Customer Reviews

Arrival and Departure (Vintage Classics)

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"Arrival and Departure" was written in 1941 and published the following year. Readers who are not at least somewhat knowledgeable about European politics, culture and psychological trends at the start of World War II are likely to feel somewhat lost. Peter Slavek is a 22-year-old radical from the intellectual class who has no true understanding of the oppressed masses for whom he campaigns. His commitment to socialist revolution is swept away into insignificance by the horrors overwhelming Europe. After being tortured, he escapes to the capital of Neutralia (not kidding), where he encounters a female psychiatrist whom he knew as a child. He also meets Odette, a young homeless wanton, and falls in love with her. Torn between his politics and his love, he suffers a mental breakdown and hysterical paralysis of one leg. In a series of informal but very intense analysis sessions, Dr. Bolgar, the psychiatrist, uncovers the "dynamic roots" of his radicalism, revealing it to be the sequela of a traumatic incident from his childhood. So his politics aren't real, they're just his way of making lifelong expiation for his imagined sins. Bingo, his neurosis is cured, and he regains the use of his leg. In addition to the psychoanalytical jargon, Koestler devotes considerable space to dialogues between characters about political theories and philosophies fashionable among liberal European intellectuals in the first half of the 20th century. History teaches us that most people either didn't know or didn't care to know about the Holocaust; if that is so, why didn't Koestler's matter-of-fact descriptions of the fate of the Jews in this book attract more attention? These parts of the book read more like a historical novel that was written today than a book published in 1942. "Arrival and Departure" was the last of a trilogy that began with "Darkness at Noon" and I tend to agree that it is the weakest of the three books. It was one of Koestler's earliest books in English---he had previously written in Hungarian and German---and it shows in this book: Its formal, stylized, rather lofty prose actually does read more like a translation than like a book written in English: Reminiscent of the prose of Joseph Conrad, but a bit flatter. I recommend this book only for the reader who is a fan of Koestler's work or who wants to read what is now essentially a period piece about life among the displaced and refugees in wartime Europe.

Koestler was always facinated by the psychology of imprisonment and torture;what makes a person crack or hold out.
Peter Slavek has escaped to Neutralia. He is a left wing agitator in a right wing state where he was tortured but managed to resist.The novel asks why. His childhood demons are explored, but can even this knowledge stop him from an almost pre programmed destiny.
Koestler explores his themes well,though perhaps this book is a little dated as its time of supreme relevence have passed. But who knows when those days will return?

This book shows great incite into the human mind, and is an exciting story of a displaced character's time in a place called Neutralia. A great concept intertwined with an interesting plot, worth checking out.