Karel Čapek was born on January 9, 1890 in Male Svatonjovice, Austria-Hungary (today in the Czech Republic).
He is one of the most famous Czech writers, playwrights and journalists, known for his science fiction works and the introduction of the term "robot" in his drama "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots), written in 1920.
In 2025, we celebrate the 135th anniversary of Karel Čapek's birth. His work remains a remarkable contribution to literature, philosophy, and the development of science fiction.
The Work of Karel Čapek
Karel Čapek made his first publications in 1907. A large part of his early stories (1908 - 1913), included in the collections “The Garden of Krakonoš“ (1918) and “Shining Depths“ (1916), were written in co-authorship with his brother Josef Čapek.
His reflections on the philosophical problems of the era and the desire to discover the contradictions in the world are reflected in the collections of stories “The Crucifixion“ (1917) and “Musical Stories“ (1921), which are close to the style of expressionism. Čapek's searches coincide with the influence of pragmatism and relativism on the writer's philosophical views - the notion of the "multiplicity" of truths.
Many of his works, including the lyrical comedy "The Robber" (1920), are constructed as a juxtaposition of several "truths". His social-fiction works brought him worldwide fame: the dramas "R.U.R." (1920) - which introduced the word "robot", "The Makropoulos Means" (1922), the novels "The Factory for the Absolute" (1922), "Krakatit" (1923), "The (1924).
Karel Čapek's world fame is also due to the translation of his play “R.U.R.“ into English shortly after it was written. Bernard Shaw was among the first admirers of the play after its English translation appeared. In the early 1920s, he published the travel essays “Letters from Italy“ (1923), “Letters from England“ (1924), etc.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he wrote mainly humorous works in the short genres: the collection “Stories from One Pocket“, “Stories from the Other Pocket“ (1929), the book “Apocrypha“ (1932), the children's book "Dashenka, or the Life of a Puppy" (1933). The philosophical overcoming of relativism in Čapek's thinking is reflected in the trilogy "Hordubal" (1933), "Meteor" (1934), "Ordinary Life" (1934).
The pinnacle of his work is the novel "War with the Salamanders" (1936). The dramas "The White Disease" (1937), "Mother" (1938), etc. are anti-fascist and anti-war in nature.