win the Nobel prize, Koestler was another genius from the triangle. And just like all the others he left Budapest never to return.
A fascinating biography of an iconoclastic man and a character who will be familiar to anyone who has had the good fortune to know Budapest’s Jewry.
I might even finish reading it but for now I’ve moved onto ‘The Yogi and the Commissar’.
*with thanks and acknowledgment to Adrian Buck
Koestler’s biography explores his failure to elaborate beneficial political & social ideologies in the 20th century. As a kid in 1918 he witnessed Count Mihály Károlyi declare the founding of the First Hungarian People's Republic. He was heavily involved in Zionism and witnessed the first Arab Israeli war. And yet ironically he’s most famous for writing Darkness At Noon, in which he exposes the moral bankruptcy of Soviet communism, the first of his ideological crutches.
Koestler wasn’t a very nice person, in particular his relationships with women were abusive and sordid. His mum was a real harridan. By degrees arguementative, insecure and an intellectual bully. But yes a very powerful writer*, searching for a reason to believe in humanity. No wonder he was such a pessimist.
There’s a small triangle in Budapest that extends from the city park (városliget) west towards the synagogue in Dohány utca in which were born a greater density of Nobel prize winners than anywhere else on planet earth. Though he didn’t win the Nobel prize, Koestler was another genius from the triangle. And just like all the others he left Budapest never to return.
A fascinating biography of an iconoclastic man and a character who will be familiar to anyone who has had the good fortune to know Budapest’s Jewry.
I might even finish reading it but for now I’ve moved onto ‘The Yogi and the Commissar’.
*with thanks and acknowledgment to Adrian Buck
April 4, 2019
In Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-century Skeptic, author Michael Scammell provides an in-depth and compelling biography of one of the more interesting characters of the previous century. Although Koestler wrote “Darkness at Noon,” an anticommunist novel considered by some to be a masterpiece, his notoriety had as much to do with his vices and fluctuating allegiances as it did with his writing. It took Scammell two decades to produce this comprehensive and definitive account of a troubled, eclectic and unpredictable man, but the end result is a compelling read.
Born in Budapest in 1905 to affluent Jewish parents, Koestler’s childhood was less than ideal. A lonely and only child, he was frequently abandoned by his mother and internalized much of the anti-Semitic attitude of the period. To compensate for his insecurities he self-medicated (a notorious drinker who tossed tables in restaurants and was arrested for drunk driving), was promiscuous (he bedded scores of women), a womanizer (considered to be a “brutal lover” by many women, he also demanded abortions if they became pregnant), and used drugs (particularly Benzedrine and Seconal). And yet, despite his erratic behavior and inferiority complex, he befriended Albert Camus and George Orwell, bedded Simone de Beauvoir (who parodied his seduction in her Le prix Goncourt prize winning novel Les Mandarins), played chess with Julian Barnes, and dropped acid (psilocybin) with Timothy Leary.
He was a prolific writer, but his eccentricity and his predilection for odd and controversial topics (ESP, euthanasia, levitation, a theory of creation that challenged Darwinism) led many to dismiss him as frivolous and his work as ludicrous. Crazy, brilliant, or both, he took his own life at age 77 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease and leukemia. A hefty tome at close to 700 pages, Scammell’s expert handling of Koestler’s fascinating life is well worth reading.
Born in Budapest in 1905 to affluent Jewish parents, Koestler’s childhood was less than ideal. A lonely and only child, he was frequently abandoned by his mother and internalized much of the anti-Semitic attitude of the period. To compensate for his insecurities he self-medicated (a notorious drinker who tossed tables in restaurants and was arrested for drunk driving), was promiscuous (he bedded scores of women), a womanizer (considered to be a “brutal lover” by many women, he also demanded abortions if they became pregnant), and used drugs (particularly Benzedrine and Seconal). And yet, despite his erratic behavior and inferiority complex, he befriended Albert Camus and George Orwell, bedded Simone de Beauvoir (who parodied his seduction in her Le prix Goncourt prize winning novel Les Mandarins), played chess with Julian Barnes, and dropped acid (psilocybin) with Timothy Leary.
He was a prolific writer, but his eccentricity and his predilection for odd and controversial topics (ESP, euthanasia, levitation, a theory of creation that challenged Darwinism) led many to dismiss him as frivolous and his work as ludicrous. Crazy, brilliant, or both, he took his own life at age 77 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease and leukemia. A hefty tome at close to 700 pages, Scammell’s expert handling of Koestler’s fascinating life is well worth reading.
March 13, 2022
A highly readable biography of a complex, mercurial, difficult character with an unreleting mission in life. A mission to seek, probe and reveal the importance of thought, to warn against the lived experiences of communist dogma and totalitarian suppresion, to warn his adopted country (Britain), Europe and the West of the dangers of the Soviet Union.
What Koestler wasn't. He was not an easy character, not as a friend and certainly not as a lover, not someone whom you could have would have had an easy time with, or a satisfying romantic relationship (though so many women did, and one even took the final step with him).
