Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon
by Arthur Koestler
read: approximately 2004
Modern Library #8, Guardian 1000 Novels

Darkness at Noon is a thematic sister to Animal Farm, showing the horrors of Stalinist Russia through the eyes of a political prisoner awaiting interrogation and ultimately (he assumes) execution.  Rubashov, the protagonist, formerly was a key member of the Party but has become increasingly uncomfortable over time as he sees it compromise each of its values in turn in the interest of power acquisition and self-preservation.  Over the past few years, I've come to the realization that institutions of sufficient size are always mostly concerned with self-preservation.

Darkness at Noon is a tight, contained story that never really introduces the possibility of hope, but tests the limits of human will and endurance.  The dramatic tension is not in whether Rubashov will escape or even avoid execution, but whether he gives us in when faced with various interrogative techniques.