Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon
1st US edition
Author(s)	Arthur Koestler
Original title	Sonnenfinsternis
Country	United Kingdom
Language	German
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	1940
Published in English	1941
Pages	254 pp (Danube edition)
ISBN	0-553-26595-4
OCLC Number	21947763
Preceded by	The Gladiators
Followed by	Arrival and Departure

Darkness at Noon (German: Sonnenfinsternis) 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 (along with his only manuscript) had been torpedoed and all persons lost, Koestler attempted suicide in Bordeaux. Koestler described the episode in Scum of the Earth, his autobiography of that period. On reaching England, Hardy arranged to have the manuscript published and chose the title Darkness at Noon. Koestler finally succeeded in getting to England as well.

Since the original German text has been lost, German versions, published under the title Sonnenfinsternis (literally "solar eclipse"), have been back translations from the English. Darkness at Noon is the second part of a trilogy: Koestler's first volume is The Gladiators, about the subversion of the Spartacus revolt, and the third is Arrival and Departure, about a refugee in World War II. Koestler originally wrote The Gladiators in Hungarian but, by the time he wrote Arrival and Departure, he used English. Of these two, only The Gladiators has had much sales success.

In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Darkness at Noon as eighth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Setting

Darkness At Noon is set in the Soviet Union during the 1938 purges, as Stalin consolidates his dictatorship by eliminating potential rivals within the Communist Party, the military, and the professions. Almost all of the novel occurs inside of an unnamed prison and in the recollections of the central character.

Koestler drew on his own experience of being imprisoned by Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. He also described this in his memoir Dialog with Death. Like Rubashov, he was in solitary confinement and expected to be executed. He was permitted to walk in the courtyard in the company of other prisoners, and was not beaten but knew that others were beaten.

Characters

The central character is Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov, a man in his fifties who is based on "a number of men who were the victims of the so-called Moscow trials," several of whom "were personally known to the author." Rubashov is a stand-in for the Old Bolsheviks as a group, and his story is essentially Koestler's explanation of their seemingly strange actions at the 1938 Moscow Show Trials. Since joining the Party as a teenager Rubashov has led soldiers in the field, won a commendation for "fearlessness", repeatedly volunteered for hazardous assignments, endured torture, betrayed other communists who deviated from the Party line, and in short proven in almost every way imaginable that he is loyal to its policies and goals. Recently he has had doubts, however. Despite twenty years of unrestrained power, millions of deliberate deaths and executions, and all his personal sacrifices, the Party does not seem to be any closer to achieving the goal of a socialist utopia than it was when he joined. If anything, that vision seems to be receding. When Rubashov is introduced, he stands at a crossroads, between a lifetime of devotion to the Party on the one hand, and his conscience and the mounting evidence of his own experience on the other.

Secondary characters include Rubashov's fellow prisoners. No. 402 is a czarist army officer and veteran inmate with whom Rubashov communicates by tapping in code against the wall between their cells. He also communicates with "Rip Van Winkle", an old revolutionary from central Europe who has been broken by twenty years of solitary confinement followed by imprisonment in Russia. The other prisoners have nicknamed him "Rip Van Winkle" because, like the Washington Irving character, he has (metaphorically) woken up in a world that has passed him by. A third prisoner is Hare-Lip, who is occasionally tortured, and who "sends his greetings" to Rubashov, but insists on keeping his name secret. Two other secondary characters who never make a direct appearance in the story, but who are mentioned frequently in the background, are No. 1 and the other Old Bolsheviks. No. 1 is another name for Stalin, who has steadily eliminated the Old Bolsheviks throughout the 1930s in a series of purges and show trials. Both characters are symbolized by a picture: No. 1 by a "well-known color print, which hung over every bed or sideboard in the country and stared at people with its frozen eyes", and the Old Bolsheviks by a picture that appears only in his "mind's eye, a big photograph in a wooden frame: the delegates to the first congress of the Party" in which they sat "at a long wooden table, some with their elbows propped on it, others with their hands on their knees, bearded and earnest." Rubashov frequently thinks of No. 1's portrait, as if trying to decipher No. 1's thoughts, and fondly remembers the men in the portrait of the delegates to the first party congress, as if trying to recall a lost age.

While in prison Rubashov must confront two interrogators. The first is his old friend Ivanov, a comrade from the civil war who lost a leg during the fighting. He adopts an informal manner, gives the impression that he is still Rubashov's friend, and implies that he can lighten Rubashov's sentence if he will cooperate. The other interrogator is a young man named Gletkin, who starches his uniform so heavily that it cracks and groans whenever he moves. Gletkin is "the brutal embodiment of the state," a "neanderthaler" whom Rubashov despises, but eventually becomes reconciled to. Unlike Ivanov, Gletkin does not rely on persuasion, but instead on a combination of sleeplessness, humiliation, and endless questioning to wear down his victim.

