World-famous writer, science fiction writer, satirist, author of the word "robot" - but also one of the ideologists of the first Czechoslovak Republic, friend of President Masaryk, author of journalistic articles, defender of democracy, enemy of fascism and totalitarianism. But also the author of detective-philosophical stories and a series of "Apocrypha", full of well-aimed observations on human nature. But the avant-garde writer, one of the first to describe in fiction tragedy of the Titanic. But also the translator of Guillaume Apollinaire, from whom, in fact, the unprecedented rise of Czech poetry of the 20th century began. But also a philosopher, many of whose ideas are relevant in modern world. This is the same person - Karel Capek.
Chapek was born on January 9, 1890 in Maly Svatonovice into the family of a village doctor. In 1909 he graduated from the Prague gymnasium. His first literary experiments belong to the same time - first in poetry, then in prose. And in 1912 Karel with his brother Josef (later famous writer and as an avant-garde artist he gave the first book of stories - "Krakonos's Garden".
During the First World War, Karel Capek worked as an educator in the house of Count Lazhansky (the same one where the Slavia coffee house is now located). Then Capek worked as a journalist - in the newspapers "Narodni listy" and "Lidove noviny", thus continuing the tradition - after all, many Czech writers, including Jan Neruda himself, were forced to earn a living by journalism. However, this activity not only took the writers time, but also gave them new stories, as they say, from the very thick of life. And in the case of Chapek, the newspaper page often became a platform for expressing certain political views.
All-Czech fame for Karel Capek was brought by a masterful translation in 1919 of Guillaume Apollinaire's poem "The Zone" - a kind of manifesto for a new generation of poets. A worldwide fame Chapek received after staging the play "R.U.R." about the uprising of the machines. It was there that the word "robot" was first used.
In addition to this play, Chapek (sometimes in collaboration with his brother) wrote a number of others - "From the Life of Insects", "Adam the Creator", "The Makropulos Remedy", and finally, at the end of the 30s - works filled with obvious anti-fascist pathos - " White disease" and "Mother".
Capek, however, was not only a playwright. He also wrote books for children, and travel notes, and "Apocrypha", and 2 books detective stories- "From one" and "From another pocket". In addition, Capek became a biographer of Czechoslovak President Masaryk, publishing several volumes of Conversations with T.G.M. - V the highest degree instructive conversations about the principles on which a young state should be built.
But of course the most popular worksČapek's novels were and remain - "The Factory of the Absolute" (1922), one of the first dystopias in world literature, "Krakatit" (1924), "Gordubal" (1933), Usual life(1934), as well as the famous "War with the Salamanders" (1938), which will surprise anyone - someone with an unusual form (isn't it a postmodern work?), Someone - with the relevance of the content (every era has its own salamanders ...)
Karl Capek died in Prague on December 25, 1938, on Christmas Day. According to legend, anticipating the troubles that were coming in Czechoslovakia, he went to the church of St. Vitus and prayed there all night (absolutely unexpected turn in the biography of Čapek - a skeptic and agnostic) in an unheated huge hall. After that, the writer fell ill with pneumonia, and a week later he was gone. It is known that death saved him from the inevitable repressions after the capture of Prague by the Nazis.
A lot has been written about Chapek, our outstanding literary critics - S.V. Nikolsky, O.M. Malevich, E.N. Kovtun made their contribution to this. However, Chapek is still being written about - and will continue to be written. This great writer and person will always be close to us.
(January 9, 1890, Male Svatonewice, Austria-Hungary - December 25, 1938, Prague, Czechoslovakia)
en.wikipedia.org
Biography
Author of the famous plays The Makropulos Remedy (Vec Makropulos, 1922), Mother (Matka, 1938), R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti, 1920), novels Factory of the Absolute (Tovarna na absolutno, 1922), Krakatit (Krakatit, 1922), Gordubal (Hordubal, 1933), Meteor (Povetron, 1934), Ordinary life” (Obycejny zivot, 1934; the last three form the so-called “philosophical trilogy”), “The War with the Salamanders” (Valka s mloky, 1936), “The First Rescue” (Prvni parta, 1937), “The Life and Work of the Composer Foltyna" (Zivot a dilo skladatele Foltyna, 1939, not completed), as well as many stories, essays, feuilletons, fairy tales, essays and travel notes. Translator of modern French poetry(Apollinaire and others).
Karel Capek was born on January 9, 1890 in Male Svatonovice near Trutnov, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic), in the family of a factory doctor Antonin Capek. He studied at the gymnasium in Hradec-Králové, then in Prague, in 1915 he received a doctorate in philosophy from Charles University, and also studied philosophy at universities in Berlin and Paris. Due to health reasons, he was not drafted into the army and a short time worked as a tutor in the family of Count Lazhansky. In the autumn of 1917 he began working as a journalist and critic in the newspaper Narodni listy ("National Newspaper"), from 1921 until his death he worked as a journalist and cultural and political editor in the newspaper Lidove noviny ("People's Newspaper"). In 1921-1923 he was a playwright at the Prague Theater in Vinohrady (Divadlo na Vinohradech). The writer and actress of the same theater, Olga Shainpflugova, was his acquaintance and close friend from 1920 (they married in 1935).
Actively engaged in literature since 1916 (collection of stories "Shining Depths", co-authored with brother Josef). Very different in character, prose works demonstrate a brilliant mastery of the art of realistic description, subtle humor and the gift of artistic foresight (a typical example is the anti-utopia "Factory of the Absolute", "Krakatit" and "War with Salamanders"). Even during his lifetime, he received wide recognition both in Czechoslovakia and abroad: he was a nominee Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936, founder and first chairman of the Czechoslovak PEN Club (in 1925-1933), member of the League of Nations Committee on Literature and Art (since 1931); in 1935 he was nominated for the position of President of the International PEN Club by G. Wells, its then president (resigned due to illness). In addition to literature and journalism, he gained fame as an amateur photographer (his book of photographs "Dashenka, or the Life of a Puppy" was the most published in interwar Czechoslovakia).
