Lost Illusions

Arrival And Departure by Arthur Koestler. Macmillan. $2.00.

This novel is more the product of the exasperated political sensibility than of consistent political thought. It is a brilliant piece of writing, though not particularly impressive as a work of fiction. Koestler exemplifies the finest type of European journalism, whose chief advantage over the best American brand lies in its capacity to move with ease within a cultural framework (ours is more efficient in the assembly and organization of facts). Hence, despite the fact that he is clearly not a novelist to the manner born, Koestler succeeds in creating an interesting approximation of a novelist texture and some highly credible novelistic characters. The intensive discussion he has stimulated is largely to be explained by the relevance and expressiveness of his theme rather than by his literary performance or ideological power. For what with the slump in contemporary literature, and its visibly helpless reversion to the exhausted and stale subject-matter of private life, it is no small relief to come upon a narrative which, whatever its faults, is at least on the level of the problems of our time.