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KAREL CAPEK AND HIS UNIVERSAL MESSAGE

K. Slamova

Abstract

In this paper I am going to focus on the work of the Czech writer Karel Capek, who lived in the first half of the 20th century, as it was perceived by the Czech exile literary critics and Western scholars specialized in Czech studies. This author enjoyed great popularity in Britain in the period between the two world wars, but his works had gradually fallen into oblivion over time, perhaps except for his play RUR, which enriched the English language with the word robot, and the novel War with the Newts. I am going to analyse Apocryphal Stories, mostly philosophical short stories in which the author gives a contemporary tone to a biblical, historical or literary characters, humanizing and updating the hero or heroine. The paper deals with aspects that give CapekВ’s work a permanent value, and studies the writerВ’s creative method and his approach to searching for the truth. Another subject of analysis presented in the paper is CapekВ’s novel War with the Newts, reflecting concerns about the development in Europe during the years preceding the Second World War. It tries to find a deeper philosophical subtext of the novel, its universal validity, and the extent to which it is still current. The paper also finds a connection between CapekВ’s philosophy of life and ecology.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017/62/S27.065

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