grubstlodger's review
3.0
Karel Čapek was a Czech writer who is probably most famous in the English world for introducing it to the word ‘robot’. I’ve had a book of his on my shelf for a while, an intriguing collection of short stories which take heroic and biblical themes in weird directions. So, when I found a copy of ‘Letters from England’ for half price, I picked it up, delighted by a 1947 clipping from a Radio Times reviewing a TV edition of Čapek’s robot play that was tucked inside.
I started to read it on the train home and was quickly won over by the tone. It’s a travel book on England (Scotland and a bit of Wales) and was original serialised in a Czech paper. As usual, the English enjoy foreigners laughing at them (see the success of George Mikes’s ‘How to Be Alien’) so it was quickly translated for the market.
The first section in London is my favourite. He takes issue with the British habit of mass-producing streets; laughing at how there are patches of houses with bay-windows, others with columns, more with four steps out front and others with three. He was fun theories about how ancient oak trees and leather armchairs are responsible for England’s conservatism. He complains about being a fleck in the mass-transit and the difficulty of crossing a road.
My favourite part of the book is when he stumbles into Speaker’s Corner. Since I first heard of the place, I was entranced by it. One of the pieces I wrote for my A-levels was an imaginary transcript of a speech there. When I first moved to London, I spent many of my Sundays there, loving the energy and nuttiness of the place. It was wonderful how it is described in the book, essentially the same as it was when I went there. He takes the image of a group of ranting people and turns it into something almost transcendent.
When he leaves London the oomph leaves the text. He likes the country, he’s fond of sheep and he’s not so funny when he’s talking about the things he’s fond of. That’s a problem with the Scottish section also. Čapek seems to adore Scotland, to have been completely won by its romanticism and bleak beauty. As a result it’s not all that funny either. His Wales section was better as he has fun with the Welsh language and his Irish section was all about how no-one on the mainland could be bothered to go there.
There’s not a lot to this book, it’s fun, easy to read and has some delightfully shonky illustrations. I had fun with it but not much else. George Mikes is far spikier and enjoyable.
I started to read it on the train home and was quickly won over by the tone. It’s a travel book on England (Scotland and a bit of Wales) and was original serialised in a Czech paper. As usual, the English enjoy foreigners laughing at them (see the success of George Mikes’s ‘How to Be Alien’) so it was quickly translated for the market.
The first section in London is my favourite. He takes issue with the British habit of mass-producing streets; laughing at how there are patches of houses with bay-windows, others with columns, more with four steps out front and others with three. He was fun theories about how ancient oak trees and leather armchairs are responsible for England’s conservatism. He complains about being a fleck in the mass-transit and the difficulty of crossing a road.
My favourite part of the book is when he stumbles into Speaker’s Corner. Since I first heard of the place, I was entranced by it. One of the pieces I wrote for my A-levels was an imaginary transcript of a speech there. When I first moved to London, I spent many of my Sundays there, loving the energy and nuttiness of the place. It was wonderful how it is described in the book, essentially the same as it was when I went there. He takes the image of a group of ranting people and turns it into something almost transcendent.
When he leaves London the oomph leaves the text. He likes the country, he’s fond of sheep and he’s not so funny when he’s talking about the things he’s fond of. That’s a problem with the Scottish section also. Čapek seems to adore Scotland, to have been completely won by its romanticism and bleak beauty. As a result it’s not all that funny either. His Wales section was better as he has fun with the Welsh language and his Irish section was all about how no-one on the mainland could be bothered to go there.
There’s not a lot to this book, it’s fun, easy to read and has some delightfully shonky illustrations. I had fun with it but not much else. George Mikes is far spikier and enjoyable.
heli_mads's review
5.0
he's one of the biggest writer of 20th century...his talent of describing the whole life in England is breath taking
More...