Capek, a staunch anti-fascist whose poor health was undermined by the events of 1938 (the Munich Pact), died of bilateral pneumonia on December 25, 1938, resulting from work to eliminate the flood shortly before the complete German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Before that, he found himself in virtual complete political and personal isolation, after he refused to leave the country after the resignation and emigration of its then president, Edvard Beneš. Buried at memorial cemetery in Vysehrad. His archive was hidden by his widow, Olga Shainpflugova, in the garden of the Strzh estate in the village of Stara Gut (near the town of Dobrish, 35 km south of Prague), where the writer spent the last three years of his life, and was discovered after the war. Creativity Chapek, who was a personal friend and long-term interlocutor of T. G. Masaryk, promoted many of his ideas (the books "Conversations with TGM" and "Silence with TGM") and did not show much sympathy for socialism (the well-known article "Why I'm not a communist" ), in communist Czechoslovakia at first it was banned, but since the 1950s and 1960s it has again been actively published and studied.
Karel Capek and his brother and co-author artist Josef (died of typhus in the German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen) are the inventors of the word "robot". Karel put into action the plays "R.U.R." humanoid mechanisms and called them "laboratories", from Latin word labor ("work"). But the author did not like this name, and, after conferring with his brother, an artist who designed the scenery for the performance, he decided to call these mechanisms a Slovak word that has the same meaning (in Czech, “work” is prace, and robota means “hard labor”, “heavy work", "corvée").
Bibliography
Dramaturgy:
* RUR
* White sickness
* Makropulos remedy
* Mother
Prose:
* War with salamanders
* Absolute Factory
* Ordinary life
* Krakatite
* Gordubal
* Meteor
* First rescue
* The life and work of the composer Foltyn
* many stories ("Stories from one pocket", "Stories from another pocket", a cycle - "The Year of the Gardener", etc.), essays, feuilletons, fairy tales, essays and travel notes.
Karel Chapek. Twelve Techniques for Literary Controversy or A Guide to Newspaper Discussions
Published according to the edition: K. Capek, Collected works in 5 volumes,
M., GIHL, 1958, volume 2, p. 19
The classic of world literature Karel Capek (1890-1938) had a penchant for exact knowledge. His father was a doctor. Karel himself studied at the universities of Berlin, Paris and Prague and defended his dissertation on the modern philosophical movement associated with natural sciences, - pragmatism.
In his works of art, passion exact sciences left a noticeable mark. Even in the humorous classification of literary polemics, there is a serious literary content that makes this work of K. Capek relevant today. From the author's reasoning, colored with humor, a philosophical conclusion follows that with the help of template methods of polemic, a parallel world is created, from which there is no way out to reality and in which the reader intellectually and morally runs wild.
An example of this is the evolution of journalism that has flashed before our eyes perestroika. At its very beginning, the so-called "democrats", flirting with public opinion, still feigned the appearance of controversy with the help of three or four tricks described by Karel Capek. Most of all, they liked to resort to substitution, constructing ideological scarecrows that had nothing to do with the opponent, and attributing only negative properties to him. Now, when the “democrats” have radio and television, most newspapers and magazines in their hands, they most often limit themselves to one trick - sticking labels on the patriotic opposition that is formidable to them in the form of short nominal sentences: “red-brown”, “communo-fascists”, "national patriots", "anti-Semites" and so on.
Such labels are hung on the Russian from the outside. However, in Lately many former "democrats" - now "patriots" - divorced, who introduce this polemical device among the Russian people. Only the labels are different. If a Russian person is talented and works fruitfully, they begin to whisper behind his back that he is a “graphomaniac”. This word is especially loved by those who themselves cannot connect two words. If a stab in the back with the nickname “graphomaniac” does not work and the Russian writer grows and creates more and more perfect works, then the term “mediocrity” is introduced in relation to him. If this does not help the spiteful critics, and a talented Russian person does not give up, then he is “sentenced to capital punishment” - rumors spread that he is a “Mason” or “Jewish Freemason”.
This stale parallel little world of a pseudo-patriot is being fenced in, in which they are not engaged in business, but washed the bones of “graphomaniacs”, “mediocrity” and “Jewish Masons” by three kinds of people. Some are provocateurs, “agents of influence” of the “democrats”. They are digging a hole in the parallel world for others: artificially narrowing the scope of reasoning of "ordinary people", they are trying to turn them into biorobots controlled by primitive signals.
Others are narrow-minded people who do not want to work and think in a new way. Wanting to annoy those who work, they get deeper and deeper into the quagmire of squabbles and gossip.
Still others are inexperienced readers who take everything at face value.
It was to these people that Karel Capek wanted to open their eyes so that they could find a way out of the labyrinths parallel worlds that impose public opinion sharks of polemical techniques.
Anatoly VASILENKO (Journal "Young Guard" No. 8, 1995, pp. 224-228.)
This brief guide is intended not for the participants in the polemic, but for the readers, so that they can at least roughly navigate the methods of polemical struggle. I am talking about techniques, but not about the rules, because in newspaper controversy, unlike all other types of wrestling - fights, duels, fights, brawls, fights, matches, tournaments and generally competitions in male power, there are no rules - at least least we have. In classical wrestling, for example, it is not allowed for opponents to swear during the match. In boxing, you can't strike in the air and then say that the opponent is knocked out. During a bayonet attack, it is not customary for soldiers of both sides to slander each other - this is done for them by journalists in the rear.
But all this and even much more are perfectly normal phenomena in verbal polemics, and it would be difficult to find anything that a connoisseur of magazine disputes would recognize as an unlawful method, ignorance of the battle, rough play, deceit or ignoble trick. Therefore, there is no way to enumerate and describe all the methods of polemical struggle; the twelve techniques that I will give are only the most common, found in every, even the most unpretentious battle in print. Those who wish can supplement them with a dozen others.
1. Despicere (look down - lat.), or the first reception. It consists in the fact that the participant in the dispute must make the opponent feel his intellectual and moral superiority, in other words, make it clear that the opponent is a limited, feeble-minded person, a graphomaniac, a talker, a perfect zero, an inflated value, an epigone, an illiterate swindler, a bast shoe, a chaff, a bastard and, in general, a subject unworthy of being talked to. Such an a priori premise then gives you the right to that lordly, arrogantly instructive and self-confident tone, which is inseparable from the concept of "discussion". Arguing, condemning someone, disagreeing and at the same time maintaining a certain respect for the enemy - all this is not part of national traditions.
