Karel Čapek (1890–1938)
Author of War with the Newts
About the Author
Karel Capek is best known abroad for his plays, but at home he is also revered as an accomplished novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and writer of political articles. His bitingly satirical novel The War with the Newts (1936) reveals his understanding of the possible consequences of scientific show more advance. The novel Krakatit (1924), about an explosive that could destroy the world, foreshadows the feared potential of a nuclear disaster. In his numerous short stories he depicts the problems of modern life and common people in a humorous and whimsically philosophical fashion. The plays of Karel Capek presage the Theater of the Absurd. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921) was a satire on the machine age. He created the word robot from the Czech noun robota, meaning "work" for the human-made automatons who in that play took over the world, leaving only one human being alive. The Insect Comedy (1921), whose characters are insects, is an ironic fantasy on human weakness. The Makropoulos Secret (1923), later used as the basis for Leos Janacek's opera, was an experimental piece that questioned whether immortality is really desirable. All the plays have been produced successfully in New York. Most deal satirically with the modern machine age or with war. Underlying all his work, though, is a faith in humanity, truth, justice, and democracy, which has made him one of the most beloved of all Czech writers. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Karel Capek is only himself. He is not himself and his brother, who is a separate person. Therefore, do not combine this page with any of the author pages that include both their names. Thank you for your help.
Image credit: Photo © ÖNB/Wien
Series
Works by Karel Čapek
Čapek: Four Plays: R.U.R., The Insect Play, The Makropulos Case and The White Plague (1999) 42 copies
Ratolest a vavřín 6 copies
Adam the Creator 4 copies
ATOMKRAFT PÅ VILLE VEGAR 4 copies
Sloupkový ambit 4 copies
R.U.R. ; Bílá nemoc ; Matka 4 copies
R.U.R. & L'affare Makropulos 3 copies
Üheksa muinasjuttu, kaks üle selle ja veel üks pealekauba Josef Čapekilt : nooremale koolieale 3 copies
Kapesní povídky 3 copies
Üheksa muinasjuttu 3 copies
Фабрика Абсолюта; Белая болезнь 3 copies
Boží muka ; Trapné povídky 3 copies
Loupeznik, RUR, Bila nemoc 3 copies
Věci kolem nás 3 copies
Fabrica de absolut / Krakatit 3 copies
Kertomuksia 2 copies
Ze společné tvorby 2 copies
Poznámky o tvorbě 2 copies
Jak se co dělá ; O lidech 2 copies
Good men still live! ("I am the other Karel Capek.") The odyssey of a professional prisoner (1974) 2 copies
Drobty pod stolem doby : rozhlásky 2 copies
RAZGOVORI S. T. G. MASARIKOM 2 copies
Valitud teosed 2 copies
Racconti tormentosi 2 copies
O umění a kultuře. 2 2 copies
Betörők, bírák, bűvészek és társaik 2 copies
O umění a kultuře. 1 2 copies
Three novels 2 copies
Dramen 2 copies
Csjekkiske eventyr 2 copies
Die fälle des Herrn Janik 1 copy
O umění a kultuře. III. 1 copy
Listy Olze : 1920-1938 1 copy
Fortrolige Smaastykker 1 copy
Ἑφτά ἀλλιώτικες ἱστορίες 1 copy
Apocrifos 1 copy
Neko to inu no ohanashi 1 copy
Történelmi görbe tükör 1 copy
Na břehu dnů 1 copy
Vzrušené tance : [básně] 1 copy
Listy Anielce 1 copy
Psohlavci; zpěvohra o 3 jednánćh (6 obrazech) Dle stejnojmenného románu Aoise Jiráska napsal Karel Šípek.… (2022) 1 copy
Musaion 1 copy
Оповідання з обох кишень 1 copy
Рассказы, очерки, пьесы 1 copy
Grandi Favole 1 copy
Impresii de calatorie 1 copy
Novelle 1 copy
Neuskutecneny dialog 1 copy
Seltsame Geschichten Von Räubern Und Polizisten, Briefträgern Und Prinzessinnen, Drachen Und Anderen Tieren (1976) 1 copy
Marsyas ; Jak se co dělá 1 copy
O umění a kultuře 1 copy
Money 1 copy
Insinööri Prokopin aivokuume 1 copy
Die blaue Chrysantheme und andere Erzählungen — Author — 1 copy
