Abstract
This paper examines the position of Karel Čapek’s work in the context of Central European Literature (whilst acknowledging the vagueness and ambiguity of this term), as defined historically and culturally in the works of Claudio Magris and Václav Bělohradský. It reveals that there are features and strategies in Čapek’s work, both in terms of motifs and genre which connect him to other Central European writers (Joseph Roth, Robert Musil and Hermann Broch).
Thus, he may not be labelled as „a typically Czech author” or „a writer of small, everyday things”. The novel An Ordinary Life appears to be comparable with the great Central European texts that were written roughly at the same time, portraying interwar Central Europe in a similar manner.
The analysis of Čapek’s works proves that reading Karel Čapek in this context is worthwhile, mainly because Čapek’s „memory of a nostalgic man” does not acquire the air of sentimentality, a frequent objection to his work. Despite Čapek’s connection to the efforts and aims of the First Republic, seemingly as a staunch supporter, the basis of his work is not too distant from the atmosphere of Austria-Hungary, which forms the background for the story of the novel An Ordinary Life.