Podcast Summary

The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast

Episode: Totalitarian Novels: Darkness at Noon and Regret
Date: April 2, 2025
Hosts: Jeremiah Regan, Juan Davalos
Guest Lecturer: Dr. Larry P. Arnn

Episode Overview

This episode explores Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, considered by Dr. Larry Arnn to be perhaps the most compelling of the totalitarian novels discussed in Hillsdale's course. Unlike other works that hypothesize about futuristic dictatorships, Koestler's novel is set within the reality of the Soviet regime and centers on the cost of ideological purity, party loyalty, and personal regret. The hosts, Jeremiah Regan and Juan Davalos, guide listeners through the plot, historical context, and philosophical depth of the novel, focusing on how totalitarian systems transform—and often destroy—the human soul.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Uniqueness of Darkness at Noon Among Totalitarian Novels

• Most novels in the course (1984, Brave New World, That Hideous Strength) envision hypothetical or futuristic states. In contrast, Darkness at Noon deals directly with the Soviet Union, giving it a unique realism and potency.
  "[It's] the only one that imagines circumstances within a real regime...Darkness at Noon investigates the...Soviet regime in Russia and the way that it treats its own people." — Jeremiah Regan [00:22]

2. Psychological Portrait of Regret

• The novel’s protagonist, Rubachev, is an Old Bolshevik imprisoned by the regime he helped create.
• Through Rubachev’s internal struggle, Koestler examines the path from idealism to complicity to self-doubt and regret.
  "As he wrestles with the regret of the brutal reality of the revolution that he helped build." — Juan Davalos [00:57]

3. The Mechanics and Psychology of Soviet Show Trials

• Historical context: From 1936-1938, Stalin executed nearly all earliest leaders of the Russian revolution via public show trials.
• The novel seeks to answer why these men confessed to fabricated crimes, knowing it meant certain death.
  "Why did these guys, who had every reason to resent Stalin, make these confessions, knowing their fate? ... And it teaches us something about totalitarianism." — Dr. Arnn [05:01]

4. Plot Summary and Character Analysis

• Rubachev is arrested and interrogated twice in prison:
  • Ivanov (first interrogator): An old comrade who tries to save Rubachev.
  • Gletkin (second interrogator): A young, brutal party loyalist, representing the new, ruthless face of the revolution.
• Key structural device: Interrogations reveal Rubachev’s inner life and the evolution of the regime.

5. The Three Victims of Rubachev's Actions

• Richard: Young idealist Rubachev sends to his death for party discipline, paired with the image of a Pieta.
  "...a speech that goes like you and I can make a mistake, but the party cannot make a mistake. It is history talking." — Dr. Arnn [15:26]
• Little Loe: Baltic union organizer abandoned by Rubachev to inevitable suicide due to Party machinations.
• Arlova: Former lover and secretary, left to perish because she is deemed expendable by the Party.
• These acts haunt Rubachev and illustrate how totalitarianism erodes empathy. "One of the meanings of the book is that's why Rubachev has to be killed. He's becoming. There's a touch of human in him." — Dr. Arnn [18:10]

6. The ‘Grammatical Fiction’ and Loss of Individuality

• "The grammatical fiction is the pronoun 'I.' There is no I. That's the grammatical fiction."
• Novel critiques the erasure of individual agency under totalitarian rule. "These utopian theories require the destruction of humanity, each individual one eventually, including, by the way, the last one standing." — Dr. Arnn [09:35]

7. The Nature of Confession and Complicity

• Gletkin's interrogations blur truth and fiction, compelling Rubachev to confess to both actual and fabricated "crimes."
• Rubachev is forced to confront his own moral failures and the nature of evil within the revolutionary cause. "If you are prepared to do things like that for people, should you not make a final sacrifice for the unity of...the party?" — Dr. Arnn [22:20]
• The confessions serve Party needs, not justice. The process accentuates the regime's capacity for distortion and self-preservation.

8. Humanity Versus Ideology

• Rubachev’s gradual realization of the significance of death and suffering contrasts the earlier Party attitude of “physical liquidation” being a mere administrative detail.
• Koestler, himself a former Communist and later an anti-Communist, investigates the possibility and limits of redemption. "He starts thinking about death in a different way, as a human thing, and it's just an abstraction to him before he murders. And he doesn't understand what that means. Humanity is dawning on him." — Dr. Arnn [20:52]

9. Final Reflections and Relevance

• Rubachev’s last sensations—the "oceanic sense"—reflect a faint encounter with genuine humanity before his execution.
• The novel prompts readers to question the allure of totalizing ideologies and their effects on personal and societal morality. "If you want to understand why, they're people too. Right. You don't want to be in a position where you take whole classes of people and regard them as evil, especially if they're fellow citizens." — Dr. Arnn [27:21]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Distortion of Philosophy:
  "Militant philosopher is a violation of the term, because philosophers look and observe...they don't make war on things. That's a perversion of philosophy, which is somewhere near the heart of the meaning of all these totalitarian novels." — Dr. Arnn [07:35]

• On the Nature of Confession:
  "Gletkin has to get him to confess to some things that are different than what he did. That seems to be important, by the way, that it's not just you did suggest...maybe the boss should be killed. But you have to say you conspired with people to make that happen." — Dr. Arnn [21:44]

• On the Haunting Force of Past Actions:
  "You are what you do, and you can't get away from them. And so it's his past that haunts him." — Dr. Arnn [22:09]

• On the Tragic Ultimate Outcome:
  "It's his last thought as he dies. This explanation is very powerful because, you know, if you wonder how can people do this to people? What makes them act like this?" — Dr. Arnn [25:32]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:22 – Episode Introduction and novel's context among totalitarian literature
• 04:18 – Dr. Arnn begins historical background on the Soviet show trials
• 07:35 – Philosophy and the perversion of its ideals
• 15:26 – The three key victims (Richard, Little Loe, Arlova) and their significance
• 20:52 – Rubachev’s evolving attitude to death and suffering
• 22:09 – The psychological mechanism of confession and regret
• 25:32 – Final reflections, the "oceanic sense," and lessons for understanding totalitarian impulses

Conclusion

This episode provides a deep dive into Darkness at Noon’s portrayal of totalitarian psychology, the corrosion of individual conscience, and the grim logic of ideological regimes. The detailed examination of Rubachev's regrets and Koestler’s literary choices presents not just a critique of communism, but a meditation on human fallibility—and the possibility of redemption, even at the moment of destruction. The episode encourages critical reflection on contemporary parallels and historical lessons, making the novel's warnings vivid and relevant.