2. Reception of the second, or Termini (terminology - lat.). This technique consists in the use of special polemical turns. If, for example, you write that Mr. X, in your opinion, is wrong about something, then Mr. X will answer that you "treacherously attacked him." If you think that, unfortunately, something lacks logic, then your opponent will write that you are "weeping" over it or "shedding tears." Similarly, they say "spit" instead of "protests", "slander" instead of "notes", "sling mud" instead of "criticize", and so on. Even if you were an unusually quiet and harmless person, like a lamb, with the help of such expressions you will be visually depicted as a subject irritable, extravagant, irresponsible and somewhat deranged. This, by the way, will explain why your respected opponent attacks you with such vehemence: he is simply defending himself from your perfidious attacks, abuse and scolding.
3. The third technique is known as Caput canis (here: to attribute bad qualities - lat.). It is in the art to use only such expressions that can create only a negative opinion about the beaten opponent. If you are circumspect, you can be called a coward; you are witty - they will say that you claim to be witty; you are inclined to simple and concrete arguments - you can declare that you are mediocre and trivial; you have a penchant for abstract arguments - it is advantageous to present you as an abstruse scholastic, and so on. For a clever polemicist, there are simply no properties, points of view and mental states, on which it would be impossible to stick a label that, by its very name, exposes the amazing emptiness, stupidity and insignificance of the persecuted enemy.
4. Non habet (here: to ascertain the absence - lat.), or the fourth reception. If you are a serious scientist, you can easily be defeated by the third trick, saying that you are slow-witted, a garrulous moralist, an abstract theorist, or something like that. But you can be destroyed by resorting to the Non alphabet technique. We can say that you lack subtle wit, immediacy of feelings and intuitive fantasy. If you turn out to be just a direct person with a subtle intuition, you can be struck down by the assertion that you lack firm principles, depth of conviction and, in general, moral responsibility. If you are rational, then you are good for nothing, because you are deprived of deep feelings, if you have them, then you are just a rag, because you lack higher rational principles. Your true properties do not matter - you need to find what is not given to you, and trample you into the dirt, starting from it.
5. The fifth technique is called Negare (here: to deny the presence - lat.) It consists in a simple denial of everything that is yours, everything that is inherent in you. If you are, for example, a pundit, then you can ignore this fact and say that you are a superficial talker, windbag and amateur. If you have insisted for ten years that (let's say) you believe in the devil's grandmother or Edison, then in the eleventh year you can be declared in polemic that you have never risen to the positive belief in the existence of the devil's grandmother or Thomas Alva Edison. And this will do, because the uninitiated reader does not know anything about you, and the initiated one experiences a feeling of gloating from the consciousness that you are denying the obvious.
6. Imago (here: substitution - lat.) - the sixth technique. It consists in the fact that the reader is given some unimaginable stuffed animal that has nothing to do with the real enemy, after which this fictional enemy is destroyed. For example, thoughts are refuted that never occurred to the enemy and which, of course, he never expressed; they show him that he is a blockhead and deeply mistaken, citing as examples really stupid and erroneous theses, which, however, do not belong to him.
7. Pugna (beating - lat.) - a technique related to the previous one. It is based on the fact that the opponent or the concept he defends is given a false name, after which the entire controversy is directed against this arbitrarily taken term. This technique is used most often in the so-called principled polemics. The enemy is accused of some obscene "ism" and then dealt with this "ism".
8. Ulises (Ulysses (Odysseus) - a symbol of cunning - lat.) - the eighth technique. The main thing in it is to evade and speak not on the merits of the issue. Thanks to this, the controversy is profitably enlivened, weak positions are masked, and the entire dispute becomes endless. This is also called "wearing down the opponent".
9. Testimonia (testimony - lat.). This technique is based on the fact that sometimes it is convenient to use a reference to authority (whatever you like), for example, to state - "Pantagruel also spoke" or "as Treitschke proved". With a certain erudition, for each case, you can find some quote that will kill the enemy on the spot.
10. Quousque... (until... - lat.) The technique is similar to the previous one and differs only in the absence of a direct reference to authority. They just say, "It's been rejected for a long time," or "It's already passed," or "Any child knows," and so on. Against what has been refuted in this way, no new arguments are required. The reader believes, while the opponent is forced to defend what has long been refuted - a rather ungrateful task.
11. Impossibile (here: must not be allowed - lat.). Do not allow the enemy to be right about anything. It is worth recognizing for him at least a grain of mind and truth - the whole controversy is lost. If another phrase cannot be refuted, there is always the possibility of saying: "Mr. X undertakes to teach me ...", or "Mr. X operates with such flat and long-known truths as his "discovery ...", or "Wonder the whole world! The blind chicken found the grain and now cackles that ... In a word, there is always something to be found, isn't it?
12. Jubilare (to triumph - lat.). This is one of the most important tricks, and it consists in the fact that the battlefield must always be left with the appearance of a winner. A sophisticated polemicist is never defeated. The loser is always his opponent, who was "convinced" and "finished". This is what distinguishes controversy from any other sport. The wrestler on the carpet honestly recognizes himself defeated; but, it seems, not a single polemic ended with the words: "Your hand, you convinced me." There are many other tricks, but spare me the description of them; let literary critics collect them in the field of our journalism.
Karel Chapek. Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Capek Karel (January 9, 1890, Male Svatonevice - December 25, 1938, Prague), Czech writer. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Prague (1915). Published since 1907. Most of early stories 1908-13 (included in the collections "Garden of the Krakonos", 1918; "Shining Depths", 1916) written together with brother J. Capek.
The tragic events of World War I (1914–18) determined Ch.'s strenuous search for a criterion of truth, his reflections on philosophical problems, and his desire to discover the source of life's contradictions: the collections of short stories The Crucifixion (1917) and Painful Stories (1921), close to expressionism . However, these searches coincided with the influence on the writer of the philosophy of pragmatism and relativism, ideas about the "plurality" of truths ("everyone is right in his own way"). Not accepting the revolutionary struggle, Ch. inclined towards moral and ethical humanism. Many of his works, including the lyrical comedy The Robber (1920), are constructed as a juxtaposition of several "truths"; Ch. thinks, as it were, simultaneously with several options, retaining, however, his ethical ideal.
