THE PRESCIENCE OF KAREL ČAPEK

A talk by Professor THOMAS ORT, Queens College/CUNY On March 6, 2025, at Bohemian National Hall, Manhattan Moderated by Professor Chris Harwood, Columbia University Professor Thomas Ort explores the uncanny relevance of this early twentieth-century Czech writer for our times' political and technological developments. Čapek's fears about the displacement of human labor by machines and the threat of authoritarianism appear closer to their realization than ever since the 1930s. THOMAS ORT is Associate Professor of modern European history at Queens College, The City University of New York. The main focus of his research has been modernist and avant-garde life in early twentieth-century Czechoslovakia, but his most recent work concerns the politics of memory in postwar Eastern Europe. He is the author of Art and Life in Modernist Prague: Karel Čapek and his Generation, 1911-1938 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), which was subsequently translated into Czech (Argo, 2016). Prof. Ort’s new book project, Meaning, Memory, and the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, explores the ever-evolving interpretations of the killing of Reinhard Heydrich, the SS general and architect of the Final Solution, who was assassinated in Prague in 1942. Note: Long Island University in Brookville, NY, presented Karel Capek’s play "RUR: on February 21-23, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------- KAREL ČAPEK (1890–1938), a renowned Czech writer, playwright, critic, journalist, and friend of the first Czechoslovak president T.G. Masaryk, has been compared to writers like George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. His notable works include the novels War with the Newts and Krakatit and plays such as The White Plague, The Makropulos Case, The Insect Play, and R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which introduced the term "robot" to the world. Čapek's writing spanned multiple genres, from drama and fiction to essays, travel writing, reflections on gardening, and enchanting stories for children. He was a master of language and storytelling, elevating Czech literature on the global stage. Fun facts Despite being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times, Čapek never received the award. He was instrumental in establishing the Czechoslovak PEN Club as part of International PEN. In honor of his legacy, astronomer Luboš Kohoutek named an asteroid he discovered in 1969, Capek 1931. Richard E. Pattis of Stanford University also named his educational programming language "Karel" after the author. Čapek's play The Makropulos Case inspired composer Leoš Janáček to create the celebrated opera (1925) of the same name. ---------------------------------------------------------------- This event is organized by the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) in New York as part of The Karel Čapek Year, with the support of the BBLAA and in cooperation with the Czech Center NY.