- Unknown Binding
- Publisher: George Allen and Unwin ltd (1927)
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001O2TY5U
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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The Absolute at Large
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First Sentence
ON New Year's Day, 1943, C. H. Bondy, head of the great Metallo-Electric Company, was sitting as usual reading his paper. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
ON New Year's Day, 1943, C. H. Bondy, head of the great Metallo-Electric Company, was sitting as usual reading his paper. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Melmoth
Format:Paperback
When the brilliant scientist Professor Marek invents an atomic engine, "The Karburator", capable of producing abundant and practically free energy, the world is delighted. But the work of the Karburator comes with a byproduct: the engine releases the Absolute, the spiritual stuff of which God himself is made. Soon atheists find themselves appalled at their powers of miraculous healing, barge stokers become spiritual leaders and churches, temples and mosques find themselves homes to very real gods. With every belief and nation finding that it really does have God on its side, the world is soon plunged into conflict.
With a story that covers the whole globe and is filled with a wide-ranging and wonderful cast of characters - from Professor Marek, appalled at his own invention, to industrialist GH Bondy who fills the world with Karburators and bits of God even as he himself flees to the high hills, via bargemen, bishops, roustabouts and a humble French soldier who finds himself briefly King of Europe - the beak features all Capek's characteristic wit and humanity, The Absolute at Large is a brilliant, hilarious and prescient satire upon humanity's attitudes towards science, politics and God(s) while taking in religious war and energy crises. As such it is perhaps more relevant to the world we live in now than it has ever been. In the words of GH Bondy himself, "God is far too big ... everyone measures off a certain amount of Him ... and then thinks he possesses the whole ... In order to convince himself that God is wholly his, he has to go off and kill all the others".
With a story that covers the whole globe and is filled with a wide-ranging and wonderful cast of characters - from Professor Marek, appalled at his own invention, to industrialist GH Bondy who fills the world with Karburators and bits of God even as he himself flees to the high hills, via bargemen, bishops, roustabouts and a humble French soldier who finds himself briefly King of Europe - the beak features all Capek's characteristic wit and humanity, The Absolute at Large is a brilliant, hilarious and prescient satire upon humanity's attitudes towards science, politics and God(s) while taking in religious war and energy crises. As such it is perhaps more relevant to the world we live in now than it has ever been. In the words of GH Bondy himself, "God is far too big ... everyone measures off a certain amount of Him ... and then thinks he possesses the whole ... In order to convince himself that God is wholly his, he has to go off and kill all the others".
Format:Hardcover
This is an interesting idea - and the book has some brilliant concepts and some amusing bits in the way that Capek brings off so brilliantly, but overall it doesn't shock and surprise as much as some of his books. Because I am a huge Capek fan, I really enjoyed it, but I think someone reading his work for the first time might find this a bit hard-going in places.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
45 of 52 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
All books by Capek are required reading for civilised person
18 Sep 1999
By jan
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Perhaps as a companion piece to War with the Newts this one should have been titled War with God, since this book attacks religious intolerance with the same gentle, sad, hilarious ridiculousness that he employed with devastating effect against racial intolerance in Newts. As a novel it violates most every rule of how a "good" novel should be written, in terms of structure, plot, cohesiveness, restraint, character development, etc and as such it is a fine book. And, of course, it is very very Czech.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book, but poorly printed
24 Jun 2011
By Tim
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I agree in part with both of the previous reviews. This was a very good book and I'll read more of Karel Capek. It has a very clever theme and is not only good fiction but a social commentary as well.
However, I would buy the paperback instead of this hardback edition. It has obviously been photocopied and has many defects, including almost no periods at the ends of sentences, very strange spacing and a few duplicated paragraphs. Some pages were truncated at the edges (copy machine), and there were many extraneous marks.
Note that the preview on Amazon is the paperback and does not display those defects.
That being said, it was still readable. If you can't get a better print copy, get this one. It is still readable and the content more than makes up for the defects.
However, I would buy the paperback instead of this hardback edition. It has obviously been photocopied and has many defects, including almost no periods at the ends of sentences, very strange spacing and a few duplicated paragraphs. Some pages were truncated at the edges (copy machine), and there were many extraneous marks.
Note that the preview on Amazon is the paperback and does not display those defects.
That being said, it was still readable. If you can't get a better print copy, get this one. It is still readable and the content more than makes up for the defects.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Abolute at Large
24 Aug 2011
By FuelRack
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Reading the The Absolute at Large, and knowing what we know now and what Capek(the best Czech author of the 20th century) could only imagine in 1922 was fascinating. Here was a man who had just witnessed the crumbling of the Austria Hungarian, German and Russian empires and the enormous waste of human life, especially of young men. Life in Central Europe in the early '20s was bitter and people saw a bleak future and their view of God "the Absolute" was hardly positive. Looking 20 years into a future four years after the end of "The Great War" and foretelling "The Greatest War" between 1944 and 1953 was amazing, and unfortunately very close to what actually happened. But it was Capek's biting satire on how man always believes he is right and others are wrong, especially when it comes to religion, that was especially interesting. The failure of man to think broadly and see the world through other's eyes is a story as old as man. Capek tells the story brilliantly. The book itself is poorly published and obviously photocopied from another source. Buy the paperbook instead of the hard copy.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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