World-famous Ch. brought social fiction works (the drama "R. . R.", 1920, - about the uprising of robots; the word "robot" was coined by Ch.; "Makropulos' Remedy", 1922; novels "Factory of the Absolute", 1922, and "Krakatit", 1924). The science-fiction assumption about a discovery or invention that can quickly change the conditions of human life serves to build a kind of mental socio-philosophical experiment, the creation of artificial circumstances in which certain philosophical problems and trends appear with particular clarity. modern life. This means that a place is occupied by criticism of inhumanity, militarism, and the church, but the spontaneous nature of bourgeois socio-economic processes is absolutized by Ch. as a feature of the development of mankind in general. Ch.'s dramas and novels are in the nature of ironic and satirical utopias - warnings about the catastrophic potential contained in the social and international conflict of modern life, and about the danger of dehumanizing tendencies. Along with the realistic tendency in Ch. sometimes affects the predetermination of philosophical theses.
In the early 20s. Ch. creates travel essays "Letters from Italy" (1923) and "Letters from England" (1924), etc., which are distinguished by realistic concrete figurative characteristics and lyrical humor.
In the second half of the 20s - early 30s. Ch. becomes close to T. G. Masaryk; with the strengthening of bourgeois-democratic illusions in the mind of the writer, crisis phenomena are growing in his work (the play by the Chapekov brothers "Adam the Creator", 1927). Ch. temporarily departs from major social and political problems and conflicts; writes mostly humorous works small genres (collections "Stories from one pocket", "Stories from another pocket", both - 1929). Philosophical and humorous rethinking of famous biblical stories is the book "Apocrypha" (1932).
Aggravation social contradictions and the "animal doctrine" of fascism exposed before Ch. the inconsistency of the thesis "everyone is right in his own way." The philosophical overcoming of relativism was reflected in the trilogy "Gordubal" (1933), "Meteor", "Ordinary Life" (both - 1934). Faced with the threat of a new military danger, Ch. comes to active anti-fascist speeches, to criticism of the ruling circles of Czechoslovakia: he openly expresses sympathy for the USSR. The pinnacle of Ch.'s work is the novel The War with the Salamanders (1936), in which his traditional protest against the dehumanization of human relations turns into a satire on the life of bourgeois society, militarism, race theory and the politics of fascism. The novel combines the features of a mystified science fiction genre, a zoological parable, a social utopia, a political pamphlet and is full of parodic forms. Antifascist and anti-war orientation and the search for the ideal of a "whole person" capable of fighting determined the content of the drama "White Disease" (1937), the story "The First Rescue" (1937), last play Ch. "Mother" (1938).
Ch.'s experiences in connection with the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the harassment to which he was subjected by fascist and pro-fascist elements during the period of the "second republic" exacerbated the writer's illness, hastening his death. Creativity Ch. had a significant impact on the development of modern social fiction and was a significant contribution to the world classic literature. In Czechoslovakia, there are two museums of Ch.: the country house-museum "On Strzhi" and memorial museum in the writer's homeland.
Cit.: Spisy br. Capku, sv. -51, Prague, 1928-49; Dilo br. Capku, sv. 1-26, Prague, 1954-71; ybor z dila . Capka, sv. 1-10, Praha, 1972-74: in Russian. per. - Collection. op. (Foreword by B. L. Suchkov), vol. 1-7, M., 1974-1977; Op. (Foreword by S. V. Nikolsky), vol. 1-5, M., 1958-59; Izbr., M., 1950; About Art, L., 1969.
Lit .: Shevchuk V. ., Karel Capek. Create anti-fascists, Kiev, 1958: Malevich O., Karel Chapek. Critical biographical essay, M., 1968; Nikolsky S. V., Roman K. Chapek "The War with Salamanders", M., 1968; his own, Karel Capek - science fiction writer and satirist, M., 1973; Bernstein I. A., K. Chapek. Creative way, M., 1969; Volkov A. R., Drama by K. Chapek, Lviv, 1972; Suchkov B., Karel Capek. Experience of modern reading, "Znamya", 1974, No. 6-7; Mukarovsky J., Kapitoly z ceske poetiky, sv. 2, Prague, 1948, s. 325-400; Harkins. E., Karel Capek, . .-L., 1962; Janaszek-Jwanickova ., Karol Capek czyli dramat humanisty, Warsz., 1962; Matuska A., Clovek proti zkaze. Pckus on Karla Capka, Praha, 1963.
S. V. Nikolsky.
Josef and Karel Capek. Senior and junior. Depths of the human soul
Part one. "Senior and junior. Creative brotherhood."
The family of the village doctor Antonin Chapek had three children. The elders are Elena (1886), Josef (1887) and the youngest - Karel (1890).
The family lived in the small town of Hronov, in the north-east of the Czech Republic.
The history of the family in which the Capek brothers grew up goes into the depths of the people. Father - a native of a peasant family, mother - the daughter of a miller. The picturesque region in the foothills of the Krkonoš Mountains, where the children of Antonin Čapek and his wife Bozena spent their childhood years, has left a significant mark on the history of Czech culture.
The creative and everyday life of the brothers was so close that they were almost indistinguishable, often mistaken for twins, although Josef was three years older than Karel and at first played first violin in their well-coordinated duet. There was a difference in temperaments and characters. Josef was lively and restless, he was the ringleader in all games and amusements. But at school, where he felt the malevolence and bias of adults, Josef was bored, "the boy who wanted to be an organ grinder, fireman, captain, traveler, studied poorly and everyone decided what was the use of "It won't work. That's why he was given to the factory. He forged iron staples, made calculations, mounted machines, weaved endless canvases for towels and fabrics .." (So we read in the autobiographical preface to the book of the Czapek brothers "Krakonos' Garden" (1918).
