By
– August 25, 2011
It might not be obvious to many readers why they should want to lift — much less read— a 689 – page biography of the writer Arthur Koestler. Even those who read Darkness at Noon many decades ago and found it moving, might feel that history has moved far along from the days when Stalinism was controversial. Jewish readers, in particular, may feel some lingering unease over the way Koestler buried his early Zionist sympathies once he became absorbed in East-West issues and then later wrote about Jewish Khazari roots and assimilation. And yet, any reader willing to invest serious time with this remarkable biography will feel well-rewarded. For Koestler’s life, which spanned from 1905 to 1983, reads like a history of the 20th century. This is a man who struggled with all the major events of his times — two World Wars, Zionism, communism, Nazism, McCarthyism, Eastern mysticism, and much more. He argued with Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir, Leary, Huxley, and Orwell. He bedded too many women to list. But beyond his connections, Koestler was a man of uncanny foresight — discussing the degeneration of totalitarian states before this was obvious, studying Kepler’s scientific process before Kuhn published his treatise on paradigm-shifts, visiting the yogis of the East before the rest of the West discovered ashrams,
experimenting with hallucinogens and parapsychology long before most people even knew what they were. As biographer Scammell rightly realizes, to understand how Koestler lived in so many worlds, one must explore the details of his life — his arguments with colleagues, his alcohol-fueled binges, his chaotic affairs with his friends’ wives, his impulsive house purchases, his behind-the-scenes philanthropy, and, of course, his struggles to figure out what to write. Readers who know nothing of Koestler will find this work engrossing — but for political and literary historians of the 20th century, it may well be indispensable. Bibliography, index, notes, photographs.
experimenting with hallucinogens and parapsychology long before most people even knew what they were. As biographer Scammell rightly realizes, to understand how Koestler lived in so many worlds, one must explore the details of his life — his arguments with colleagues, his alcohol-fueled binges, his chaotic affairs with his friends’ wives, his impulsive house purchases, his behind-the-scenes philanthropy, and, of course, his struggles to figure out what to write. Readers who know nothing of Koestler will find this work engrossing — but for political and literary historians of the 20th century, it may well be indispensable. Bibliography, index, notes, photographs.
Bettina Berch, author of the recent biography, From Hester Street to Hollywood: The Life and Work of Anzia Yezierska, teaches part-time at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
