Darkness at Noon is a novel by the Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it tells the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is cast out, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the government whose rise he once helped to create. The novel is set in 1938 during the Stalinist purges and Moscow show trials. It reflects the author's personal disillusionment with Communism; Koestler knew some of the defendants at the Moscow trials. Although the characters have Russian names, neither Russia nor the Soviet Union are named as the setting of... the book. Joseph Stalin is alluded to as "Number One", a barely seen, menacing dictator. The novel was originally written in German and translated into English by Daphne Hardy, while she was living with Koestler in Paris in early 1940. Koestler and Hardy fled Paris in May 1940 just ahead of its occupation by the German army. After hearing a false report that the ship taking Hardy to England had been torpedoed and all persons lost, Koestler attempted suicide in Bordeaux.
more
| Author: | Arthur Koestler |
| Genre: | Novel, Fiction |
| Year published: | 1940 |
| Number of editions: | 20 |