After graduating from a two-year textile school at the insistence of his parents, Josef was forced to stand at the loom to purchase practical experience. Threatening his parents with suicide, he achieved his goal - he passionately dreamed of becoming an artist - he was sent to study at the Prague Art Museum. - industrial school(1904), and in 1907. the whole family moves to Prague.
One thing I want to touch on here is the specifics of the relationship between the two brothers, their unusually fruitful creative and spiritual union.
It so happened since childhood that little Ichek tried to follow his brother in everything, copying even his hobbies. Josef painted, - and Karel picked up the brushes. Sometimes for painting they were located right on the street, posting a sign: “Do not stare!” Following the older brother, who is in the third grade elementary school decided to write a novel, the younger also began to write. Already in early childhood, the difference in the characters and temperaments of the brothers affected, but their spiritual and spiritual connection was always strong.
Having matured, both flatly refused to follow in the footsteps of their father and choose the noble profession of a doctor. Then Antonin Capek allocated half of his fortune to his sons so that they could live as they see fit. Without thinking twice, in the fall of 1910, the brothers went to study abroad. Joseph - to Paris to get acquainted with modern painting, Karel - to Berlin, to listen to lectures at the university .. The youngest did not have enough parting for a long time, and in the spring of 1911 he came to Joseph in Paris. nestled on the banks of the Seine, observe the life of Bohemia in the taverns of Montmartre and Latin Quarter, run around museums. In the summer they go to Marseille, from where Josef makes a trip to Spain (Barcelona, Zaragoza, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia).
Subsequently, literary critics struggled a lot with the question of what each of the brothers brought to their joint works.. According to contemporaries (Y Fucik, brothers' correspondence), Josef Capek conceived the idea of a number of works by brothers written together (the play "Love's fatal game", the story "Shining Depths" and even the comedy "The Robber", which he completed in 1919 and presented to the judgment of the public only under his own name Karel Capek. (O. Malevich. "Josef Capek is a prose writer and poet.)
Comparison early story Josef Chapek's "The Temptation of Brother Tranquillius" (1909) with the common story of the Chapek brothers "The Return of the Soothsayer Hermotimus" confirms the influence of the brother's ideas on their joint work (O. Malevich. Josef Chapek is a prose writer and poet).
The works of the younger of the two brothers, Karel, are well known throughout the world.
However, many literary scholars are of the opinion that it was Josef who was able to describe with exceptional skill the most hidden depths of the human soul.
The first joint experience of the brothers was the play "Love's fatal game" (Lasky hra osudna -1911), then the collections of stories "Krakonos' Garden" (Krakonosova zahrada -1918) and "Shining Depths" (Zarive hlubiny -1916). Further, the brothers work independently and publish their own works.
After the publication of their first independent works, they again joined the author's forces and created the plays "From the Life of Insects" (Ze zivota hmyzu -1922) and "Adam the Creator" (Adam Stvoritel -1927).
According to researchers, in the comedy "Adam the Creator" (1927), the idea belongs entirely to Josef.
In the play From the Life of Insects (1922), the general concept and idea of the first and third acts belongs to Josef Capek.
Josef illustrates the books of his brother Karel (“Italian letters”, “On the most intimate things”), makes covers for them, and here he achieves an almost poster-like laconicism.
He also illustrates his own book "Stories about a dog and a cat" and Karel Capek's book "Tales".
In the 20s world recognition the youngest of the brothers - Karel Capek - brought plays.
Drama R.U.R. (1920) passed through the theater stage of many European countries, spawning a mass of followers and imitators. In Russia, for example, Alexei Tolstoy created the play “Riot of the Machines” based on her motives. It is interesting that it was this work of Karel Capek that enriched the international lexicon with a new word - “robot”, And the word itself was invented and presented younger brother Joseph Chapek.
part two. "Shining depths of the human soul."
Affection for a brother, tender love and unspeakable sadness
I will quote here in full this confessional prose, in which, perhaps, the lordship, clarity, tenderness and childishness, disinterestedness of the personality of Josef Capek are especially clearly visible ...
These lines dedicated to my brother shook me to the core.
Perhaps in this ability to love tenderly and paternally, to sympathize, to give, and not to take, to regret, and respect, to be a friend and brother, was the whole secret of that ingenious creative union that the Capek brothers revealed to world literature.
"Today is a week like ..." (from the book "About Me") (translated by Oleg Malevich. In the collection "Inscribed on the Clouds")
Today is a week since I saw him - unconscious, in agony - descending into the realm of shadows; a significant and illustrious writer has passed away; everything testifies to this: the sadness of many people, the reports and obituaries in the newspapers, the grandiose funeral - but I will lose my brother, with whom I was inseparable, whose growth and development I watched from the first children's steps.
Today is a week .. today is a year ... three years .. ten years ... thirty ... today is almost fifty years .. How much sadness is that helpless, powerless in love and anxiety, we cannot comprehend death! Too far away from us, spiritually limited beings, he who in his death merges with the cosmos.
"Look after Karel," my mother used to say to us, our older sister and older brother, "Karel is fragile, weak, the youngest, he was a favorite, the family's darling; "Sunday child" - his mother called him, because in everything, starting from the first school years, he was accompanied by special happiness, special success and luck.
A crowded funeral of the famous writer took place, but now I alone bury my brother, sometimes not seeing anything from tears. My brother is a famous writer, everyone is talking about it. But I think about our children's games. About those thousands of small joys, from which something most essential in life is woven; about her charming, exuberant luxury, which can only be given by the well-being and love of a native nest. About how we grew up side by side, lived together and understood each other.
Karel, neither great deeds, nor glory, this cold sun, in the bright radiance of which black shadows creeping behind any light so clearly appear, nor the whirlwind of life, which sometimes carried you so far that you no longer heard our calls, will not prompt you to return back; those trifles, for all others insignificant, from which the warm heart tissue of our brotherly life was born, will not induce you to return. How can I make you smile at the memories of our merry childhood antics, if they bring tears to my own eyes?
I, stupid, remember our fraternal jargon, speaking in which we reached such an exclusive agreement.
