The letters described Europe's oldest democracy for the benefit of the citizens of Europe's newest, and Capek was acutely aware of the deep-down affinity between his countrymen and the English.
'There was no writer like him... He made it possible to actually
invent worlds, and with laughter into the bargain. This prophetic
assurance was mixed with a brand-new surrealistic humour, and it
was honed to hard-edged social satire, still a unique combination'.
- Arthur Miller.
Karel Capek (1890-1938) was one of the most original Czech writers
of the 1920s and 30s, whose works were the inspiration for much of
the science fiction of Europe and America. Endlessly inventive and
extraordinarily prescient, full of humour and wit, his plays
explore and defend man's humanity. He is known for RUR where the
robot - an idea Capek was the first to invent - gradually takes
over all aspects of human existence except procreation; The Insect
play, a satirical fable in which beetles, butterflies and ants give
dramatic form to different philosophies of life; The Makropulos
Case, which examines human mortality, finally celebrating the
average lifespan and The White Plague, a savage and anguished
satire against fascist dictatorship and the virus of inhumanity.
Geoffrey Newsome is the author of the Czech textbook Correct Those
Mistakes.
"'They don't make writers like that any more.' - Sunday Telegraph; 'His thoughts and descriptions remain fresh and provocative.' - New Statesman; 'To Capek, the English were odder than they knew. No one could have made a more charming study of their insularity' - Country Life"
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