Cesty Evropou 1 copy
Lásky hra osudná 1 copy
Spisy, Cestopisy II 1 copy
Izabrane pripovjetke 1 copy
Czechoslovakia 1 copy
O knihách a čtenářích 1 copy
Contes d'una butxaca 1 copy
System 1 copy
Karel Capek. L'Affaire Selvin : Nouvelles. ePovidky z jedné i druhé kapsye. Traduit du… (1967) 1 copy
Proč nejsem komunistou 1 copy
Jak se co dělá ; Sloupky 1 copy
Marsyas 1 copy
O divadle a tak podobně 1 copy
Masaryh ve Fotofrafii 1 copy
H Απελευθέρωση του Απόλυτου 1 copy
Karel Čapek hovory s tgm 1 copy
Associated Works
The world of law; a treasury of great writing about and in the law, short stories, plays, essays, accounts, letters,… (1960) — Contributor — 54 copies
Spionhistorier fra hele verden — Contributor — 2 copies
The London Mercury Vol Xxvii No 158 December 1932 — Contributor — 1 copy
Verdens beste kriminalhistorier — Contributor — 1 copy
De ¤bedste kriminalhistorier fra hele verden — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Čapek, Karel
- Legal name
- Čapek, Karel
- Other names
- Čapek, Karel
Capek, Karel
Kapeçk, Karel - Birthdate
- 1890-01-09
- Date of death
- 1938-12-25
- Burial location
- Vyšehrad cemetery, Prague, Czech Republic
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Czech Republic
- Country (for map)
- Czech Republic
- Birthplace
- Malé Svatoňovice, Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Place of death
- Prague, Czechoslovakia
- Places of residence
- Malé Svatoňovice, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Stará Huť, Czechoslovakia - Education
- Charles University, Prague
The Sorbonne, Paris, France - Occupations
- journalist
novelist
dramatist
short-story writer
playwright
essayist - Relationships
- Čapek, Josef (brother)
Masaryk, Tomáš Garrigue (friend)
Langer, František (colleague)
Poláček, Karel (friend) - Organizations
- PEN Club Czechoslovakia
- Disambiguation notice
- Karel Capek is only himself. He is not himself and his brother, who is a separate person. Therefore, do not combine this page with any of the author pages that include both their names. Thank you for your help.
Members
Discussions
SF book/short story possibly Asimov - material reduced until only god is left in Name that Book (January 2017)
Nine Fairy Tales and One More Thrown in for Good Measure, Karel Čapek in World Reading Circle (July 2013)
Reviews
Lists
Best Dystopias (1)
Reading Globally (1)
Plays I Like (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 226
- Also by
- 34
- Members
- 6,209
- Popularity
- #3,950
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 151
- ISBNs
- 555
- Languages
- 31
- Favorited
- 26
An eccentric inventor, Rossum, has discovered some sort of — unspecified — analogue to biological material, and his son has found a way to turn this into a successful commercial product, manufacturing human-like workers who incorporate all the useful features of real humans, like endurance, strength, versatility and ability to work autonomously, but omit ‘wasteful’ characteristics like personality, capacity for enjoyment, and the ability to reproduce. Of course they are a runaway success, humans are freed from the necessity to do unpleasant work, and everybody is moderately happy, until the robots — inevitably — do develop a capacity to seek greater fulfilment in their lives, and it all goes horribly wrong.
Interesting to see all this worked out from a 1920s perspective, long before the age of computers and all the rest, and it’s obviously meant as another warning about the dehumanising effects of 20th century industrial society, in the same spirit as Metropolis and Modern Times, but it’s executed as rather dull science fiction with human characters who are almost as predictable and mechanical in the author’s hands as their robot counterparts. I think it can safely rest on the shelf as the answer to that quiz question.… (more)