Apocryphal Tales: With a Selection of Fables and Would-be Fables

K. Čapek

Catbird Press, 1997 - Fiction - 188 pages

An anthology of stories presenting famous events from the point of view of the man in the street. In one story, a baker describes Jesus' miracle of loaves and fish, in another, townspeople argue who is to blame for the invasion of the Huns. Thirty stories in all.

What people are saying

Review: Apocryphal Tales

User Review  - Caroline - Goodreads

Small sketches based on famous people or fictional characters, retold. I liked the Greek stuff; I loved the Shakespeare; I was completely confused by the Bible material (no frame of reference). The author clearly has a great mind, but the pieces are limited vignettes. I want to try a novel next.

Review: Apocryphal Tales

User Review  - Kate Hanson - Goodreads

Great translation of Capek's short stories. The stories included are witty, clever and capture the intellectual zeitgeist of in Europe during the first part of the 20th century. A historical ...

Contents

• Introduction: 7
• Apocryphal Tales: 15
• Just Like Old Times: 26
• Agathon or Concerning Wisdom: 35
• The Death of Archimedes: 44
• The Ten Righteous: 52
• Holy Night: 62
• Lazarus: 71
• Benchanan: 79
• Pilates Evening: 86
• The Emperor Diocletian: 93
• Iconoclasm: 104
• Brother Francis: 112
• Ophir: 116
• Don Juans Confession: 135
• Master Hynek Rab of Kufstejn: 148
• The Lawsuit: 162
• The Anonymous Letter: 179

About the author

Karel Capek is best known abroad for his plays, but at home he is also revered as an accomplished novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and writer of political articles. His bitingly satirical novel The War with the Newts (1936) reveals his understanding of the possible consequences of scientific advance. The novel Krakatit (1924), about an explosive that could destroy the world, foreshadows the feared potential of a nuclear disaster. In his numerous short stories he depicts the problems of modern life and common people in a humorous and whimsically philosophical fashion. The plays of Karel Capek presage the Theater of the Absurd. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) (1921) was a satire on the machine age. He created the word robot from the Czech noun robota, meaning "work" for the human-made automatons who in that play took over the world, leaving only one human being alive. The Insect Comedy (1921), whose characters are insects, is an ironic fantasy on human weakness. The Makropoulos Secret (1923), later used as the basis for Leos Janacek's opera, was an experimental piece that questioned whether immortality is really desirable. All the plays have been produced successfully in New York. Most deal satirically with the modern machine age or with war. Underlying all his work, though, is a faith in humanity, truth, justice, and democracy, which has made him one of the most beloved of all Czech writers.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Apocryphal Tales: With a Selection of Fables and Would-be Fables
• Author: K. Čapek
• Translated by: N. Comrada
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Catbird Press, 1997
• ISBN: 0945774346, 9780945774341
• Length: 188 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Short Stories (single author)