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.
Series
Works by Karel Čapek
Nine Fairy Tales: and One More Thrown in for Good Measure (European Classics) (1990) 158 copies, 3 reviews
Čapek: Four Plays: R.U.R., The Insect Play, The Makropulos Case and The White Plague (1999) 46 copies, 2 reviews
A FÁBRICA DE ROBÔS 11 copies
Ratolest a vavřín 6 copies
Adam the Creator 5 copies
ATOMKRAFT PÅ VILLE VEGAR 5 copies
Loupežník ; R.U.R. ; Bílá nemoc 4 copies
Velika doktorska bajka 4 copies
R.U.R. ; Bílá nemoc ; Matka 4 copies
Üheksa muinasjuttu 3 copies
Ze společné tvorby 3 copies
Masaryh ve Fotofrafii 3 copies
Das Jahr im Garten: Illustriert von Katja Spitzer | Eine hinreißende Liebeserklärung ans Gärtnern (Insel-Bücherei) (2025) 3 copies
Üheksa muinasjuttu, kaks üle selle ja veel üks pealekauba Josef Čapekilt : nooremale koolieale 3 copies
Фабрика Абсолюта; Белая болезнь 3 copies
Seltsame Geschichten von Räubern und Polizisten, Briefträgern und Prinzessinen, Drachen und anderen Tiere - bk525 (1976) 3 copies
Racconti tormentosi 3 copies
R.U.R. & L'affare Makropulos 3 copies
Listy Anielce 2 copies
Рассказы 2 copies
Poznámky o tvorbě 2 copies
Jak se co dělá ; O lidech 2 copies
Drobty pod stolem doby : rozhlásky 2 copies
Valitud teosed 2 copies
O umění a kultuře. 2 2 copies
Betörők, bírák, bűvészek és társaik 2 copies
Three novels 2 copies
Tsjekkiske eventyr 2 copies
Good men still live! ("I am the other Karel Capek.") The odyssey of a professional prisoner (1974) 2 copies
Dramen 2 copies
Válka s mloky ; Krakatit ; Povídky z jedné kapsy ; Povídky z druhé kapsy ; Bajky a podpovídky ; Proč nejsem komunistou (2009) 2 copies
O umění a kultuře. 1 2 copies
Mr. Havlena's Verdict 2 copies
Dacīte, jeb kucēna dzīves stāsts, ko bērniem uzrakstījis un uzzīmējis aculiecinieks Karels Čapeks 1 copy
Bajke 1 copy
Majka 1 copy
Devatero pohádek 1 copy
العرافة 1 copy
Spisy XX. - Hovory s TGM 1 copy
Оповідання з другої кишені 1 copy
Рассказы, очерки, пьесы 1 copy
CUENTOS POLICIACOS 1 copy
Grandi Favole 1 copy
Musaion 1 copy
Rok ogrodnika 1 copy
Abszoltum-gyr 1 copy
Фабрика за Абсолют 1 copy
Karel Capek. L'Affaire Selvin : Nouvelles. ePovidky z jedné i druhé kapsye. Traduit du tchèque par Maryse Poulette (1967) 1 copy, 1 review
O umění a kultuře. III. 1 copy
Stāsti no abām kabatām 1 copy
How a Play is Produced 1 copy
Marsyas ; Jak se co dělá 1 copy
The Makropolous Secret 1 copy
SEMENDERLERLE SAVAS 1 copy
Apócrifos 1 copy
Money 1 copy
System 1 copy
O divadle a tak podobně 1 copy
Lásky hra osudná 1 copy
O umění a kultuře 1 copy
Izabrane pripovjetke 1 copy
Cesty Evropou 1 copy
O knihách a čtenářích 1 copy
Elbeszélések 1 copy
Jak se co dělá ; Sloupky 1 copy
Impresii de calatorie 1 copy
Neuskutecneny dialog 1 copy
Običan život 1 copy
Ἑφτά ἀλλιώτικες ἱστορίες 1 copy
Neko to inu no ohanashi 1 copy
Czechoslovakia 1 copy
Na břehu dnů 1 copy
Vzrušené tance : [básně] 1 copy
Novelle 1 copy
Történelmi görbe tükör 1 copy
Money and other stories 1 copy
Insinööri Prokopin aivokuume 1 copy
Proč nejsem komunistou 1 copy
L'affaire Selvin 1 copy
Marsyas 1 copy
Die fälle des Herrn Janik 1 copy
Associated Works
My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love (1998) — Contributor — 100 copies, 1 review
The World of Law, Volumes I-II: The Law in Literature, The Law as Literature (1960) — Contributor — 54 copies
Janáček : The Makropulos case {1995 television film} {Glyndebourne} (1995) — Author of original play — 6 copies
Janáček : The Makropulos affair {revised edition} {score : vocal : critical} (2014) — Original author — 2 copies
Janáček : The Makropulos affair {revised edition} {score : study : critical} (2016) — Original author — 1 copy
The London Mercury Vol Xxvii No 158 December 1932 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Čapek, Karel
- Legal name
- Čapek, Karel
- Other names
- Čapek, Karel
Capek, Karel
Kapeçk, Karel - Birthdate
- 1890
1890-01-09 - Date of death
- 1938-12-25
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Charles University, Prague
Sorbonne University - Occupations
- journalist
novelist
dramatist
short story writer
playwright
essayist - Organizations
- PEN Club Czechoslovakia
- Relationships
- Čapek, Josef (brother)
Masaryk, Tomáš Garrigue (friend)
Langer, František (colleague)
Poláček, Karel (friend) - Nationality
- Czechoslovakia
- Birthplace
- Malé Svatoňovice, Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Places of residence
- Malé Svatoňovice, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Stará Huť, Czechoslovakia - Place of death
- Prague, Czechoslovakia
- Burial location
- Vyšehrad cemetery, Prague, Czech Republic
- Map Location
- Czech Republic
- 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
A first-rate satire, on a par with Mark Twain or Kurt Vonnegut. There are jabs at fascism, sure, given that it was written in late-1930s Czechoslovakia, but also communism, capitalism, and just about any ‑ism people in their benighted self-interest and ideological blinders can invent. It could have ended with the penultimate chapter and been perfectly satisfying, but the final chapter, the metafictional “The Author Talks to Himself,” is the icing on the cake.