He sprang from the family womb, from our common being; from the jokes of grandparents' parents; from quotations, abbreviations and misprints found in the books we read as boys, quotations used in the most outrageous ways and in the most inopportune cases; our synthetic words come to mind, composed of two, simultaneously expressing both the subject itself and its funny and bitter underside; awkward puns in which we tried to outdo ourselves; fireworks of witticisms and Dadaistic nonsense that we raved about - all that sparkling violent acrobatics of the spirit that we, to mutual joy, bestowed on each other, and those rude and cynical jokes that helped to mask the too sensitive and ardent brotherly participation. I remember the most fraternal in our brotherhood: our smiles, our joys, our brotherly happiness. Today I alone bury you; I do not think about the glory that you deserve, or about the hatred that you do not deserve, about anything that a grateful and ungrateful nation has surrounded you beyond measure; I only think about you, about my brother Karel, about the charms of our brotherhood, about the cordial jargon of two brothers who have become so close together. We will no longer be "two old men eating watermelon", as we dubbed ourselves, having found this image in Gogol's story , before we, the boys, liked that, sitting down together at the table, we certainly remembered him. There is no longer such a watermelon in the world that we, two old men, could eat. Never again will we sing "Grolier, Grolier", never again will we sing our "Sliochd, Sliochd dan nan roon" - a seal song from the legend of the ancient Gaels, so formidable and powerful that whoever heard it immediately perished. And once in Paris, when in the twilight of the passing day, after a dinner we cooked up with our own hands, we suddenly felt sad for our native Czech Republic, we began to sing old grandmothers and folk songs. We decided that Karel would sing in tenor, I would sing in bass; such a combination, we said, surely no one will survive such a two-voice; that's why we called our singing "Sliochd". Every time on such evenings it was the turn of our favorite song "Green Groves".
Never again will we say (ah, in last time I heard it from you deathbed os): "K" oh!" - "Inde! Inde!" - "K" oga nanda!" ("Speak!" - "No! No!" - "Speak nonsense!"); never again will we reproach each other: "Oh, you ignoble Burda ..."
I'm just remembering. Never again will we fight with pillows, slippers, soup spoons, a wooden pestle... we two boys... Never... Never!"
translation from Czech by O.M. Malevich
January 9 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Karl Capek. Even those who have not read Čapek know that Karel and his brother Josef are the inventors of the word "robot". And even those who have not read Chapek are familiar with his replicated 12 rules for conducting controversy, which will always remain relevant.
And the majority, of course, read Chapek. Therefore, it makes no sense to present one of the most famous Czech writers of the twentieth century. Today we will talk about his work with Josef Protiva, chairman of the Czech Brothers Capek Society.
“I have been actively studying the work of Karl and Josef Capek since 1980. What interests me the most is him. fiction"War of the Salamanders" and "Ordinary Life", but his journalism is still very, very interesting.
-Many experts claim that in his "War of the Salamanders" Czapek not only predicted the war on terrorism, but also described it in almost detail. What do you say to that?
“I agree with this, because the Salamander War is a novel that accurately describes a dictatorship, whether it be a fascist or a communist dictatorship. Or terrorism.
Čapek's book The War of the Salamanders was written in 1953. It was often called politically incorrect and an anti-fascist pamphlet. However, Capek predicted a confrontation between the West and the third world. His salamanders first learned to fish for pearls, then to use tools and weapons. Then they studied at universities and finally rebelled. Here are quotes from his book:
"I don't know what we should be more afraid of - their human civilization or insidious, cold, bestial cruelty. But when one unites with another, something diabolical turns out."
"You madmen, stop feeding the newts! Stop giving them work, refuse their services, break with them, let them feed themselves!"
-It's amazing that "The War with the Salamanders" was also published in the Soviet Union...
“It was published, but, of course, not completely. For example, it did not include a parody of the speech of the communist leader, which began with the words “Comrades, salamanders!” and ends with a call to the salamanders to unite… Communist censorship could not allow such a thing.”
-Since when has Chapek been published in Russia?
“Since the fifties, but not entirely. The complete collection of his writings, including, for example, Conversations with T.G. Masaryk” were published after the collapse of the communist system.
- In Russia, Chapek is widely read, known and loved. In what other countries does his work enjoy special love?
“Capek is published consistently without interruption in two more countries – in Germany and Japan. Russia is itself. I do not know what this is connected with, but it is interesting to note that all three of these countries have experienced a very tough dictatorship. This is probably why Capek is especially relevant there.”
- In the Czech Republic, the Capek brothers are perceived as a single entity. A summer cinema and several gymnasiums were named in honor of the brothers, and a monument was erected in Prague: the name of the older brother is written on one side of the stone block, and the name of the younger brother is written on the other. In Russia, the name of Josef Čapek is probably known only to art historians. Why do you think?
“Because the literary work of Josef Capek is quantitatively smaller than that of his brother… And then we know him better as one of the founders of Czech Cubism…”
-I know that even a comic strip based on Čapek "Krakatit" was released in the Czech Republic, how do you feel about this? Will this help children to arouse interest in his work in general?
“No, I personally have a negative attitude to this. I think that this will lower the credibility of Čapek in the eyes of the younger generation, because this comic does not comprehend the depth of his literary thoughts.
- Maybe, on the contrary, colored and colored will attract them to reading more serious things?
"May be. But it seems to me that the younger generation should read it first short stories, fairy tales, apocrypha and more ... "
-Tell our listeners about the activities of the Chapek Brothers Society. What are you working on now?
“Our society has been functioning since 1947, and we usually organize lectures, literary broadcasts. We support the installation of exhibitions. Now, for example, there is an exhibition dedicated to Karel Capek in Germany, it has just been in Brussels, Geneva is being prepared, then Slovakia and Japan. In general, we are trying to introduce people to less famous creativity Chapek brothers.
- Who can you compare with Karel Capek in world literature in terms of scale and style?
“With George Bernard Shaw. Like Capek, he wrote journalism, dramatic plays they even have some of the same plots.”
- I remember that Shaw refused the monetary part of the Nobel Prize in Literature, and Chapek did not refuse, but never received ...
“Czapek has been nominated eight times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Unfortunately, on the Czech side, some people really didn't want this, and Sweden didn't want to piss Nazi Germany and therefore the prize was never awarded to him.
