Letter To Stalin and Darkness At Noon
Write a brilliant, specific, well-organized essay on the following question.
Your paper should be 5 pages. A good essay will not simply summarize the two sources, but rather will be organized by themes, comparing and contrasting them point by point back and forth between the documents. I will e-mail the one of the readings!
Question to Be Answered in Letter to Stalin and Darkness at Noon Research Paper:
- Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon is a novel: a fictional account of a senior Bolshevik leader who was arrested by the Stalin regime and who confessed to fantastic charges. The novel suggests the psychological process Rubashov went through and the reasons for his confession.
- Bukharin's Last Letter to Stalin: "Documents: A last letter to Stalin") is a real, non-fiction, archival document. Like the fictional Rubashov, Bukharin was a senior Bolshevik who was arrested and who confessed.
- In your paper, compare and contrast Rubashov and Bukharin: their inner processes, their reasons for confession, and other points you think important.
- What is similar? What is different? Are there elements in one but not in the other? What did Koestler, in his fictional account, get right? What did he get wrong?
Notes for Letter to Stalin and Darkness at Noon Research Paper: A paper that is unbalanced between Rubashov and Bukharin, or that deals with one document much more than the other, will not get a good grade. A paper only on Darkness at Noon or only on Bukharin will not receive a good grade. A paper that summarizes one and then summarizes the other will not earn a good grade.
A paper larded with:
(a) long, unnecessary historical digressions,
(b) lengthy quotations,
(c) regurgitations of the lectures will not get a good grade.
Make your comparisons briefly (but clearly) and move on to the next one.
You need not provide formal footnotes, but when you make a point from Koestler, just put (Koestler, p. xxx) to show the source of your information; no need to do this for the Bukharin document.