Peter Kussi

Good introduction to Czech literature during an interesting time in their history. Most of the short stories were informative and entertaining reflecting life during the Iron Curtain era. Very much surreal while thought based, you get into the characters minds.

Loved his writing. On my journey through some Czech writers, I discovered Capek. R.U.R. is prescient-- hard to believe it was written almost 100 years ago and he foresaw the fear of A.I. and robots. His short stories such as The Stamp Collection are riveting. Pure pleasure.

Picked up a copy of this book in Prague and have been sampling from it for months. Capek had long been on my to-read list. I had known of his R.U.R. (in which the word 'robot' was coined), but I had no idea that he was such a versatile writer. He reminds me of Kafka...at times haunting and always illuminating. Unlike his fellow countryman however, Capek has a great amount of hope and humor. This seems to be a solid translation and a diverse anthology.