SOURCE: "The Short Story Writer," in Karel Čapek: In Pursuit of Truth, Tolerance, and Trust, Sussex Academic Press, 1998, pp. 123-45.

In the essay that follows, Bradbrook presents a comprehensive overview of Capek's short fiction, noting in particular the author's thoughts and motives regarding his stories.

"Short story will always be one of the most attractive matters for an author, both in form and content."

"To write short stories you need good fortune or (and mainly) a good deal of realism. Literature which shirks realism will not be able to produce short stories." K. Č.

Čapek wrote his first collection of short stories between 1916 and 1917. His philosophical studies were still strongly echoing in his mind, but he appears free from the pretentious frivolities apparent in his early works. His health problem depressed him, as well as the gloomy war atmosphere surrounding him: no wonder that the Wayside Crosses sound pessimistic...