-In the Czech Republic, since 1994, there has been the Karl Capek Prize, which was received by such figures as Günter Grass, Philipp Roth, Arnost Lustig, Ludwik Vaculik and Vaclav Havel. Which of the award winners do you like the most?
"All of them wonderful writers, but Ivan Klima, who has been involved in his work for more than half a century, deserved the award most of all, I think. Klima received the award in 2009. He published his biography, also edited his selected works, and did this at a time when Capek was far from being the most popular writer. What is interesting about this story is that Klima is a former communist himself. And thanks to Chapek and his journalism, he became a democrat, and this completely turned his work and journalism around.”
Karel Capek was born on January 9, 1890 in the village of Małe Svatonevice, Czech Republic. He grew up in the family of a doctor Antonin Chapek. He came third and last child in family. It was a resort town in which the mining industry was also developed. Here Karel's father worked as a doctor at resorts and mountain mines. His mother Bozena Chapkova collected Slovak folklore. Čapek's older brother, Josef, is an artist and writer. Chapkov's elder sister is a writer and memoirist.
In July of the same year, the family moved to Upice, where Antonin Capek opened his own practice. Upice was a rapidly expanding town of craftsmen. The Chapeks lived surrounded by shoemakers, blacksmiths and masons, often visiting their grandparents Karel, who were farmers. Childhood memories were reflected in the work of Chapek: he often depicted in his works ordinary, ordinary people.
In 1907 he entered the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague. He spent more than a year in Paris, attending lectures at the Sorbonne. In 1915 he received a bachelor's degree, having defended a dissertation in Prague on the topic "The objective method in aesthetics in relation to fine arts". During his studies, his first literary experiments- first in poetry, then in prose. In 1912, Karel and his brother Josef published the first book of short stories - The Garden of Krakonos.
During the First World War, Karel Capek worked as an educator in the house of Count Lazhansky, then as a journalist in the newspapers Narodni listy and Lidove noviny. All-Czech fame for Karel Capek was brought by a masterful translation in 1919 of Guillaume Apollinaire's poem "The Zone" - a kind of manifesto for a new generation of poets.
In 1920 he completed his first play, The Robber, and offered it to the National Theatre. The play was accepted, and she went on stage for several years. In the same year, the fantastic play “R. U. R., whose characters Chapek made robots for the first time in world literature. The word “robot” invented by him entered the lexicon of the century and became the international name for the mechanical man.
In 1921, Chapek went on a trip to England, during which he met the leading English writers H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw. Returning to Prague, Capek completed the plays "From the Life of Insects" and "The Makropulos Remedy". They have been translated to foreign languages, European fame came to the writer. In 1922-1923, Capek made big Adventure Europe, visited France and Italy. Returning to Prague, he published collections of essays Italian Letters and English Letters.
In 1924, the novel The Factory of the Absolute was published, in which the writer, in the form of a utopia, spoke about the life of a paramilitary society. In his second novel, Krakatit, Čapek reflected on the consequences of over-militarization. In the early thirties, Capek released a trilogy consisting of the novels Gordubal, Meteor and Ordinary Life. The writer continued to travel around Europe, bringing material for new essays from each trip. In the genre of humorous travel diaries, "Postcards from Holland", "Journey to the North" were published.
After the release of the novel "The War with the Salamanders", Karel Capek became the most widely read Czech writer in the world. The success of the book was due to the fact that in the fantasy genre, Capek spoke about the danger that war, nationalism and irresponsible attitude to the ecology of the planet bring to people. Following the "War with the Salamanders", the writer created anti-war plays - "White Disease" and "Mother".
In addition to plays and novels, Chapek owns cycles ironic detectives"Tales from One Pocket" and "Tales from Another Pocket", a collection of humorously reimagined biblical and literary plots"Apocrypha", cycles of comic miniatures "The Year of the Gardener", "Dashenka" and "How It's Done".
Capek became a biographer of the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomas Masaryk, who was his personal friend and interlocutor for many years, - the books "Conversations with TGM" and "Silence with TGM". The writer was a staunch anti-fascist. In 1935 he took part in the International Anti-Fascist Congress of Writers in Paris.
Capek was the founder and first chairman of the Czechoslovak PEN Club, a member of the League of Nations Committee on Literature and Art. In 1935 he was nominated for President of International PEN by HG Wells, its then President, but resigned due to illness.
Karel Capek died on December 25, 1938 in Prague. He was buried at the memorial cemetery in Vysehrad.
(1890-1938) Czech writer
Karel Capek was born in the small town of Malé Svatonevice in the northwest of the Czech Republic. His father served as a village doctor, the writer's mother, Bozena Chapkova, received a good education, knew several foreign languages, played the piano.
Karel was youngest child. All the children were distinguished by some kind of talent: sister Elena inherited her mother's musical abilities, brother Joseph turned out to be a gifted artist, and Karel began writing poetry in the second grade.
In order to educate the children, the father moved the family to Hradec Kralove, where Karel entered the gymnasium and soon became the best student. In the sixth grade, together with his brother, he organized a secret student society, they wrote patriotic appeals and scattered them on the street. When the secret circle was discovered, Karel was expelled from the gymnasium with a wolf ticket. But the father managed to get the boy to complete his education in Brno, where his aunt lived. Karel lived with her for two years, graduated from high school and decided to become a journalist.
In the summer of 1907, the Čapek family moved to Prague, as the father got a job as a city doctor there. Karel and his brother entered the Charles University. From the second year, Karel begins to collaborate in newspapers, publishes reviews and essays on city life. He wrote them together with his brother, and they came out signed "Brothers Cape". Often Joseph illustrated his brother's stories.
Every summer, the brothers traveled around the Czech Republic or Germany, describing their experiences in essays and stories. Having published essays in a separate book, they went to Paris, where Joseph talked with artists, and Karel Capek listened to lectures at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Sorbonne. To earn a living, the brothers regularly sent their essays and stories to the Prague newspapers. Subsequently, they published their works in the collection "Gardens of the Giant Mountains". It was a collection of lyrical prose, aphorisms and epigrams.
