The Gardener's Year

From the internationally acclaimed Czech writer Karel Capek comes this beautifully written and marvelously apt account of the trials and tribulations of the gardener's life. First published in Prague in 1929,The Gardener's Yearcombines a richly comic portrait of life in the garden, narrated month by month, with a series of delightful illustrations by the author's older brother and collaborator, Josef. Capek's gardenersall too human, despite their lofty aspirationsoften look the fool, whether they be found sopping wet, victims of the cobralike water hose, or hunched over, hands immersed in the soil, "presenting their rumps to the splendid azure sky." In their repeated folly, Capek gives us not only cause for laughter but also, in the end, "testimony of the imperishable and miraculous optimism of the human race." This Modern Library edition is published with a new Introduction by Verlyn Klinkenborg, aNew York Timeseditorialist and the author ofMaking HayandThe Last Fine Time.

<b>Karen Capek</b> is widely considered the greatest Czech author of the first half of the twentieth century. A novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist, he was a strong dissident voice during the period of fascist buildup in Europe between the World Wars. Most famous for his play <i>R.U.R.</i>, which coined the word “robot,” he wrote a number of satires, as well as the utopian fantasy novel <i>War with the Newts</i>. He died in 1938.<br><br><b>Michael Pollan </b>is the author of the <i>New York Times</i> bestseller <i>The Botany of Desire</i> and <i>Second Nature</i>, named one of the best gardening books of the twentieth century by the American Horticultural Society. He is a contributing editor to <i>Harper’s</i> magazine and a contributing