KOESTLER by Michael Scammell, reviewed by Jeremy Treglown - TLS

KOESTLER by Michael Scammell, reviewed by Jeremy Treglown - TLS:

"The near-extinction of the word intelligentsia in English has coincided with a creeping amnesia about one of the best examples of the phenomenon – the author, too, of a substantial essay on what it meant. Arthur Koestler’s name is still known and many of his books are in print; some have never been out of it. Two large biographies have appeared in the past dozen years: by David Cesarani and, now, the authoritative Michael Scammell. If you ask around, though, you’ll find relatively few people under, say, fifty who have actually read anything by Koestler, while among regular purveyors of biographico-literary opinion the usual verdict is along the lines of “Horrible man”."