Editing Karel Čapek (section)

== Life ==
[[Image:Capkuv dum.jpg|left|thumb|House of [[Brothers Čapek|Čapek brothers]] in Prague 10, Vinohrady]]

=== Early life and education ===
Karel Čapek was born in 1890 in the village of [[Malé Svatoňovice]] in the [[Bohemia]]n mountains. However, six months after his birth, the Čapek family moved to their own house in [[Úpice]].{{sfn|Ort|2013|p= 17}} Karel Čapek's father, Antonín Čapek, worked as a doctor at the local textile factory.<ref name="oregon">{{cite web |url= http://journalism.uoregon.edu/~russial/cyberj/prism/people/jagernauth/capekwork.html |title= Life of Karel Čapek |publisher= Prism: UO Stories, University of Oregon |access-date= 20 July 2016 |archive-date= 24 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160924202331/http://journalism.uoregon.edu/~russial/cyberj/prism/people/jagernauth/capekwork.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> Antonín was a very active person; apart from his work as a doctor, he also co-funded the local museum and was a member of the town council.<ref name="zena">{{cite web |url= http://zena-in.cz/clanek/bozena-capkova-sberatelka-maminka-slavnych-potomku |title= Božena Čapková, sběratelka, maminka slavných potomků |language= cs |publisher= Žena-in.cz |author= Jana Ládyová |date= 23 June 2016 |access-date= 28 July 2016 |archive-date= 12 April 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190412205839/https://zena-in.cz/clanek/bozena-capkova-sberatelka-maminka-slavnych-potomku |url-status= dead }}</ref>

Despite opposing his father's [[materialism|materialist]] and [[positivism|positivist]] views, Karel Čapek loved and admired his father, later calling him "a good example{{nbsp}}... of the generation of [[Czech national revival|national awakeners]]".{{sfn|Ort|2013|p= 19}} Karel's mother, Božena Čapková, was a homemaker.<ref name="oregon" /> Unlike her husband, she did not like life in the country, and she suffered from long-term depression.<ref name="zena" /> Despite that, she assiduously collected and recorded local folklore, such as legends, songs and stories.{{sfn|Ort|2013|pp= 17–18}} Karel was the youngest of three siblings. He would maintain an especially close relationship with his brother [[Josef Čapek|Josef]], a highly successful painter, living and working with him throughout his adult life.<ref name=Klima>{{cite book|last= Klíma|first= Ivan|title= Karel Čapek: Life and Work|year= 2001|publisher= Catbird Press|location= New Haven, CT|isbn= 978-0945774532 |pages= 191–199}}</ref> His sister, Helena, was a talented pianist who later become a writer and published several memoirs about Karel and Josef.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mestohronov.cz/osobnosti-mesta/clanek/helena-capkova |title= Helena Čapková |language= cs |publisher= Město Hronov |access-date= 28 July 2016 |archive-date= 25 October 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201025015923/https://www.mestohronov.cz/osobnosti-mesta/clanek/helena-capkova |url-status= live }}</ref>

After finishing elementary school in Úpice, Karel moved with his grandmother to [[Hradec Králové]], where he started attending high school. Two years later the school expelled him for taking part in an illegal students' club.<ref name="oregon" /> Čapek later described the club as a "very non-murderous anarchist society".<ref>{{cite book|last1= Čapek |first1= Karel |last2= Čapek |first2= Josef |title= Ze společné tvorby: Krakonošova zahrada, Zářivé hlubiny a jiné prózy, Lásky hra osudná, Ze života hmyzu, Adam stvořitel |publisher= Československý spisovatel |date= 1982 |chapter= Předmluva autobiografická |language= cs |page= 13}}</ref>

After this incident he moved to [[Brno]] with his sister and attempted to finish high school there, but two years later he moved again, to [[Prague]], where he finished high school at the Academic Grammar School in 1909.<ref name="oregon" /><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.spisovatele.cz/karel-capek |title= Karel Čapek |publisher= Osobnosti.cz |language= cs |access-date= 20 July 2016 |archive-date= 27 October 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201027114753/https://www.spisovatele.cz/karel-capek |url-status= live }}</ref> During his teenage years Čapek became enamored with the visual arts, especially [[Cubism]], which influenced his later writing.<ref name="harkins">{{cite book |last= Harkins |first= William |editor-last= Čapek |editor-first= Karel |title= Three Novels: Hordubal, Meteor, An Ordinary Life |publisher= Catbird Press |date= 1990 |chapter= Introduction |isbn= 978-0945774082 |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780945774082 }}</ref>