Returning to Prague, Karel completes his education with a bachelor's degree in journalism. But he could not find a job in his specialty, so he had to change many professions: a librarian, tutor, traveling correspondent. Only in 1917 Karel Capek became the editor of the largest Czech newspaper Narodny Listy. Having received permanent place work, he gains financial independence and gets the opportunity to quietly engage in literary work.
In 1920 he completed his first play, The Robber, and offered it to the National Theatre. The play was accepted, and she went on stage for several years. In the same year, the premiere of the fantastic play "Rur" took place on the stage of the National Theater, the characters of which Karel Capek made robots for the first time in world literature. The word “robot” invented by him entered the lexicon of the century and became the international name for the mechanical man. The play "Rur" has been translated into English language, she successfully walked on the stage of one of the London theaters.
While working for the theatre, Karel Capek met a young actress O. Shenplugova. Soon he proposed to her, but the wedding did not take place, because the doctors discovered that the writer had pulmonary tuberculosis. By that time, his mother had died, and Karel settled with his father.
In 1921, Karel Capek went to England. During the trip, he met the leading English writers Herbert Wells and Bernard Shaw. Returning to Prague, Capek completes the plays The Makropulos Remedy and From the Life of Insects. They are translated into foreign languages, and European fame finally comes to him.
In 1922-1923, Karel Capek made a great trip around Europe, visiting France and Italy. Returning to Prague, he publishes new collections of essays "Italian Letters" and "English Letters". In them, in an easy ironic manner, he talks with the reader about the current problems of our time.
In 1924 comes out major work writer - the novel "Factory of the Absolute", in which he tells in the form of a utopia about the life of a paramilitary society, in a hidden form exposing the processes that took place in pre-war Europe. In his second novel, Krakatit (1925), Karel Capek reflects on the consequences of excessive militarization.
In 1932, doctors concluded that the writer had completely recovered from tuberculosis. A few months later he married O. Shenplugova.
Gradually, Karel Capek is recognized as a leading Czech writer, he enters the inner circle of President T. Masaryk, and becomes the unspoken leader of the anti-fascist Czech intelligentsia.
In the early thirties, Capek released a trilogy consisting of the novels Gordubal, Meteor and Ordinary Life. At the same time, he publishes the essays "Conversations with Masaryk" in two volumes, where he acts as a passionate supporter of a democratic society and a staunch opponent of nationalism and fascism. The books were translated into mainstream almost immediately. European languages, however, the German authorities put them on the list of banned books and officially banned Capek from entering the country. However, the writer continues to travel around Europe, he walks all over Spain and Holland. Karel Capek also visited the Scandinavian countries. From each trip, he brings material for new essays that appear on the pages of the Narodny Listy newspaper.
1936 saw the peak of Čapek's popularity. After the release of the novel "War with the Salamanders" he becomes the most widely read Czech writer in the world. The success of the book was due to the fact that in the genre of fiction, Karel Capek spoke about the danger that wars, nationalism and irresponsible attitude towards the ecology of the planet bring to people. Following the "War with the Salamanders", the writer creates several plays on anti-war themes: "White Disease", "Mother".
Intensive work exacerbated the disease, Čapek re-discovers pulmonary tuberculosis. But he still continues to write and social activities. In 1935, he convenes a congress of anti-fascist writers. In 1937, he left his job in the newspaper, continuing to publish stories, essays and feuilletons about contemporary events.
The disease inexorably drains his strength, but the writer begins work on a new novel, The Life and Works of the Composer Foltyn. Karel Capek wanted to show the tragedy of an artist who gave his talent to the service of fascism. However, he did not have time to complete the work: on Christmas Eve 1938, Karel Capek suddenly died of a heart attack.
When talking about Czech literature, the first thing that comes to mind is the name of an author like Karel Capek. Readers all over the world know his fantasy stories, philosophical and psychological works. short biography Czech writer - the topic of the article.
Life and art
Karel Capek was born into a doctor's family in 1890. The writer's childhood passed not in a bohemian environment, but in an ordinary one. The Chapek family was surrounded by artisans and farmers. The prose writer and playwright reflected the children's impression in his work, which mainly depicts the life of ordinary people. However, the work of this author is quite multifaceted. Karel Capek wrote short stories, novels, travel notes, and fantastic works. And it is with his light hand science fiction writers began to use in literary creativity the word "robot", denoting a mechanism created in human likeness.
After graduating from high school, Karel Capek entered the capital's university. And in 1915 he received a Ph.D. For many years he worked as a journalist, and in 1921-1923. - playwright in the Prague theater.
Chapek began composing as a teenager. But the early creations were published much later. Drama works brought fame to the writer. The most famous of them is the comedy "From the Life of Insects".
Philosopher and prose writer
The formation of Chapek's worldview took place under the influence of significant historical events. When he graduated from university, the First World War began. The young writer thought about the causes of bloody conflicts. He was not indifferent to the development of human civilization.
Čapek's work developed especially rapidly in the thirties of the last century. The economic crisis and the threat of new bloodshed were the problems that most occupied the writer's thoughts. Chapek became a member of the anti-fascist movement. A special place in his works was occupied by the theme of war.
The writer did not live to see the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the Nazis. He died in 1938. In those years, according to eyewitnesses, few believed in the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship. One of the writers and public figures who had no doubts about the defeat of the policy of violence was Karel Capek.
Books
Famous works of the Czech writer - "Krakatit", "Mother", "Factory of the Absolute". The pinnacle of Čapek's work is considered to be the novel Wars with the Newts. This work belongs to the most powerful anti-fascist books of the pre-war period. Capek wrote "War with the Salamanders" two years before his death. According to critics, the novel combines all the best that is in the work of the Czech author. The work has an original idea, satirical grotesqueness, deep philosophical overtones.
A lot of stories, feuilletons, essays were written by Karel Capek. Fairy tales belonging to his pen - "The Postman's Tale", "About Fox", "Bird's Tale" and many others. According to the memoirs of friends and relatives, Capek repeatedly said that he would die at the age of sixty. The prediction didn't come true. The writer passed away at the age of forty-eight. But during his relatively short life, he created an incredible number of works, subsequently translated into all European languages. Most of his books have been filmed.
