Meteor by Karel Capek

Clairvoyant character study

Meteor, a novel by Czech author Karel Capek, was originally published in 1934. The title of the work and Capek’s reputation as the author of the futuristic play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) might lead one to believe that this is a science fiction novel, but it is not. The “meteor” in question is metaphorical, not literal. This is the second novel of Capek’s Noetic Trilogy, in which Meteor follows Hordubal and precedes An Ordinary Life. I do not know enough about Capek’s work to explain what “noetic” means in this case or why these three novels with unrelated stories are considered a trilogy, but I have read Hordubal and enjoyed it so I expected good things from Meteor.

The plot of Meteor takes place largely within a hospital in an unspecified location in Europe. The “meteor” that the title refers to is a patient in this hospital, the victim of a plane crash, who fell out of the sky in a ball of fire. He is unconscious, burnt beyond recognition, and bears no identification, therefore nothing is known about the man. His past is a blank slate and thus fuel for speculation among those who come in contact with the patient, who is referred to as Case X. A doctor and a specialist make inferences about the man’s recent past based on his medical condition. A nun attending the patient has visions of him speaking to her in her dreams, revealing details of his life. Another patient in the hospital is a man known to have the gift of clairvoyance, who is able to “feel” aspects of the mystery man’s personality and past experiences. Lastly, the doctor has a friend who is a poet (though “poet” probably should have been translated as “author,” since we only find him writing prose fiction rather than poetry). Overcome with curiosity over this unusual case, the writer crafts his imagined life of Case X into a novella. Thus, the reader comes to know the protagonist through second-hand perspectives that are suspect for their subjective and speculative natures.

Meteor is quite captivating and intriguing as one begins to learn about Case X. The possibilities of this man’s past gradually expand as the nun and the clairvoyant elaborate upon his identity. The book takes a turn for the worse, however, when the poet chimes in, and unfortunately his narrative occupies at least half the book. This writer crafts a somewhat formulaic melodrama around Case X. Though skillfully done, it is not as interesting as the first half of Meteor, which promises a more unconventional novel. While the poet relates his fiction to the doctor, he also veers into reflective asides about the craft of writing, which feel like self-indulgent digressions only a writer could love. Capek himself is a far better writer than the fictional author he has created, who comes across a bit hacky. Though the latter half of Meteor doesn’t quite live up to its beginning, it does not descend into mediocrity. This novel is still a strong showing by Capek, but overall it is not as successful a work of literature as Hordubal nor as audacious as R.U.R.

In his homeland, Capek is regarded as the twentieth century master of Czech literature. Though English-language readers primarily know him as a science fiction writer because of a few prominent pioneering works in that genre (R.U.R., War of the Newts, Krakatit), Capek demonstrates in the first two books of his Noetic Trilogy that he is equally adept at portraying the drama of human lives in the real world. I look forward to seeing how he concludes the trilogy with An Ordinary Life.
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