Apocrypha

The strength of Čapek's apocrypha - in contrast to all similar artistic works by other authors - lies, among other things, in the fact that the author does not simply turn a humorously familiar motif inside out. Even on the tiny surface of a newspaper story, Čapek manages to go into depth, not to be schematic, to see the characters' strengths and flaws, to empathise with their inner world. For the centre of his interest is man. With his apocrypha, the author reflects the actual situation of the time, something no one before him had dared to do. Čapek was preparing a book edition of the Apocrypha in the last year of his life.