After graduating from high school, he studied philosophy and aesthetics in Prague at [[Charles University]], but he also spent some time at the [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Friedrich Wilhelm University]] in Berlin and at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] University in Paris.<ref name="oregon" /><ref name=Tobranova-Kuhnnova>{{cite book|last= Tobranova-Kuhnnova|first= Sarka|title= Believe in People: The essential Karel Capek|year= 1988|publisher= Faber and Faber|location= London|isbn= 978-0571231621|pages= xvii–xxxvi}}</ref> While still a university student he wrote some works on contemporary art and literature.{{sfn|Ort|2013|p= 21}} He graduated with a doctorate of philosophy in 1915.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.private-prague-guide.com/article/karel-capek-josef-capek/ |title= The artistic genius of Karel and Josef Čapek |publisher= Custom Travel Services s.r.o. (Ltd) |author= Tracy A. Burns |access-date= 20 July 2016 |archive-date= 20 October 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201020082606/https://www.private-prague-guide.com/article/karel-capek-josef-capek/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

=== World War I and Interwar period ===

Exempted from military service due to the spinal problems that would haunt him his whole life, Čapek observed World War I from Prague. His political views were strongly affected by the war, and as a budding journalist he began to write on topics like [[nationalism]], [[totalitarianism]] and [[consumerism]].<ref name="js">[[James Sallis]], Review of '' Karel Capek: Life and Work'' by Ivan Klima. ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' (pp. 37–40).</ref> Through social circles, the young author developed close relationships with many of the political leaders of the nascent Czechoslovak state, including [[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]], Czechoslovak patriot and the first [[President of Czechoslovakia]], and his son [[Jan Masaryk]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Liehm |first=Antonín J. |title=Closely Watched Films: The Czechoslovak Experience |publisher=Routledge |date=2016 |isbn=978-1138658059}} (p. 56)</ref><ref name="newsome">{{cite book|last=Newsome |first=Geoffrey |editor-last=Čapek |editor-first=Karel |title=Letters from England |publisher=Continuum |date=2001 |chapter=Introduction |isbn=0826484859}} (p. 3)</ref> who would later become minister of foreign affairs. T. G. Masaryk was a regular guest at Čapek's "[[Friday Men]]" [[Garden party|garden parties]] for leading Czech intellectuals. Čapek was also a member of Masaryk's ''[[Hrad (politics)|Hrad]]'' political network.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dejinyasoucasnost.cz/archiv/2007/1/t-g-masaryk-zrozen-k-mytu-/ |title=T. G. Masaryk: zrozen k mýtu |author=Šedivý, Ivan |publisher=Dějiny a současnost |language=cs |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802223155/http://dejinyasoucasnost.cz/archiv/2007/1/t-g-masaryk-zrozen-k-mytu-/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Their frequent conversations on various topics later served as the basis for Čapek's book ''Talks with T. G. Masaryk''.<ref>{{google books|e-udK8SWIQEC|Talks with T. G. Masaryk}}</ref>
[[Image:Vysehrad Nahrobek Karla Capka a Olgy Scheinpflugove.jpg|right|thumb|Tomb of Karel Čapek and Olga Scheinpflugová at Vyšehrad cemetery]]

Čapek began his writing career as a journalist. With his brother Josef, he worked as an editor for the Czech paper ''[[Národní listy]]'' ''(The National Newspaper)'' from October 1917 to April 1921.<ref name="pamatnik">{{cite web |url=http://www.capek-karel-pamatnik.cz/EN/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=200086&id=1012 |title=The Life of Karel Čapek |publisher=Památník Karla Čapka |date=16 February 2015 |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=18 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218154139/https://www.capek-karel-pamatnik.cz/EN/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=200086&id=1012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Upon leaving, he and Josef joined the staff of ''[[Lidové noviny]]'' ''(The People's Paper)'' in April 1921.<ref>Sarka Tobrmanova-Kuhnova, "Introduction," to Karel Čapek, "Believe in People: the essential Karel Čapek."London, Faber and Faber 2010, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0571231621}} (pp. xxiv–xxv).</ref>