What Koestler was. He was a man of conviction, of passion and zest for life which put him at odds with the unfolding reality in the aftermath of WW2, with the world so erroneously split on two opposing political sides, the West and the East.
A European Jew, a foreigner, a man who was never comfortable in his own skin and size, who never belonged, who often lashed out and overcompensated, Koestler the man was that prototype Continental European intellectual who chose the West, and an England, and a free world who never quite understood him.
Equally admired and villified, Koestler remained and transformed into that voice of constant forewarning which you try to ignore. Not a popular figure in his lifetime, Koestler remains that quintessential voice of dogmatic reason, in a world which is so easy to categorise, polarise, ostracise and side with the easy side, with the mass appeal of the fake friend, the appeal of the Left which again we are seeing played out in today's war launched by Russia's unchecked aggression.
This insightful biography and exploration of Koestler the man, the intellectual, the crusader, the idea explorer is fundamental to situating Koestler within the annals of our times.
An indispensable biography of the man behind Darkness at Noon.
What Koestler wasn't. He was not an easy character, not as a friend and certainly not as a lover, not someone whom you could have would have had an easy time with, or a satisfying romantic relationship (though so many women did, and one even took the final step with him).
What Koestler was. He was a man of conviction, of passion and zest for life which put him at odds with the unfolding reality in the aftermath of WW2, with the world so erroneously split on two opposing political sides, the West and the East.
A European Jew, a foreigner, a man who was never comfortable in his own skin and size, who never belonged, who often lashed out and overcompensated, Koestler the man was that prototype Continental European intellectual who chose the West, and an England, and a free world who never quite understood him.
Equally admired and villified, Koestler remained and transformed into that voice of constant forewarning which you try to ignore. Not a popular figure in his lifetime, Koestler remains that quintessential voice of dogmatic reason, in a world which is so easy to categorise, polarise, ostracise and side with the easy side, with the mass appeal of the fake friend, the appeal of the Left which again we are seeing played out in today's war launched by Russia's unchecked aggression.
This insightful biography and exploration of Koestler the man, the intellectual, the crusader, the idea explorer is fundamental to situating Koestler within the annals of our times.
An indispensable biography of the man behind Darkness at Noon.
December 2, 2011
a great way of reading a history of the twentieth century. reading it through the journey of Arthur Koestler, it becomes a personal and passionate story. a must.
March 12, 2011
This was a really good biography of an interesting person, although a bit long. Koestler wrote one of the best political novels ever - Darkness at Noon -- and seemed to be right in the thick of European intellectual life in the interwar and postwar eras. Scammell's bio was everything you could ask for in a good bio. The only problem for me was that Koestler came across as a real jerk - abusive to women, condescending, and too believing of his own press. Genius does not excuse that. Overall, I guess that is OK -- I would have to blame Koestler rather than Scammell for his personal failings. The book was good at presenting Koestler's other ideas and his other books and prompted me to order some from Alibris. Overall, it was worth the time and I recommend the book.
November 27, 2022
Maybe I'm being a bit sensitive here but when Scammel descibes a violent rape by Koestler as an unfortunate incident and proceeds to spend the next couple of pages questioning the women's account and coming down on it being acceptable behaviour for the time I'm not going to perservere with a fairly dry biography. Still think Darkness at Noon is great and now want to read scum of the earth but Koestler sounds like a really objectionable human. Especially post WWII where he seems to spend most of his time getting played by right wing Americans, 'seducing' his friend's wives and crashing cars while drunk.
Want to read
December 20, 2009Interesting quote from Johann Hari in a review on Slate:He [Koestler:] said he was cursed with "absolutitis": When a cause didn't offer him absolute salvation, he would discard it in despair and try to find another with the same promise. The one possibility he never explored for long is the only real answer to suffering—incremental democratic reform. Real improvements in human societies almost always come inch-by-inch, without any grand map of a perfect world. If you demand perfection, you can only be disappointed; if you demand improvement, you can succeed—and build enough hope to fight another day.
See http://www.slate.com/id/2238790/
See http://www.slate.com/id/2238790/
February 1, 2015
Prior to that I had an enjoyable week looking forward every evening to reading Michael Scammell's biography of Arthur Koestler, Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic (New York: Random House, 2008). Scammell a professional biographer has created a dense (689 page book) fascinating book mapping the life of Koestler. Koestler is one of those names that is forever appearing in other biographies and books that I read, but I never really a good sense about who he was. Thanks to Scammell's detailed research, I now have a fairly good understanding of who he was and why he kept appearing on the sidelines of everything I read in the 20th-Century.
February 19, 2010
With the precision of a bullet on "Whittaker Chambers in Books" (also in The Washington Times)
January 12, 2011
Excellent biography of a much maligned and important thinker in the realms of utopian politics, fiction, and science.
August 19, 2011
Fascinating, in depth bio of someone who should not have become so obscure
April 1, 2012
Fascinating individual whose life touched every major political event in mid-20th century Europe.
April 28, 2010
Life and times of one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews