Playing Robots in America (lecture at the American Center Prague, US Embassy in Prague)
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
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| Description | The talk will address “Americanism” of Karel Čapek play R.U.R. (1920/2021). This characteristic was used by Czech theatre critiques to describe Čapek’s ability to write an adventurous sci-fi play, which resonated strongly in the American cultural context. The R.U.R.’s success in US even contributed to the play’s world fame and turned Čapek (recognized Czech avant-garde artist) into a world-known sci-fi writer. The plot of the play elaborating on humans–Robots relationship became central motive of the sci-fi since then. The R.U.R.'s influence on sci-fi genre will be illustrated particularly by addressing work of Isaac Asimov (example of technical definition of Robots) and Philip K. Dick novel 1968 Do Androids dream about electronic Sheep (1968) and the movie Blade Runner (1986), as well as William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984, the Bible of Cyberpunk) (representing Robots as products of bioengineering). The aim of the talk is to illustrate viability and universality of the Čapek’s play about Robots. |