Plot summary

Structure

Darkness at Noon is divided into four parts: The First Hearing, the Second Hearing, the Third Hearing, and the Grammatical Fiction.

The First Hearing

The novel begins with Rubashov's arrest in the middle of the night by two men from the NKVD. When they came for him, they woke him from a dream where he was being arrested by the Gestapo. One of the men is about Rubashov's age, the other is somewhat younger. The older man is formal and courteous, the younger is chauvinistic and brutal. The difference between them introduces the first major theme of Darkness At Noon - the passing of the older, civilized generation, and the barbarism of their successors.

Once in prison Rubashov finds himself strangely relieved. He does not seem surprised at his arrest, and he is expecting to be held in solitary confinement until he is shot. Nevertheless he is able to communicate with No. 402, the man in the adjacent cell, by using a tap code. Rubashov quickly realizes that they don't have much to discuss, however. Unlike Rubashov, No. 402 is no intellectual; he just wants to hear the details of Rubashov's latest sexual encounter. Rubashov humors him for a little while, but in the end is too embarrassed to continue.

His thoughts drift to the Old Bolsheviks, No. 1, and to the Marxist Interpretation of History. Throughout the novel Rubashov, Ivanov, and Gletkin speculate continually about historical processes and how they fit into them as individuals and as a group. Each of them hopes that, no matter how vile their actions may seem to their contemporaries, history will eventually absolve them. This is the faith that makes the atrocities of the Stalinist regime conscionable to them, for what does the suffering of a few thousand, or even a few million people matter when weighed against the happiness of future generations? If they can bring about the socialist utopia which they believe is possible, all will be forgiven.

Rubashov also spends a great deal of time reflecting on his past, and from this point on the narrative switches back and forth between his current life as a political prisoner and his past life as a member of the Party Elite. He recalls his first visit to Berlin in about the year 1933, just as Hitler has come to power. He has been given the assignment of "purging and reorganizing" the German Communists. As a part of this mission, he meets with Richard, a young communist cell leader who has distributed material with a message contrary to the Party Line. In a museum, underneath a picture of the Pieta, as the light is fading, Rubashov explains to Richard that he has broken Party Discipline, become "objectively harmful," and must be expelled from the Communist Party. All the while a Gestapo man hovers in the background with his little girl in his arm. Too late, Richard realizes that Rubashov has betrayed him to the secret police. He begs Rubashov not to "throw him to the wolves," but Rubashov just wants to get away from him as quickly as possible. As he steps into a cab, he realizes that the cab driver is a communist like him. The cab driver offers to give him free fare, but Rubashov is embarrassed by the gesture and pays the fare when he is let off at the train station. On board the train, he dreams that Richard and the cab driver are trying to run him over with a train.

This scene introduces the second and third major themes of Darkness At Noon. The second, suggested repeatedly throughout the novel by the Pieta and other Christian imagery, is the contrast between the cynicism, brutality, and modernity of communism on the one hand, and the gentleness, simplicity, and tradition of Christianity. Although Arthur Koestler does not write with the intent of encouraging a return to Christianity, he does imply that Communism is the worse of the two alternatives. The third theme is the contrast between the trustful simplicity of the rank and file communists, and the cynicism and ruthlessness of the Party elite. Whereas the rank and file trust and admire men like Rubashov, the elite betrays, bullies, uses, and lies to them without giving it a second thought. Whenever Rubashov is forced to confront the immorality of his actions as a party chief his abscessed tooth begins to bother him, sometimes to the point where he cannot function.

Two weeks after his meeting with Richard, Rubashov is arrested by the Gestapo himself. He is imprisoned for two years, and repeatedly tortured, but he never breaks discipline and in the end the Nazis let him go. He returns immediately to Russia and receives a hero's welcome, but No. 1's growing power makes him uncomfortable. Unwilling or unable to oppose No. 1 directly, he requests foreign assignment. No. 1 looks on this request suspiciously, but grants it. This time he is sent to Belgium to enforce Party Discipline among the dock workers. After the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, the League of Nations and the Comintern both condemned Italy as a fascist aggressor and imposed an international embargo on strategic resources, especially oil, which the Italians would need to carry through the invasion. In accordance with this policy, the Belgian dock workers are determined not to allow any shipments to Italy pass through their port. In spite of its official policy, however, the Soviet Union in fact intends to supply the Italians with oil and other resources. Rubashov's task is to convince the dock workers that, despite what they have been told, they must unload these materials and send them on their way to the Italians.

While waiting for the dock workers to assemble, their cell leader, a German immigrant and staunch communist named Little Loewy, tells Rubashov his life's story. In sum, his story makes it clear that he is a dedicated communist who has sacrificed much for the Party, both from its enemies and from the stupidity of the Party bureaucracy, but he is still cheerful and completely dedicated. Rubashov finds the story embarrassing but is too polite to ask Little Loewy to stop. When all the dock workers have gathered together, he explains the situation to them. At first they don't understand what they're being asked to do, but when they come around they react with disgust, and flatly refuse to carry out Rubashov's instructions. Several days later the entire cell is denounced by name in the Party publications (virtually guaranteeing arrest by the authorities.) Little Loewy hangs himself from a rafter, and Rubashov takes up a new assignment.

