The Gardener's Twelve Months

…He was a genius who left masterpieces in every genre of literature. He became world famous for his play RUR (commonly known as Robot, 1920), and the word robot (artificial human), which he created together with his brother, the painter Josef Čapek (1887-1945), spread all over the world. Among his works, RUR, The Life of Insects (1921), The Makropoulos Affair (1922), and other plays, the unique collection of detective stories Words from a Pocket (1929), the gardening essay Twelve Months of a Gardener (1922), the fairy tale The Long, Long Doctor's Tale (original title Nine Fairy Tales, 1932), and the science fiction novel The Salamander War (1936) have all been translated into Japanese. Other works that are considered masterpieces include his biographical masterpiece Conversations with T. G. Masaryk (1928-35), his representative trilogy Holdbar (1933), The Comet (1934), and An Ordinary Life (1934), as well as a collection of travel essays including Letters from England (1924), an essay on animals, Cats and Dogs (1939), a theatrical essay How to Make a Play (1925), and a collection of literary criticism, Marsyas (1931).

*Some of the terminology referenced in "The Gardener's Twelve Months" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…文学のあらゆるジャンルに名作を残した天才で，劇作品《R.U.R.（エルウーエル）》(通称《ロボット》1920)で世界的に有名になり，兄である画家のヨゼフJosef Čapek(1887‐1945)と共同で作ったロボット(人造人間)という語は世界中にひろまった。その作品のうち，この《R.U.R.》，《虫の生活》(1921)，《マクロプロス事件》(1922)などの戯曲，ユニークな推理短編集《ひとつのポケットから出た語》(1929)，園芸随筆《園芸家の十二ヵ月》(1922)，童話《長い長いお医者さんの話》(原題《九つのおとぎ話》1932)，SF長編《山椒魚（さんしよううお）戦争》(1936)などには邦訳がある。このほか伝記作品の傑作《T.G.マサリクとの対話》(1928‐35)，代表作といわれる三部作《ホルドバル》(1933)，《彗星号》(1934)，《ありきたりの人生》(1934)，および《イギリスからの手紙》(1924)をはじめとする旅行エッセー集，動物のエッセー《犬も猫も》(1939)，芝居随筆《芝居はどのようにして作るか》(1925)，さらに文芸評論集《マルシアス》(1931)のいずれも傑作といわれる。…

※「《園芸家の十二ヵ月》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報