Topic: Arthur Koestler

Darkness at Noon

Arthur Koestler CBE (5 September 1905, Budapest – 3 March 1983, London) was a Hungarian author of essays, novels and autobiographies. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. His early career was in journalism. In 1931 Koestler joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned by Stalinist atrocities, he resigned from it in 1938 and in 1940 published a devastating anti-totalitarian novel, Darkness at Noon, which propelled him to international fame.

Over the next 43 years, Koestler espoused many political causes and wrote novels, biographies, and numerous essays. In 1968, he was awarded the prestigious Sonning Prize "for outstanding contribution to European culture" and, in 1972, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1976, Koestler was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and, three years later, with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in its terminal stages. He committed suicide along with his wife in 1983 in London.