Karel Capek : In Pursuit of Truth, Tolerance, and Trust

Karel Capek is the most important, the most versatile, as well as the most neglected Czech writer in the 20th century. His plays R.U.R. and From the Life of Insects created a sensation in London in the 1920s. His word "robot" was introduced into the Oxford English Dictionary. As with his numerous plays, his novels, short stories, essays, and travelogues followed in English translations in quick succession until cultural links were broken off by the war. Because of his liberal, anti-war views, Capek's works were blacklisted by the Nazis occupying his homeland, as well as by the Communists later. Both as a writer and as a journalist, Capek sought the truth: in the epistemological sense, how we acquire knowledge; in the moral one, how we apply it to our behavior. Recognizing great differences between individuals, Capek recommended tolerance and mutual trust as the best way towards the improvement of democratic human relations. His philosophical trilogy - Hordubal, Meteor, and An Ordinary Life - is the best artistic expression of these ideas, and, as a journalist, he conveyed them explicitly. Capek's science fiction works show his admiration for the achievements of science and technology - he forecast the use of nuclear power, but strongly warned against its abuse. His readers particularly appreciated his common sense, wit, and humor. Karel Capek was a man who taught through laughter. Presenting a study of all the genres that Capek used, this book - now available in paperback - pays the debt that history owes to Karel Capek.