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Not surprisingly, there are a good many web-sites on the internet that refer to Karel Čapek, the Czech writer who invented the word ‘robot’ and gave us a foretaste of the consequences of totalitarianism, consumerism and genetic engineering. Unfortunately, many of these sites are in Czech, Slovak or German. It’s a sad fact that the internet — for western European consumption, at least — has rather neglected this passionate believer in justice and democracy, workaholic social philosopher, gardener, enemy of totalitarianism, friend and confidant of great men, the inveterate entertainer Karel Čapek, who died of exhaustion trying to save his country from Hitler using reason and talk. His brother Josef was not so lucky: as a member of a liberal, intellectual family, he was transported to a concentration camp. He died in Belsen in April, 1945, shortly before the Liberation.
Suggestions for other (English language) sites covering either of the Čapek brothers would be gratefully received — there’s a mail button at the bottom of every button-bar.
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Bohuslava Bradbrook’s Karel Capek: In Pursuit of Truth, Tolerance, and Trust is now available from Amazon.co.uk as well as the US and Canadian branches — take a look at it on the Amazon links below.
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Amazon — searching and browsing British, U.S. and Canadian Amazon sites
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Epitaph: Radio Prague virtual cemetery
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Misto.cz: Karel Čapek web-site — ‘biography, book excerpts, list of works, photos and more of the most important Czech writer of the first half of the 20th century’
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Wikipedia: Karel Čapek — a good encyclopaedia entry, cross-referenced
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Kirjasto: Karel Čapek — introductory biography
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Moonstruck Drama Bookstore: Josef & Karel Čapek — introduction
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Encarta entry
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University of Dallas — brief introductions to Karel and Josef Čapek, with Mondrianesque page design
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RUR: introduction & summary — a rather strange page, but a good read
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Centre for Machine Perception: robot – robota — ‘as is usually the case with words, the truth of the matter is a little more convoluted’
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RUR: excerpt — plus Czech & Slovak collections at the Library of Congress
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Karel Čapek: Pictures from Home — Český Krumlov
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Monument to Karel Čapek — a house, which saw many famous faces in the 1930s
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Internet Broadway Database — what Čapek did on Broadway, and when
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Catbird Press — publishers of several English translations of Čapek
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Brief bibliography
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Misto.cz: Karel Čapek — Co je nového?
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Virtuální hřbitov: Karel Čapek
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• If you would like to suggest a link for inclusion here, or report a broken link, please e-mail the Editor: there’s an e-mail button at the bottom of every button-bar.
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book search
Search the catalogue at Amazon: type the search text from either the title or the author’s name (or both) in the box, then click the search button.
The ‘rare & antiquarian’ link serves up an Advanced Book Exchange search box in a pop-up.
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US & Canadian users please click on your flag for the appropriate Amazon search boxes |
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