Product Description

The second volume is in Koestler’s own words “a typical case history of a member of the educated middle classes of Central Europe in our time.” We see him in Germany, Russia, England, France and Spain, working for the cause he believed in until his eventual break with Communism in 1938. It ends with his escape from Occupied France in 1940 to England, where he found a new home. An epilogue brings the story up to 1953.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2878628 in Books
• Published on: 1984-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 526 pages

About the Author
Arthur Koestler was born in Budapest in 1905. He attended the university of Vienna before working as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Berlin and Paris. For six years he was an active member of the Communist Party, and was captured by Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Arthur Koestler spent several months in a death cell during the Spanish Civil War, was sent in 1939 to a French concentration camp, then joined the Foreign Legion and escaped to England in 1940. He died in 1983 by suicide, having frequently expressed a belief in the right to euthanasia.

Customer Reviews

Part 2 of Koestler's autobiography
First of all, it's only worth reading this book if you've read Part 1, Arrow in the Blue. If you've already done that, you're probably thirsting for Part 2, but I must frankly admit that you may find Arrow in the Blue runs at a deeper level than The Invisible Writing, which is the account of his life from 1932-40 (giving just a short outline of the experiences already covered in greater detail in Dialogue with Death and Scum of the Earth), without as much philosophical commentary. I've seldom read two parts of a book which were so different in style, but they're equally enjoyable.