Čapek's early attempts at fiction were short stories and plays for the most part written with his brother [[Josef Čapek|Josef]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aktualne.cz/wiki/osobnosti/zaslouzili-umelci/josef-capek/r~0fccd4cceffd11e3b78f0025900fea04/ |title=Josef Čapek |publisher=aktualne.cz |language=cs |date=9 June 2014 |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029163528/https://www.aktualne.cz/wiki/osobnosti/zaslouzili-umelci/josef-capek/r~0fccd4cceffd11e3b78f0025900fea04/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="radio">{{cite web |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czechs/karel-capek |title=Karel Čapek |publisher=Český rozhlas |date=12 January 2000 |author=Nick Carey |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=6 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406201507/http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czechs/karel-capek |url-status=live }}</ref> His first international success was ''[[R.U.R.]]'', a dystopian work about a bad day at a factory populated with [[Sentience|sentient]] [[android (robot)|androids]]. The play was translated into English in 1922, and was being performed in the UK and America by 1923. Throughout the 1920s, Čapek worked in many writing genres, producing both fiction and non-fiction, but worked primarily as a journalist.

In the 1930s, Čapek's work focused on the threat of brutal [[national socialist]] and fascist dictatorships; by the mid-1930s, Čapek had become "an outspoken anti-fascist".<ref name="js" /> He also became a member of [[International PEN]] Club. He established, and was the first president of the Czechoslovak PEN Club.<ref name="sayer" />

=== Late life and death ===
In 1935, he married actress [[Olga Scheinpflugová]], after a long acquaintance.<ref name="oregon" />{{sfn|Klíma|2001|pp=200–206}} In 1938, it became clear that the Western allies, namely [[French Third Republic|France]] and the [[United Kingdom]], would fail to fulfil the pre-war treaty agreements, and they [[Western betrayal|refused to defend]] Czechoslovakia against [[Nazi Germany]]. Although offered the chance to go to exile in England, Čapek refused to leave his country&nbsp;– even though the Nazi [[Gestapo]] had named him "public enemy number two".<ref name="mailbox">{{cite web |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/mailbox/mailbox-2012-03-03 |title=Radio Prague – Mailbox |publisher=Český rozhlas |date=3 March 2012 |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309234427/http://www.radio.cz/en/section/mailbox/mailbox-2012-03-03 |url-status=live }}</ref> While repairing flood damage to his family's summer house in [[Stará Huť]], he contracted a common cold.<ref name="pamatnik" /> As he had suffered all his life from [[spondyloarthritis]] and was also a heavy smoker, Karel Čapek died of [[pneumonia]], on 25 December 1938.<ref name="radio" />

Surprisingly, the Gestapo was not aware of his death. Several months later, just after the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|German invasion of Czechoslovakia]], Nazi agents came to the Čapek family house in Prague to arrest him.<ref name="ct24" /> Upon discovering that he had already been dead for some time, they arrested and interrogated his wife Olga. She was later released and lived until 1968; she died onstage of a heart attack while performing one of her husband's plays.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spisovatele.cz/karel-capek |title=Olga Scheinpflugová |publisher=Osobnosti.cz |language=cs |access-date=20 July 2016 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027114753/https://www.spisovatele.cz/karel-capek |url-status=live }}</ref> His brother Josef was arrested in September and eventually died in the [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]] in April 1945.<ref>[[Adam Roberts (British writer)|Adam Roberts]], "Introduction", to  ''RUR & War with the Newts''. London, Gollancz, 2011, {{ISBN|0575099453}} (p. vi).</ref> Karel Čapek and his wife are buried at the [[Vyšehrad Cemetery]] in Prague. The inscription on the tombstone reads: "Here Josef Čapek, painter and poet, would have been buried. Grave far away."<ref name="mailbox" />