Cockpit
by Jerzy Kosiński
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From the acclaimed author of Being There and The Painted Bird, this "dazzling succession of . . . erotic anecdotes . . . brilliantly def ies] the limitations of its form" (The New York Times Book Review).An agent known only as Tarden is a former operative of the mysterious security agency "the Service." He has erased himself from all dossiers and transcripts. Now a fugitive, he moves across the landscape free of identity, in search of adventure and intrigue. But Tarden is a man of many show more disguises, and he is alternately avenger and savior, judge and trickster, as he enters the lives of others, forcing them into the arena of his judgment. In Cockpit, Kosinski is at his most startling and powerful, stripping away pretension and illusions of security to reveal the source of real strength within."Jerzy Kosinki's work glistens with social observation and psychological apprehension. Not since Conrad has an Eastern European found so profound a voice in the English language." --Time"A vicious peepshow-parable about a world we reluctantly recognize now and then." --Kirkus Reviews show lessTags
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What a weird book! I had no idea in what direction the story was heading at its the beginning. That, in itself, I thought was intriguing. It actually turned into a book that now is hard to describe!
After reading a while, I found the book to be more like a collection of linked, imaginative, finely-crafted vignettes with the main character Tarden, a secret agent of sorts, taking on various identities and living in different places, telling them in a continuing narrative with only a bold capital letter to separate them. Each episode had its own sexual theme or a different dark, raw topic which were disturbing in various ways, but all I found fascinating to read.
I liked this book very much. I thought it was well written and compelling. I show more also was happy that each episode was short enough to read in one sitting. However, I found it creepy to learn while reading this book that ultimately this author ended his own life through suicide—something to which he alluded in the book’s own narrative. show less
After reading a while, I found the book to be more like a collection of linked, imaginative, finely-crafted vignettes with the main character Tarden, a secret agent of sorts, taking on various identities and living in different places, telling them in a continuing narrative with only a bold capital letter to separate them. Each episode had its own sexual theme or a different dark, raw topic which were disturbing in various ways, but all I found fascinating to read.
I liked this book very much. I thought it was well written and compelling. I show more also was happy that each episode was short enough to read in one sitting. However, I found it creepy to learn while reading this book that ultimately this author ended his own life through suicide—something to which he alluded in the book’s own narrative. show less
My favorite Kosinski novel. His characters struggle with alienation, but despite their many failures, come through it all looking fairly heroic.
A fertile imagination and dry realistic style propel this misanthropic power trip. Fascinating and repellent at the same time.
Paul Auster + Joe Frank + De Sade = Cockpit
Paul Auster + Joe Frank + De Sade = Cockpit
This book was quite a letdown after Kosinski's marvelous "Being There", but this strange and darkly sexual book about Tarden, a loner who has styled himself into the ultimate secret agent, with motivations and agendas of his own, is intriguing and spotted with moments of brilliance. Still a letdown, though.
Esta novela de Jerzy Kosinski, publicada en español por la Editorial Pomaire en 1978, es una de sus obras más perturbadoras y cínicas. Fiel al estilo del autor de El pájaro pintado, explora la amoralidad y la manipulación humana.
La historia es narrada por Tarden, un antiguo agente de una misteriosa agencia de inteligencia llamada "el Servicio". Tras borrar su identidad de todos los registros oficiales, Tarden vive como un fugitivo invisible que se desplaza por el mundo usando múltiples disfraces y nombres falsos.
A través de una serie de anécdotas y episodios inconexos, Tarden revela cómo utiliza su entrenamiento y su falta de escrúpulos para entrar en las vidas de desconocidos, actuando como un "juez y vengador" arbitrario. show more Desde trampas eróticas hasta experimentos sociales crueles, el protagonista manipula el entorno para demostrar su poder y la fragilidad de las ilusiones ajenas.
Cockpit no es un thriller de espionaje convencional; es un estudio psicológico sobre el control y el voyerismo. Kosinski utiliza una prosa fría y precisa para describir actos de una crueldad clínica, lo que genera una sensación de incomodidad constante en el lector.
La obra funciona como una parábola sobre un mundo donde la identidad es una máscara y el poder es la única moneda de cambio. La crítica la ha comparado con una mezcla de "Robin Hood creado por Gógol y narrado por Kafka", destacando su inventiva casi técnica pero moralmente desconcertante. Es un libro que desnuda la pretensión social para revelar los instintos más básicos y salvajes. show less
La historia es narrada por Tarden, un antiguo agente de una misteriosa agencia de inteligencia llamada "el Servicio". Tras borrar su identidad de todos los registros oficiales, Tarden vive como un fugitivo invisible que se desplaza por el mundo usando múltiples disfraces y nombres falsos.
A través de una serie de anécdotas y episodios inconexos, Tarden revela cómo utiliza su entrenamiento y su falta de escrúpulos para entrar en las vidas de desconocidos, actuando como un "juez y vengador" arbitrario. show more Desde trampas eróticas hasta experimentos sociales crueles, el protagonista manipula el entorno para demostrar su poder y la fragilidad de las ilusiones ajenas.
Cockpit no es un thriller de espionaje convencional; es un estudio psicológico sobre el control y el voyerismo. Kosinski utiliza una prosa fría y precisa para describir actos de una crueldad clínica, lo que genera una sensación de incomodidad constante en el lector.
La obra funciona como una parábola sobre un mundo donde la identidad es una máscara y el poder es la única moneda de cambio. La crítica la ha comparado con una mezcla de "Robin Hood creado por Gógol y narrado por Kafka", destacando su inventiva casi técnica pero moralmente desconcertante. Es un libro que desnuda la pretensión social para revelar los instintos más básicos y salvajes. show less
Apr 7, 2026Spanish
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Author Information
32+ Works 8,833 Members
Jerzy Kosinski was born in Lodz, Poland on June 8, 1933. In 1939, he was separated from his family when the Nazi's invaded Poland and he wandered through villages for six years, surviving by his wits. In shock, he remained mute from the age of nine to fourteen. He was finally reunited with his family. He moved to the United States in 1957. His show more first novel, The Painted Bird, was published in 1965 and received France's Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. His second novel, Steps, won the National Book Award in 1969. His other novels included Being There, The Devil Tree, Cockpit, and Blind Date. Blind Date tells the story of the Manson killings, which is where he would have been if he had not been stuck in JFK Airport dealing with improperly tagged luggage. He committed suicide on May 3, 1991 at the age of 57. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1975
- Important places
- Poland
- Epigraph
- But I dwell now well in the making of the future. Little by little, time is kneading me into shape. A child is not frightened at the thought of being patiently turned into an old man. I too play my games. I count the dials, t... (show all)he levers, the buttons, the knobs of my kingdom.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras - Dedication
- For Katherina, the sound and touch of my life
- First words
- Although we have known each other for a long time and have spoken often, we have never spoken intimately.
- Quotations
- Because of his Middle European accent, the media labeled the substance “Polish poison”.
As a result of the circumstances under which I left the Service, I cannot join any professional, social or political group. Yet, to live alone, depending on no one, and to keep up lasting associations, is like living in a cel... (show all)l; and I have never lost my desire to be as free as I was as a child, almost flying, drawn on by my wheel.
I saw before me a town whose sole purpose was to provide a place where people could sit in the sun, their lives slowly evaporating like moisture in the desert. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The iron flaps of the tank's turret are rusted open, steadily washed over by the waves; its corroded gun defiantly trains on trenches and machine-gun nests, long buried in the sands of a deserted beach.
- Original language
- English
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- Reviews
- 5
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- (3.55)
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- 10 — Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 26
- ASINs
- 10
