'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.

A visionary work of science fiction that introduced the word robot

Written in 1920, premiered in Prague in 1921, and first performed in New York in 1922--garnered worldwide acclaim for its author and popularized the word robot. Mass-produced as efficient laborers to serve man, Capek's Robots are an android product--they remember everything but think of nothing new. But the Utopian life they provide ultimately lacks meaning, and the humans they serve stop reproducing. When the Robots revolt, killing all but one of their masters, they must strain to learn the secret of self-duplication. It is not until two Robots fall in love and are christened Adam and Eve by the last surviving human that Nature emerges triumphant.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

2017 Reprint of 1959 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. With a New Introduction by Lewis Gannett. Originally published in Czech in 1936 and in English in 1937, this is the author's prophetic and stirring novel about man's fatal propensity to stuff himself with sweets until he becomes ill. It is considered on enduring classic. One of the great anti-utopian satires of the twentieth century, an inspiration to writers from Orwell to Vonnegut. Man discovers a species of giant, intelligent newts or salamanders and learns to exploit them so successfully that the newts gain skills and arms enough to challenge man's place at the top of the animal kingdom. Along the way, Karel Capek satirizes science, runaway capitalism, fascism, journalism, militarism, even Hollywood.

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This edition features lively black and white illustrations by Czech artist Josef Capek and is translated by M. and R. Weatherall.

The Gardener's Year is a charming and light-hearted insight into the life of an amateur gardener. Structured loosely around what to plant, grow or cultivate each month, Karel Capek takes us on a rollicking journey through a year in his own small garden.

From making puddles with an untamable hose to sowing luxuriant weeds instead of grass, Capek reveals how a gardener grows into his surroundings 'spurred on by each new failure'. Subverting the tradition of a 'how to' gardening book, he teaches his readers about the magic of seeds, the perils of planting vegetables and the thrilling surprises of a rock garden. As the year progresses and frail buds turn from flowering stems to drooping bulbs and falling leaves, Capek's small garden buzzes with life, wisdom and humour.

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.

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

Čapek'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

We have Czech writer Karel Čapek to thank for the invention of the word robot and generally for the introduction of the idea of artificial intelligence to the world of literature. His play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) was first performed in 1921 and was an instant success. While the robots of the play could be more accurately described as cyborgs, Čapek's influence on the science fiction genre with this play would be profound. R.U.R. describes a future where robots have become universal and all of humanity is now dependent on the labor that they provide. Everything is perfect until the robot's are stirred into revolt. R.U.R. is Čapek's prophetic and dark dystopian vision of the future which would solidify his place in literary history.

Karel Čapek's brilliant comic and satirical novel of 1936 deals with the discovery of a sentient race of newts or salamanders, and their subsequent transition from fairground sideshow to forced labour to ferocious enemies of the human race. Along the way he pokes fun at a whole range of targets, from the superficiality of Hollywood to the arrogance of scientists. He also deals with serious subjects such as racism, imperialism and exploitation, and is positively prophetic on the threat of expansionism and the folly of appeasement. This handsome new edition from Benediction Classics uses the acclaimed 2002 translation from the Czech by David Wyllie, with original illustrations.

R.U.R. es una obra teatral escrita en 1921 y estrenada ese mismo a o en Praga y en 1922 en Nueva York, cosechando un xito mundial. Una de las obras claves de la ciencia ficci n moderna, no s lo introdujo el t rmino robot en el lenguaje popular, sino que adem s explora las diversas vertientes entre los hombres y sus creaciones artificiales. Aunque los robots de Capek est n m s cerca de nuestra actual definici n de cyborg, o incluso de clones, son en el fondo unas simples m quinas dise adas para servir, pero no para pensar. Aunque felices de vivir en su particular Utop a, pronto los robots se rebelar n contra la humanidad buscando convertirse en aquello que son sus creadores. * Karel Capek (1890-1938) fue uno de los principales escritores checos del periodo de entreguerras. Autor teatral, novelista y periodista, escribi varios cl sicos de la ciencia ficci n y la literatura especulativa, como R.U.R., La F brica del Absoluto o La Guerra de las Salamandras.

From the internationally acclaimed Czech writer Karel Capek comes this beautifully written and marvelously apt account of the trials and tribulations of the gardener's life. First published in Prague in 1929, The Gardener's Year combines a richly comic portrait of life in the garden, narrated month by month, with a series of delightful illustrations by the author's older brother and collaborator, Josef. Capek's gardeners--all too human, despite their lofty aspirations--often look the fool, whether they be found sopping wet, victims of the cobralike water hose, or hunched over, hands immersed in the soil, presenting their rumps to the splendid azure sky. In their repeated folly, Capek gives us not only cause for laughter but also, in the end, testimony of the imperishable and miraculous optimism of the human race.

This Modern Library edition is published with a new Introduction by Verlyn Klinkenborg, a New York Times editorialist and the author of Making Hay and The Last Fine Time.

