Class 1.2 The Makropulos Case

In 1922 Karel Čapek’s play ‘The Makropulos Case’ was first performed in Prague. It was performed in English translation in London in 1930 under the English title ‘The Makropoulos Secret’. Leoš Janáček turned the play into an opera, first performed in Prague in 1926. The plot of the play (and the opera) is the inspiration for a substantial number of articles about immortality published in philosophy in the last fifty years, some of which we will read later this semester. But for now, we are just going to use it to continue to warm up to our topic and deepen our imaginations of what it might be like to be immortal.

The San Francisco Opera performs “The Makropulos Affair” in 2016

Reading

You can find the complete text of the play in English translation here. As you read, ask yourself, “what is the author trying to say about immortality?” “What would it be like to live for over a century while the people around you passed away?” “Which parts of the story ring true for you, and which seem not right? Why?”