„One of Koestler‘s Best”: An Analysis of the Immediate Critical Reception of Arrival and Departure

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F46747885%3A24510%2F22%3A00009960" target="_blank" >RIV/46747885:24510/22:00009960 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/reception/article-abstract/doi/10.5325/reception.14.1.0005/316024/One-of-Koestler-s-Best-An-Analysis-of-the" target="_blank" >https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/reception/article-abstract/doi/10.5325/reception.14.1.0005/316024/One-of-Koestler-s-Best-An-Analysis-of-the</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5325/reception.14.1.0005" target="_blank" >10.5325/reception.14.1.0005</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

„One of Koestler‘s Best”: An Analysis of the Immediate Critical Reception of Arrival and Departure

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

This article analyzes the immediate critical reception of Arthur Koestler‘s Arrival and Departure. The third novel published in his lifetime, it was the first Koestler wrote in English. Although a commercial success, his biographies disagree on the novel‘s critical reception: some claim it was a success, others talk of a reserved or hostile reception. As a part of an ongoing larger project, the present article shows, based on the analysis of sixty reviews published between 1943 and 1946, that the novel had an unqualified critical success. Further, through comparing this reception to that of Thieves in the Night, it pinpoints that Arrival and Departure is both comparatively less obscure than Thieves in the Night, and, unlike in the case of the other novel, the contemporary status of Arrival and Departure is not the result of an uncritical rehashing of old critical remarks. This quantitatively informed treatment is then juxtaposed to a discussion of three specific claims of the early reviews (flat characters, weak plot, and a polemical structure) in terms of their connection to the book‘s genre. Finally, the paper emphasizes that regardless of the iconic status of Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler clearly should not be considered as a one-book wonder.

Název v anglickém jazyce

„One of Koestler‘s Best”: An Analysis of the Immediate Critical Reception of Arrival and Departure

Popis výsledku anglicky

This article analyzes the immediate critical reception of Arthur Koestler‘s Arrival and Departure. The third novel published in his lifetime, it was the first Koestler wrote in English. Although a commercial success, his biographies disagree on the novel‘s critical reception: some claim it was a success, others talk of a reserved or hostile reception. As a part of an ongoing larger project, the present article shows, based on the analysis of sixty reviews published between 1943 and 1946, that the novel had an unqualified critical success. Further, through comparing this reception to that of Thieves in the Night, it pinpoints that Arrival and Departure is both comparatively less obscure than Thieves in the Night, and, unlike in the case of the other novel, the contemporary status of Arrival and Departure is not the result of an uncritical rehashing of old critical remarks. This quantitatively informed treatment is then juxtaposed to a discussion of three specific claims of the early reviews (flat characters, weak plot, and a polemical structure) in terms of their connection to the book‘s genre. Finally, the paper emphasizes that regardless of the iconic status of Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler clearly should not be considered as a one-book wonder.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

60206 - Specific literatures

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

O - Projekt operacniho programu

Rok uplatnění

2022

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History

ISSN

2168-0604

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

14

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1

Stát vydavatele periodika

US - Spojené státy americké

Počet stran výsledku

17

Strana od-do

5-21

Kód UT WoS článku

000859595700002

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85135479078