Description
It is seldom that a practical guide to gardening attains the level of a literary masterpiece, still more seldom that a book on gardening can amuse and instruct even those who have no garden to plant., nor the faintest interest in acquiring one. The Gardener’s Year is a charismatic product of Karel Capek’s genius: amusing, informative, and full of a quizzical interest in people, animals and plants.
In this new version, Geoffrey Newsome –the highly acclaimed translator of Capek’s witty Letters from England –has captured the grace and irony of the original Czech, to produce a volume that will be treasured equally by those who love gardening as a relaxation, by those who loathe it as a chore, and by those who have no interest in it whatsoever.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Translator’s note
How Gardens Are Laid Out
How a Gardener Comes into Being
The Gardner’s January
Seeds
The Gardner’s February
On the Art of Gardening
The Gardner’s March
Buds
The Gardner’s April
Festival
The Gardner’s May
Blessed Rain
The Gardner’s June
On Vegetable Growers
The Gardner’s July
A Botanical Chapter
The Gardner’s August
On Cactus Growers
The Gardner’s September
Soil
The Gardner’s October
On the Beauties of Autumn
The Gardner’s November
Preparation
The Gardner’s December
On the Gardening Life
Explanatory Notes
Afterword
A Chronology of Karel Capek
A Brief Chronology of Josef Capek
Author(s)
Karel Capek, Karel Capek was a Czech novelist and playwright of international and enduring fame. Among his other works are The Life of Insects, Hordubal, and Nine Fairy Tales.
Reviews
'Karel Capek's distillation of the agony and the ecstasy that runs through every gardener's year has been beautifully translated by Geoffrey Newsome.' John Patten, Country Life, August 2003
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Review in Hortus, No. 67, Autumn 2003
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'Capek is observant about nature and perceptive about people. Universal truths hover behind the gentle self-mockery. Labour, patience, humility and hope are really the themes of this beguiling writer. How lovely to meet him the pages of such a charming little book' ~ The Spectator, 2003
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'Capek's The Gardener's Year is a celebration of the virtues of being close to the soil...The Gardener's Year...is perfect vacation reading for the gardener and nongardener...It's sunny with a hint of a breeze and just a small cloud the size of a man's hand.' ~ Barbara Day, The Prague Post, 06/08/2006
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'...The Gardener's Year, excellently translated by Geoffrey Newsome, is a work of great charm and considerable subtlety...' ~ Miranda Seymour, The Literary Review, September 2003
Miranda Seymour,