Karel Capek is regarded as the most important Czech writer before World War II. He worked in many capacities: he was a man of the theater, a translator, a journalist, an essayist, a fiction writer, and an organizer of cultural activities. His views inclined toward tolerant democracy and practical humanism, and he subscribed to the ideology of the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) and to the views of its first president, Tomás Garrigue Masaryk.

Karel Capek was born in Malé Svatonovice, near Turnov in northeastern Bohemia. His father, Antonín Capek, was a doctor who came from a family of farmers. His mother, Bozena Capek, collected folklore. The Capek children were all artistically gifted: Karel's sister, Helena, published several books, and his brother, Josef, was a well-known artist, fiction writer, and dramatist. Karel and Josef wrote several stories and plays together.

As a child Capek...