Karel Čapek

Ve své hře z roku 1937 ukazuje Čapek svou obavu z fašismu a předvídá vypuknutí války. Hlavní postava, soucitný doktor Galén, objeví lék na nebezpečnou nemoc, léčí však jen chudé. Mocné muže – politiky a průmyslníky - léčit odmítá, dokud od nich nedosáhne příslibu, že zruší zbrojení a nevyhlásí válku. Přes veškerou jeho snahu však události naberou tragický spád.

Like traditional fairy tales, Capek's fantastic parables contain marvels and supernatural beings, fairies, elves, and talking animals; their plots stem from folk traditions where innocence triumphs. At the same time, Capek infuses these tales with dazzling wordplay, an abundant sense of the absurd, and surprising futuristic twists. Fact and imagination, satire and fantasy are blended so skillfully that the line between logic and plausible nonsense is nearly indiscernible. These are not just children's tales but modern parables.

Como teria sido o tribunal que condenou Prometeu por roubar o fogo dos deuses? Que resmungos trocaria um velho casal da Idade da Pedra lamentando a decadência das novas gerações e a falta de perspectivas da humanidade? Quais seriam os comentários maldosos que corriam entre os soldados gregos no cerco de Troia? O que um esforçado padeiro de Jerusalém diria sobre Cristo e seu milagre dos pães? Perguntas como essas recebem aqui respostas geniais na forma de contos curtos, sutis e reflexivos, com uma ironia libertária que muitas vezes lembra os esquetes anarquizantes do grupo inglês Monthy Python. Mas não é só um humor fino e uma prosa envolvente que estas narrativas nos oferecem. Nos 29 textos que compõem a coletânea — elaborados no período entre as duas guerras mundiais, às vésperas da ascensão do nazismo —, o célebre escritor tcheco Karel Čapek (1890-1938) percorre um amplo arco que vai da paródia burlesca à parábola alegórica. Retomando episódios e personagens históricos, míticos e literários de um ponto de vista inusitado, estas histórias apócrifas questionam o senso comum, os preconceitos e o totalitarismo, mas deixam sempre uma brecha para rirmos e sorrirmos de nós mesmos.

Drama Matka je jedno z protiválečných antifašistických děl Karla Čapka z roku 1938, jehož hlavní hrdinkou je matka, která kvůli různým válečným konfliktům ztratí manžela i čtyři starší syny, ale nakonec pošle do války i toho posledního, aby bojoval proti nepříteli, jenž zabíjí nevinné děti.

Karel Capek (1890-1938), one of the greatest Czechoslovakian authors of the century, and who mastered numerous forms of writing, was particularly inventive with the genre of mystery, detective, and crime fiction. In Tales from Two Pockets, however, Capek took the crime story and related forms of the genre to new levels, weaving strange, short, and powerful psychological studies of ordinary human beings caught in extraordinary and improbable circumstances. Through these intense but always fun stories, Capek moves brilliantly but lightly in the philosophical realms of human existence, exploring the nature of crime and justice, even the very concept of truth.

A visionary work of science fiction that introduced the word "robot"Written in 1920, premiered in Prague in 1921, and first performed in New York in 1922—garnered worldwide acclaim for its author and popularized the word robot. Mass-produced as efficient laborers to serve man, Capek’s Robots are an android product—they remember everything but think of nothing new. But the Utopian life they provide ultimately lacks meaning, and the humans they serve stop reproducing. When the Robots revolt, killing all but one of their masters, they must strain to learn the secret of self-duplication. It is not until two Robots fall in love and are christened “Adam” and “Eve” by the last surviving human that Nature emerges triumphant.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

R.U.R., which stands for Rossum’s Universal Robots, is a 1920 science fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people, called roboti or robots, from synthetic organic matter. Unlike the present conception of robots, they are living flesh and blood creatures rather than machinery, and are closer to the modern idea of clones. They seem happy to work for humans at first, but a robot rebellion leads to the extinction of the human race.

Karel Čapek was one of the most influential Czech writers, famous for introducing the word Robot into modern usage.

Popudem k napsání tohoto dramatu z r. 1937 byl podle autorových slov "konflikt ideálů demokracie s ideály neomezených a ctižádostivých diktatur". Jistou zemi napadla epidemie bílé nemoci. Lékař Galén proti ní vynalezl účinný lék. Lék vydá jen tehdy, když se vlády zaváží, že již nikdy nebudou válčit. Hlava státu, v němž bílá nemoc vypukla - výbojný maršál - chce dobývat svět a před ničím se nezastavuje. Bílou nemocí je napaden hlavní zbrojař země baron Krüg. Galén jej odmítá léčit, dokud nebudou splněny jeho podmínky...

Válka s Mloky se dlouho rozvíjí jako koláž novinových výstřižků a jiných skvěle parodovaných záznamů o podivuhodných Mlocích, kteří se naučí mluvit, pracovat, chovat se jako lidé, chybí jim jen schopnost tvořivě myslet. Za zdánlivě pouze zábavnou a vtipnou satirou na novinové senzace se postupně odkrývá to, co Čapek považoval za největší nebezpečí pro lidskou civilizaci. Totiž snahu vydělat na všem, co slibuje zisk, i kdyby to vzápětí mělo přinést zkázu. Také potřebu většiny lidí usnadnit si život, pokud možno nepracovat a jen si užívat, jen se bavit a nedomýšlet nic z toho, co se jeví jako hrozba vší kultuře a nakonec i existenci lidstva samého.

Man discovers a species of giant, intelligent newts and learns to exploit them so successfully that the newts gain skills and arms enough to challenge man's place at the top of the animal kingdom. Along the way, Karel Capek satirizes science, runaway capitalism, fascism, journalism, militarism, even Hollywood.