On 2007-04-04 Jaroslav Melgr, Colorado wrote: It´s great to see Capek´s work is still read in other languages. This book is a good mix of his writings along with helpful comments about the works as well as the author himself. It´s a bit strange to read it in English after having read it in Czech first, but I still think that even the translated works give the reader a good flavor of Capek´s work, his thoughts and literary genius.
The book is a sampler of Capek´s work. The first section has three works from science and utopia; RUR (the work that introduced the word ´robot´ to the world), The Makropoulos Secret and Inventions. Second part offers a selection from ´The Normal and the Uncanny´. Third section is about elusive knowledge and has a variety of short stories and his Apocryphal tales. The one about ´The Five Loaves´ is a very interesting and a very clever story about bakers, who lived in the time of Jesus and their view of Him. This is truly a great story and a different way to look at Jesus and his times.
Part 4 has a variety of tales and works and it´s titled ´The Measure of Man.´ Part 5 is called ´Toward the Radical Center´ and it includes four works; ´Let´s Be Revolutionary´, ´Children of the Poor´, ´The Mother´ (this is truly one of Capek´s gems) and ´At the Crossroads of Europe.´ These last pieces are some of Capek´s great works.
For the benefit of the English-speaking reader, not familiar with all of Capek´s works I wish it included ´Hordubal´, which is truly a great piece of literature and Capek´s essay ´Why I am not a Communist´ -- this is an awesome work! Capek wrote up to the outbreak of WWII and much of his work is in reaction to Hitler´s nazi machine, which was just getting going at that time. As such, some folks may portray him as a liberal, but this last essay is pretty good picture of Capek´s personal philosophy. You can see it on http://capek.misto.cz/, this site has an English section and this essay is translated there. It also has other works that are worth reading.
I highly recommend Capek´s work to anyone interested in great literature and the evolution of thought in the early 20th century.
. And summed up by saying Great sample of Capek´s work. Currently Toward the Radical Center: A Karel Capek Reader has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
Toward the Radical Center: A Karel Capek Reader can also be found in the following searches:
Peter Kussi claimed Capek´s best plays, stories, and columns take us from the social contributions of clumsy people to dramatic meditations on mortality and commitment. The Reader includes a new and, at last, complete English translation of R.U.R., the play that introduced the literary robot.
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