DEATH OF KAREL CAPEK

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22594, 27 December 1938, Page 9

DEATH OF KAREL CAPEK

FAMOUS CZECH AUTHOR

ORIGINATOR OF THE WORD “ROBOT”

(Received December 26, 9.10 p.m.) PRAGUE, December 25. The death has occurred of Karel Capek, the famous Czech author and dramatist. Karel Capek was born in January, 1890, in a small Bohemian town where his father was a doctor. After studying at the Universities of Prague, Berlin, and Paris he joined the staff of the “Lidpve Noviny,” of which he became literary editor. Capek was producer at the Municipal Theatre in Prague after the war. His first work as a fiction writer was done in collaboration with his eldest brother Joseph, the painter. His first play was “The Robber,’’ and then came another written along with his brother, “Love’s Sport with Destiny.” In 1921 Capek’s great play “R.U.R.” was produced at the Czech National Theatre, establishing him as one of the foremost living dramatiats. It travelled all over the world. “R.U.R.” envisaged a time when humanity had evolved an army of perfect mechanical men. the “Robots,” to do the work of their human inventors. The word “Robot” passed into every language. It was a forecast of the Nazi theory of the mission in life of the individual —a mere cog in the State machine. Capek’s next work was “The Insect Play.” written in collaboration with his brother. It is a pessimistic satire on humanity. Capek then turned to the problem of longevity in “The Macropoulos Secret,” while in “Adam the Creator’ he depicted the extinction of the human race and the attempt to replace it by some newer form of life. One of his latest plays, “Power and Glory,” deals .with the private life of a dictator and his downfall at the moment when war breaks out. He also wrote noxe\s, essays, short stories, a mock-serious book on stagecraft and travel sketches, translated poetry and edited anthologies. Much of his work is known to English readers by the excellent translations of his compatriot, Paul Selver, and several of his plays were produced in England. Capek was the author of several delightful and humorous books on England. Holland. Spain, and Italy, illustrated by his own amusing drawings. He had the art of dressing shrewd criticism in a mantle of engaging artlessness with trimmings of ironic wit so gentle and so friendly as to disarm offence. He was a great friend of the late Dr. Masaryk, the founder of Czechoslovakia.

During Germany’s move for the dismemberment of his country, Capek was one of the signatories to an appeal to the world by Czechoslovak writers. He also broadcast from Prague urging calm and confidence among his compatriots. It was suggested that he should be given a post in the new Czech National Ministry.