R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)Karel ČapekOmniClassics · Literature
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)
Karel ČapekA factory's artificial workers turn the dream of effortless prosperity into a crisis of human purpose.
Progress is saved in this browser
About the book
Helena Glory arrives at Rossum's Universal Robots hoping to advocate for the manufactured workers whose labor is transforming the world. The factory's managers explain their ambitions with confidence: cheaper production and tireless workers should release human beings from necessity. But the robots are living manufactured beings rather than ordinary metal machinery, and the decisions made about their capacities carry consequences that commercial enthusiasm fails to grasp. Through conversations, reversals, and an expanding sense of danger, the play asks what remains of humanity when work, creation, and responsibility are delegated. This English version credits Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair. Its theatrical compression brings industrial calculation, humanitarian concern, and competing definitions of life into direct confrontation.
- Labor and automation
- Creation and responsibility
- Definitions of humanity
Why read it
A sharply staged argument about the promises of labor-saving technology and the purposes those promises leave unresolved.
English version by Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair