Letters from England

Description

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.

'There was no writer like him... He made it possible to actually invent worlds, and with laughter into the bargain. This prophetic assurance was mixed with a brand-new surrealistic humour, and it was honed to hard-edged social satire, still a unique combination'. - Arthur Miller. Karel Capek (1890-1938) was one of the most original Czech writers of the 1920s and 30s, whose works were the inspiration for much of the science fiction of Europe and America. Endlessly inventive and extraordinarily prescient, full of humour and wit, his plays explore and defend man's humanity. He is known for RUR where the robot - an idea Capek was the first to invent - gradually takes over all aspects of human existence except procreation; The Insect play, a satirical fable in which beetles, butterflies and ants give dramatic form to different philosophies of life; The Makropulos Case, which examines human mortality, finally celebrating the average lifespan and The White Plague, a savage and anguished satire against fascist dictatorship and the virus of inhumanity. Geoffrey Newsome is the author of the Czech textbook Correct Those Mistakes.

"'They don't make writers like that any more.' - Sunday Telegraph; 'His thoughts and descriptions remain fresh and provocative.' - New Statesman; 'To Capek, the English were odder than they knew. No one could have made a more charming study of their insularity' - Country Life"