Karel Čapek

by B. R. Bradbrook

"Karel Capek is the most important, most versatile, but also the most neglected Czech writer in the twentieth century. The plays R.U.R. and "From the Life of Insects" created a sensation in London in the 1920s; his word "robot" was introduced into the Oxford English Dictionary. Capek's other plays - as well as novels, short stories, essays, travelogues and causeries - followed in English translations in quick succession until cultural links were broken off by the war."--BOOK JACKET. "Because of his liberal, anti-war views Capek's works were blacklisted by the Nazis occupying his homeland, as well as later by the communists. Presenting a study of all genres Capek used, B.R.B's book pays the debt history owes to Capek."--BOOK JACKET.