Nicholas Rubashov, an old Bolshevik and former commissar, is arrested during Stalin's purges in the 1930s and imprisoned in an unnamed country that is plainly the Soviet Union. In his cell he reflects on the Party he served and the logic that justified sacrificing individuals to the revolution, while interrogators Ivanov and later Gletkin press him to confess to crimes he did not commit. The book considers whether the ends can justify the means and how a believer can be convinced to condemn himself.
It is a short, tense political novel that appeals to readers of Orwell and to anyone interested in the show trials of the era. Koestler wrote from his own experience as a former Communist.
Deep, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- ISBN
- 9783942788007
- Language
- DE
