Karel Čapek

Karel Čapek (January 9th 1890 - December 25th 1938) is one of the most important writers of Czechoslovakia of the 20th century. He invented the word Robot which appeared for the first time in its work R.U.R. (Rossum' S Universal Robots) .

In another of its works, the war of the salamanders , Čapek painted with a black and merry humor the geopolitics of its time, and turns in particular in derision the National-socialisme. Furious, Hitler will send agents of the Gestapo to deal personally with Čapek, as of the first days of the invasion of Czechoslovakia; Čapek being already deceased a year before, it is his/her brother Josef who will finish in concentration camp.

Biography

It is born in Malé Svatoňovice, in Bohemia. It makes its secondary studies with Hradec Králové which it must leave for Brno following the discovery of the circle anti-Austrian of which it formed part. He studies with the faculty of philosophy of the Université Charles at the University of Friedrich Wilhelm to Berlin and with the Faculty of Arts of the Université of Paris. Its thesis, constant in 1915, carries on the objective esthetic methods in reference to the applied arts .

It is reformed because of problems of back which will pose problem to him all its life, and is exempted to take part in the engagements at the time of the First World War which nevertheless influenced it and inspired it. In 1917, he is tutor of the son of the count Lazansky then journalist for the newspapers Národní listy (1917-1921), Nebojsa (1918-1920), Lidové noviny (since 1921).

In the years 1925-1933 he is president of Czechoslovakian PEN club.

August 16th, 1935, it Marie with the actress Olga Scheinpflugova, met at the summer 1920.

In 1938, the annexation of the Sudètes following the Accords of Munich by the troops Nazis deeply assign the nationalist democrat who it is; its health worsens quickly and he dies of pneumonia on December 25th of the same year has Prague. He is the third on the list of Gestapo of the people to be stopped and only its early death delivers it tragic destiny which awaited it and assigned his/her Josef brother.

Having published an article Why I am not communist in 1924, it is put at the index lasting the years of post-war period by the Communist regime which considers of an evil eye this anti-totalitarian author.

Works

Karel Čapek wrote with humor and intelligence on a large variety of subjects. Its work is not only known for its exact description of reality but for its studies on the Czech language and will become immortal well to have created Science-fiction before it becomes a literary kind has whole share.

Prose

Zářivé hlubiny jiné prózy (depths radiant and of another prose - 1916 - collection of news in collaboration with his/her Josef brother)
Krakatit (1922) a film of it is drawn in 1948
Továrna Na absolutno (1922) - the Factory from Absolute, transl. Jean Danes, Ibolya Virag, 1999
(the year of the gardener - 1929 - illustrated by his/her brother Joseph Capek)
Apokryfy (Accounts apocryphal books - 1932)
Hordubal (1933)
Obyčejný život (a simple life - 1934)
Povětroň (the Meteor - 1934)
Válka S Mloky (1936) - the War of the Salamanders, transl. Claudia Ancelot, Ibolya Virag, 1996
Život has dilo skladatele Foltýna (life and the work of the Foltyn type-setter - 1939 - unfinished)

Theater, scenarios, booklets

Loupežník (the Brigand - 1920)
R.U.R. (Rossum' S Universal Robots) (1920)
Ze života hmyzu (Of the life of the insects - 1921 - in collaboration with his/her Josef brother)
Věc Makropulos (the Makropoulos business - 1922) - booklet put in music by Leoš Janáček
Adam Stvořitel (Adam the Creator - 1927 - in collaboration with his/her Josef brother)
Bílá nemoc (the white Disease - 1937)
Matka (the Mother, translated into French under the title: The Time when we live - 1938)

Collection of articles, interviews, various

Jak vzniká divadelní will hra has průvodce Po zákulisí (How a play puts itself in scene or the guide behind the slides - 1925 - in collaboration with his/her Josef brother)
Hovory S T.G. Masarykem (Discussions with T.G. Masaryk - 1928-1935; 3 vol.)
Zahradníkův rok (the year of the gardener - 1929)
Marsyas čili Na okraji literatury (Marsyas or at the edges of the world of the literature - 1931)
O věcech obecných aneb Zóon politikon (Of the political things or Zoon Politikon - 1932)

Translations

Like all the Czechoslovakian Intelligentsia of its time, Čapek is francophile and takes part in the diffusion of the French culture in its country.

Apollinaire: Pásmo (Zone)
Molière: Sganarelle (ibid)
Francouzská poezie nové doby (contemporary French Poetry - 1920)

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