After about a week in prison he is brought in for the first examination, which turns out to be conducted by his old friend Ivanov. Like Rubashov, Ivanov is a veteran of the Russian Civil War, an Old Bolshevik who shares Rubashov's basic outlook on the Revolution. They reminisce about the past, when Rubashov convinced Ivanov not to commit suicide after the amputation of his leg. Ivanov says that if he can persuade Rubashov to confess to the charges, then he will have paid back his debt. If Rubashov will confess, he can have his sentence commuted to 5 or 10 years in a labor camp, rather than outright execution. But it all depends on his cooperation. The actual charges are hardly discussed, since both men understand that they are beside the point. Rubashov refuses to consider Ivanov's suggestion, telling him that he is "tired" and doesn't "want to play this kind of game anymore." Ivanov has him sent back to his cell, asking him to think it over. If he just swallows his pride and goes along with the interrogators, Ivanov implies, he can save his life and one day see the socialist utopia they've both worked so hard to create.

The Second Hearing

The next section of the book begins with one of Rubashov's diary entries, in which he struggles to discover his place, and the place of the other Old Bolsheviks, within the larger context of the Marxist interpretation of history.

Ivanov and a junior examiner, Gletkin, discuss Rubashov's fate in the prison canteen. Gletkin presses for the application of harsh, physical methods to break Rubashov and force a confession, while Ivanov insists that Rubashov will capitulate once he realizes that it is the only logical thing to do, given his situation. Gletkin illustrates his point by recalling how, during the collectivization of the peasants, no amount of persuasion could convince the peasants to give up their crops. In the end, only torture worked. And since that helped to move Russia towards the ultimate goal of a socialist utopia, it was both the logical and the virtuous thing to do, given the circumstances. Ivanov is disgusted by Gletkin's attitude, but he can't refute Gletkin's reasoning. Ivanov too believes in doing what has to be done, but unlike Gletkin he is troubled by the suffering he causes. Gletkin tells him that this is only because he does not really believe in the coming utopia. Ivanov is therefore a cynic, while Gletkin is the real idealist. Their conversation continues the theme of the new generation usurping the place of the new: where Ivanov is intellectual, ironical, and at bottom humane, Gletkin is unsophisticated, straitforward, and unconcerned with the suffering of others. When the conversation ends Ivanov remains unconvinced, and Rubashov remains in solitary confinement.

The Third and Fourth Hearing

Once Gletkin takes over the interrogation of Rubashov, he resorts to methods like sleep deprivation and making Rubashov sit in front of a glaring lamp for hours on end. Worn down, Rubashov finally capitulates.

As Rubashov confesses to the false charges, he thinks of all of the times he betrayed agents in the past—the young German Richard, Little Loewy, who hangs himself, and Arlova, Rubashov's own secretary-mistress. Rubashov recognises that his treatment is carried out with the same ruthless logic as that which he himself employed. Ultimately, his commitment to following his logic to its last conclusion—and his own lingering dedication to the Party—lead him to confess fully and publicly.

The final section of the novel is headed with a four-line quotation ("Show us not the aim without the way ...") from the German socialist Ferdinand Lasalle. The novel ends with Rubashov's execution.

Influence

The novel's French title is Le Zéro et l'Infini ("Zero and Infinity"). Like the English title, Darkness at Noon, it reflects Koestler's life-long obsession with the meeting of opposites, and dialectics. Le Zéro et l'Infini sold more than 400,000 copies in France.

According to the British author George Orwell, "Rubashov might be called Trotsky, Bukharin, Rakovsky or some other relatively civilised figure among the Old Bolsheviks". Orwell drew on Darkness At Noon when he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four (especially the segment in which Winston Smith is interrogated by O'Brien). In 1944 Orwell wrote a review of Koestler's work to-date, which included a discussion of Darkness At Noon.

In 1954, at the end of a long inquiry and a show trial, Communist Romania sentenced to death the former high-ranking Romanian Communist Party member and government official Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu. According to his collaborator Belu Zilber, Pătrăşcanu read Darkness at Noon in Paris while envoy to the 1946 Peace Conference, and took the book back to Romania.

In 2000, the writer Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley said that Dalton Trumbo, an American screenwriter who was a Communist Party USA member during the 1940s, had boasted during that period to the The Worker that party members in the film industry had prevented Darkness at Noon, among other anti-Stalinist books, from being adapted as a Hollywood movie.

External links

• Harold Strauss, Book Review of Darkness at Noon: "THE RIDDLE OF MOSCOW'S TRIALS", New York Times, 25 May 1941