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Tag Archives: Arthur Koestler
Everybody Breaks, Bro: Costa-Gavras’ The Confession
The fourth shot in Costa-Gavras’ excruciating film The Confession. If Robert Conquest explained the machinations behind the Soviet show trials in the 1930s in The Great Terror, and if, in Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler walked you through the the … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Arthur Koestler, Costa-Gavras, Darkness at Noon, politics, Robert Conquest, The Great Terror
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Beware Perfect Language
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can … Continue reading
2013 Books Read
It’s been a hell of a year. Devastating as well as redemptive. I started it out in Memphis, and end it here in New Jersey. And now my new niece Pearl has arrived! It’s been both a busy year as … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged A.S. Byatt, Anne Fadiman, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, Balkans, books read, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Edvard Radzinsky, Elinor Lipman, England, friends, George Eliot, H.L. Mencken, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hungary, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jeanette Winterson, Joan Acocella, Joan Didion, John Banville, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Lester Bangs, Lorrie Moore, Patricia Highsmith, Philip K. Dick, Russia, Sam Cooke, Stalin, Tana French, The Netherlands, The Only Game In Town, Thomas Carlyle, Victor Serge, William Shakespeare, Yugoslavia
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The Books: “Darkness at Noon” (Arthur Koestler)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon is one of the most important books of the 20th century. The book is, as the New Statesman aptly described it: “One of the few books … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon, fiction, politics, Russia, Stalin, war
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R.I.P. Bobby Fischer: “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.”
“When you play Bobby, it is not a question of whether you win or lose. It is a question of whether you survive.” — Boris Spassky “It was Bobby Fischer who had, single-handedly, made the world recognize that chess on … Continue reading
Christopher Hitchens on Arthur Koestler
Christopher Hitchens has a piece on Arthur Koestler in Slate. I highly recommend giving it a read. I especially found this analysis of Darkness at Noon very interesting: From the first page of Darkness at Noon you become aware that … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellania, writers
Tagged Arthur Koestler, Christopher Hitchens, Russia, Stalin
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