Bücher von Karel Capek

Prokop is a scientist who has a passion for the chemistry of explosives; this passion flowers in the discovery of Krakatit, a new explosive infinitely more powerful than any previously known, an explosive capable of wrecking the world; the small box of Krakatit is stolen; Prokop, in a panic of fear lest his terrible discovery do irreparable harm to humankind, begins frantically to chase what faint clues he has."Krakatit is a book to own and not to borrow."-The Central European Observer"The book is an adventure story, a fantastic mystery tale; but fundamentally it is a tour de force, the literary representation of the idea of explosion."-Time"The story rushes on tearing wheels like a high power car."-The Virginia Quarterly"This is a highly explosive book and must be handled with the utmost care."-The Slavonic Review"¿apek's dramatic instinct is unerring; he extracts from ­every situation an essence of terror, pity, or comedy that gives ­emotional significance to the smallest episode."-Times Literary Supplement

'War with the Newts' is Karel Capek's darkly humorous allegory of early twentieth-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade and use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures and their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation - they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, and can fight - but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.

This story centers on the invention of a reactor that can annihilate matter to produce cheap and abundant energy. Unfortunately, it produces something else as a by-product, the absolute. The absolute is a spiritual essence that according to some religious philosophies allegedly permeates all matter. It is associated with human religious experience, as unsuspecting humanity is to find out all too soon in the story. The widespread adoption of the reactors causes an enormous outpouring of pure absolute into the world. This leads to an outburst of religious and nationalist fervor, causing the greatest, most global war in history. ¿R. D. Mullen called the novel "one of the genuine masterpieces of SF", but noted that due to its originality "it has surely had no great influence on popular SF".

"R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) (Czech: "Rossumovi univerzalni roboti") is a science fiction play originally written in the Czech language. It premiered in 1921 and is noted for introducing the term "robot" to the English language. The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people called "robots." Unlike the modern usage of the term, these creatures are closer to the modern idea of androids or even clones, as they can be mistaken for humans and can think for themselves. They seem happy to work for humans, although that changes and a hostile robot rebellion leads to the extinction of the human race. After finishing the manuscript, The author realized that he had created a modern version of the Jewish Golem legend. He later took a different approach to the same theme in War with the Newts, in which non-humans become a servant class in human society. R.U.R is dark but not without hope and was successful in its day in both Europe and the United States. Translation by David Wyllie.

Dieser Science-Fiction-Roman, geschrieben 1922, wirkt wie eine Prophezeihung der Schrecken, die der Welt durch die Erfindung der Atombombe gut zwei Jahrzehnte später drohen werden.Krakatit- so nennt der geniale, menschenscheue Tüftler Prokop seine Erfindung, denn bereits eine kleine Menge davon entfaltet die gleiche Zerstörungskraft wie die gigantische Explosion des Vulkans Krakatau im 19. Jahrhundert. Durch einen Unfall in seinem Labor außer Gefecht gesetzt muß Prokop nach seiner Rückkehr festellen, daß sämtliche Unterlagen und Proben gestohlen wurden, denn seine Erfindung ruft mächtige und skrupellose Interessenten auf den Plan.Prokop wird aus der kleinen, abgeschlossenen Welt seines Labors hineingezogen in einen Strudel aus Gier nach Macht und Reichtum und vielleicht sogar in den Kampf um die Weltherrschaft.

"Das Jahr des Gärtners" ist Hörspaß erster Güte. Oliver Rohrbeck reckt den grünen Daumen und leiht seine Stimme einem der Klassiker der Garten-Literatur. Karel Capek berichtet darin auf ironisch-augenzwinkernde Art vom Schicksal des Gärtners, niemals zur Ruhe zu kommen. Das Wetter ist grundsätzlich zu trocken oder zu naß. Gegen Nachbars Wildwuchs müßte man eigentlich ein Gesetz erlassen. Und natürlich liegen Feinde wie Amseln, Kinder und Schnecken immer auf der Lauer. Silke Lefflers liebevolle Illustration rundet dieses Hörbuch zum Gesamtkunstwerk ab.