R.U.R.

Karel Čapek (Chop'-ek) (1890—1938)

Born 9 January 1890 in Male Svatonice in Bohemia, which was a part of Austria at the time, he majored in biology at the Caroline University in Prague and became a leading story writer, novelist, playwright, columnist, and children's author in Czechoslovakia during the 1920s and 30s. His plays appeared on Broadway soon after their first production in Prague. Nearly all his major and many minor works were immediately translated into English and into many other languages as well.

Bibliography:

The Absolute at Large (1922, in Czech)

Apocryphal Tales (1945, in Czech)

An Atomic Phantasy: Krakatit (1924 in Czech)

Nine Fairy Tales: And One More Thrown in for Good Measure (Illus. by Josef Čapek)

R.U.R. (1920, first performed 1922)

Tales from Two Pockets: Short story collection, Mystery

War With the Newts (1936, in Czech) one of the great anti-utopian satires of the twentieth century. Čapek satirizes science, runaway capitalism, fascism, journalism, militarism, even Hollywood. "A bracing parody of totalitarianism and technological overkill, one of the most amusing and provocative books in its genre." —Philadelphia Inquirer

Tales With T.G. Masaryk (Biography of Masaryk, founder of Czechoslovakia)

Three Novels: Hordubal, Meteor, An Ordinary Life

Toward the Radical Center: A Karel Čapek Reader

Related Works:

Karel Čapek: In Pursuit of Truth, Tolerance, and Trust (1997)

The Narratives of Čapek and Čexov (1996).

On Karel Čapek: A Michigan Slavic Colloquium (1992).

Ivan Klima, Karel Čapek: Life and Work (2002)