Karel Capeklife and Work

Internationally acclaimed Czech writer Karel Capek (1890-1938) may have played second fiddle to his Prague colleague and contemporary Franz Kafka, but he gets treated to a fond biography with Ivan Klima's (No Saints or Angels) Karel Capek: Life and Work. Primary sources and occasional literary exegesis add to the detailed, thoughtful account of a man whose plays, novels and journalism made him a ""symbol of anti-ideological thought... of art that was free and unfettered by any doctrine."" Norma Conrada translates from the Czech. For true Capek fans, Catbird Press will simultaneously publish Cross Roads, two Capek story collections in a single volume. (July)