“The world will probably show more disintegrate and become inundated—but at least it will do so for universally accepted political and economic reasons, at least it will do so with the aid of science, engineering and public opinion, with the application of all human ingenuity!” show less
“The world will probably show more disintegrate and become inundated—but at least it will do so for universally accepted political and economic reasons, at least it will do so with the aid of science, engineering and public opinion, with the application of all human ingenuity!” show less
Four plays from the great Czech playwright. These plays are a condemnation of modernity, and while I may disagree with some of his conclusions, his way of arriving there is artistic and well drawn out. My particular favorite would be the Insect Play, in which the interactions of insects illustrate the failings of the modern military-industrial complex, and attempt to critique the dog-eat-dog world of business. On the latter point, however, he mostly manages to demonstrate that nature is not show more always such a friendly place; it is very easy for someone to miss the point entirely. The military point, demonstrated by an ant colony, is a much easier pick up. A good, solid entry into the play genre; it's a shame these plays are not done more often, though I do recognize some difficult staging. It would probably be easier to stage now, in the era of the modern science it criticizes, then in the time they were written. Highly recommended, even though somewhat dated. show less
Another excellent satire on capitalism, international politics, and, above all, religion, from Karel Čapek. A newly invented atomic engine, the Karburetor, produces near infinite energy and in the process destroys matter and releases its innate godly essence, the Absolute, leading to overproduction, market crashes, and religious wars on a global scale. Some gems of wisdom:
“Gentlemen, in the name of Heaven, do not imagine that the Church brings God into the world. The Church merelyshow more
confines Him and controls Him.”show less
“We’ll infect the whole industrial and financial world with God, and preserve only our own country as an island of civilization and honest labour free from God. It is a patriotic duty, so to speak, and besides, we have our own factories to consider.”
“Of course, in our own orderly and (one might well say) blessed times of general scarcity, we simply cannot imagine the social evil that boundless plenty could be.”
“[E]ven if the world’s to be brought to an end, the thing to do is to destroy the universe first and take the Government offices afterwards.”
“Do not rob the people of that time of their only boast—that what they went through was the Greatest War. We, however, know that in a few decades we shall succeed in arranging an even greater war, for in this respect also the human race is progressing ever upward and on.”
This collection of 29 stories (most no more than three or four pages) starts off quite humorously; Capek is a master of satire and the introductory story, “The Moving Business,” tells about a entrepreneur on the make, someone whose brilliant idea for a new business is all about escaping our problems by moving into the past. Literally.
“Let's say some gentleman comes to me who wants to move somewhere out of this damned century; he's had it up to the eyeballs, he says, right up to the show more eyeballs with wars, the arms race, bolsheviks, fascism and, for that matter, progress in general. I let him go on cussing, and then I say: Please be so good, sir, as to select some other era; here are some brochures for several different centuries.”
The next few stories are amusing and entertaining, and gave me the impression that this would be light entertainment. Most of the stories (written in the 1920s and 1930s) are set among the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and even a few within the bounds of a few plays by Shakespeare. But the humor ebbs, increasingly displaced by sharp, even savage, satire. Cavemen complain about the “generation gap”; villagers argue about who is to blame for Attila the Hun’s approach; a baker claims that Jesus’s miracle of loaves and fishes is putting bakers out of business; the Greeks argue about the real reason for going to war with Troy. Capek’s achievement, in part, is his ability to use unexpected settings to pose hard questions about contemporary and timeless issues. He questions the meaning and value of subjects like wisdom, justice, religion, patriotism, and progress, doing so clearly and in surprisingly entertaining—almost modern—language. show less
“Let's say some gentleman comes to me who wants to move somewhere out of this damned century; he's had it up to the eyeballs, he says, right up to the show more eyeballs with wars, the arms race, bolsheviks, fascism and, for that matter, progress in general. I let him go on cussing, and then I say: Please be so good, sir, as to select some other era; here are some brochures for several different centuries.”
The next few stories are amusing and entertaining, and gave me the impression that this would be light entertainment. Most of the stories (written in the 1920s and 1930s) are set among the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and even a few within the bounds of a few plays by Shakespeare. But the humor ebbs, increasingly displaced by sharp, even savage, satire. Cavemen complain about the “generation gap”; villagers argue about who is to blame for Attila the Hun’s approach; a baker claims that Jesus’s miracle of loaves and fishes is putting bakers out of business; the Greeks argue about the real reason for going to war with Troy. Capek’s achievement, in part, is his ability to use unexpected settings to pose hard questions about contemporary and timeless issues. He questions the meaning and value of subjects like wisdom, justice, religion, patriotism, and progress, doing so clearly and in surprisingly entertaining—almost modern—language. show less
Lists
Reading Globally (1)
Plays I Like (1)
SF Masterworks (1)
Best Dystopias (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 257
- Also by
- 49
- Members
- 7,180
- Popularity
- #3,415
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 191
- ISBNs
- 619
- Languages
- 32
- Favorited
- 28
