Living With Koestler: Mamaine Koestler's Letters 1945-51
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
A rare and intimate window into the private world of one of the twentieth century's most controversial intellectuals, Living with Koestler: Mamaine Koestler's Letters 1945–51 presents a vivid epistolary portrait of life alongside Arthur Koestler — novelist, political thinker, and restless idealist — through the eyes of his devoted companion and wife, Mamaine. Edited by Mamaine's twin sister Celia Goodman, this compelling collection chronicles six turbulent postwar years, spanning continents and intellectual circles, as Mamaine writes candidly to her sister about daily life with a man of towering ambition and volcanic temperament, capturing encounters with luminaries such as George Orwell, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Beyond its biographical value, this volume stands as a remarkable social document of postwar European intellectual culture, illuminating the ferment of ideas, political disillusionment, and personal sacrifice that defined an era. Mamaine's prose is sharp, warm, and often darkly witty, offering an unguarded counterpoint to Koestler's own carefully constructed public persona. For readers fascinated by the intersection of private life and public history, these letters raise a quietly devastating question: what does it truly cost to love a genius?
Author: Celia Goodman
Format: Hardback
Published: 1985, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
A rare and intimate window into the private world of one of the twentieth century's most controversial intellectuals, Living with Koestler: Mamaine Koestler's Letters 1945–51 presents a vivid epistolary portrait of life alongside Arthur Koestler — novelist, political thinker, and restless idealist — through the eyes of his devoted companion and wife, Mamaine. Edited by Mamaine's twin sister Celia Goodman, this compelling collection chronicles six turbulent postwar years, spanning continents and intellectual circles, as Mamaine writes candidly to her sister about daily life with a man of towering ambition and volcanic temperament, capturing encounters with luminaries such as George Orwell, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Beyond its biographical value, this volume stands as a remarkable social document of postwar European intellectual culture, illuminating the ferment of ideas, political disillusionment, and personal sacrifice that defined an era. Mamaine's prose is sharp, warm, and often darkly witty, offering an unguarded counterpoint to Koestler's own carefully constructed public persona. For readers fascinated by the intersection of private life and public history, these letters raise a quietly devastating question: what does it truly cost to love a genius?