We have Czech writer Karel Čapek to thank for the invention of the word robot and generally for the introduction of the idea of artificial intelligence to the world of literature. His play, R. U. R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) was written in 1920 and was first performed in 1921. The play was an instant success and was translated into over 30 languages within two years of its first performance. The play begins in a factory that makes the robots, which could be more accurately described as cyborgs, since they are more living creature than machine. R. U. R. envisions a future where robots have become universal and all of humanity is now dependent on the labor that they provide, which remains a timely subject even one hundred years later. At first, everything seems perfect and the robots are happy to serve humans until the robots are later stirred into revolt. Čapek's vision of a dystopian future where humans may be ruled by machines was immediately and profoundly influential on the science fiction genre and to future authors. R. U. R. is Čapek's prophetic and dark dystopian vision of the future which would solidify his place in dramatic history and leave a lasting legacy on modern literature. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Thank you for checking out this book by Theophania Publishing. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you soon. We have thousands of titles available, and we invite you to search for us by name, contact us via our website, or download our most recent catalogues. R.U.R. is a science fiction play in the Czech language by Karel Capek. R.U.R. stands for Rossum's Universal Robots, an English phrase used as the subtitle in the Czech original. It premiered in 1921 and introduced the word robot to the English language and to science fiction as a whole.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, Capek 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.

I Had a Dog and a Cat is a delightfully charming book, originally written in Czech. Featuring gorgeous black-and-white illustrations, this is the perfect storybook to share with little ones who love animals.

First published in 1940, this wonderful volume is a collation of short children's stories about our most beloved pets: cats and dogs. I Had a Dog and a Cat was written and illustrated by Czech brothers Josef and Karel Čapek. The comic storybook was then translated into English by Czech couple Marie and Robert Weatherall.

The stories featured in this volume include:

- Minda, or the Breeding of Dogs

- Ben, Benji, Blackie and Bibi

- Iris

- Dashenka

- The Dog Show

- More About Dogs and About Cats Too

Thank you for checking out this book by Theophania Publishing. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you soon. We have thousands of titles available, and we invite you to search for us by name, contact us via our website, or download our most recent catalogues. War with the Newts (Valka s mloky in the original Czech), also translated as War with the Salamanders, is a 1936 satirical science fiction story by Czech author Karel Capek. It concerns the discovery in the Pacific of a sea-dwelling race, an intelligent breed of newts, who are initially enslaved and exploited. They acquire human knowledge and rebel, leading to a global war for supremacy

There was no writer like him. . . prophetic assurance mixed with surrealistic humour and hard-edged social satire: a unique combination (Arthur Miller)

This volume brings together fresh new translations of four of his most popular plays, more than ever relevant today. In R. U. R., the Robot - an idea Çapek was the first to invent - gradually takes over all aspects of human existence except procreation; The Insect Play is a satirical fable in which beetles, butterflies and ants give dramatic form to different philosophies of life; The Makropulos Case is a fantasy about human mortality, finally celebrating the average lifespan; The White Plague is a savage and anguished satire against fascist dictatorship and the virus of inhumanity.

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.

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (Czech: Rossumovi univerz ln 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.

Karel Capek Fairy Tales is a delightful collection of ten classic children's stories, written by Karel Capek. It is beautifully illustrated throughout, with striking black-and-white images of Karel's brother; Josef Capek. The narratives of 'Capek Fairy Tales' include: 'A Long Tale about a Cat', 'The Dogs' Tale', 'The Birds' Tale', 'The First Bandits' Tale', 'The Water Sprites' Tale', 'The Long Police Tale', and many more. Karel Capek (1890 - 1938) was a Czech writer, best known for his science fiction, including his novel War with the Newts and the play, R. U. R, which introduced the word, 'robot'. He maintained a close relationship with his brother Josef (1887 - 1945), and the two lived and worked together for most of their adult life. Together, the Capeks produced books and plays on themes as diverse as detective stories, full-novels, philosophy, fairy tale collections, theatre plays, and even a book on gardening.

One of the genuine masterpieces of sci-fi. -- R. D. Mullen

In this satirical and enduringly relevant work of science fiction, the acclaimed Czech author Karel Čapek offers a prescient fable of the benefits and dangers of atomic power. Originally published in 1922, the story is set in a then-futuristic Czechoslovakia of 1943, in which an inventor develops the Karburator, a device with the potential to provide abundant low-cost energy. But the reactor's exciting possibilities are shadowed by its dangerous side effect: instead of carbon dioxide, it emits the Absolute, a spiritual essence that inspires a powerful religious fervor. Greed triumphs over ethics as the inventor and his business partner proceed with mass production of the Karburator, resulting in simmering religious strife that ignites a world war.
Karel Čapek is best known for popularizing the term robot in his play R.U.R., a seminal work of science fiction in which the robots are metaphors for a world dehumanized by social organization and technology. He offers another strikingly foresighted vision in The Absolute at Large, written decades before global warming awareness yet predicting the catastrophic consequences of the unchecked pursuit of profit by business and industry.

Karel Capek's 'Letters from England' have established themselves as masterpieces of observation. The letters and drawings are humorous, insightful and imbued by a profound humanity. They convey a bemused admiration for England and the English. First published in the nineteen twenties in Lidovc Noviny, the Czechoslovak national newspaper, Capek's Letters from England quickly established themselves as masterpieces of observation, and classics of modern Czech prose. The letters described Europe's oldest democracy for the benefit of the citizens of Europe's newest, and Capek was acutely aware of the deep-down affinity between his countrymen and the English. The same understated humour, the same unflappability, the same quiet search for peace, home and comfort, the same love of nature and animals, served to unite the two people, both then and now. Shortly after Letters from England appeared, Czechoslovakia was betrayed by Britain at Munich, and handed over to Hitler. Capek died shortly afterwards of a broken heart. The book was promptly banned by the Nazis, and published by the exile press, with an English translation by Paul Selver, in London. It was again published in Czechoslovakia in 1946, but, after a brief period, was banned again by the communists. This is a completely new English translation. Letters from England, timely when it first appeared, is yet more timely today, when the English need to be reminded of qualities that once were a source of pride to themselves and admiration to others.