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El cero y el infinito

El cero y el infinito

Historical FictionPolitical Thriller
Pages
267
Published
1941
Language
English

Synopsis

Nicholas Rubashov, a high-ranking official who helped build the current regime, finds himself arrested by the very secret police he once commanded. Locked in a cold cell, he faces a series of intense interrogations designed to break his spirit and force a false confession. This story explores the internal collapse of a revolutionary as he confronts the brutal logic of the state he served.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

DarkTenseMysterious

Genres

Historical Fiction Political Thriller Classics Dystopian Literary Fiction Politics & Society History Psychological Thriller

About the author

A
Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler CBE was a prolific writer of essays, novels and autobiographies. He was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest but, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. His early career was in journalism. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned, he resigned from it in 1938 and in 1940 published a devastating anti-Communist novel, Darkness at Noon, which propelled him to instant international fame. ([Source][1]) [1]: https://en...

Characters

Nicolas Salmanovitch RubashovProtagonist
Brother Number OneAntagonist
All characters in El cero y el infinito

Frequently asked questions

  • Is this book based on real events?

    The narrative is a fictionalized account inspired by the Soviet show trials of the late 1930s, specifically modeling the protagonist's experience on the trial of Nikolai Bukharin. The author drew upon his own disillusionment with the Communist Party and his personal acquaintance with several victims of these political purges.

  • Why does the book exist in different versions?

    The original German manuscript was presumed lost for decades, meaning the book was known internationally only through translations of an English version for much of the 20th century. A copy of the original German text was discovered in 2015, leading to new editions that are considered more faithful to the author's intended style and content.

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