 | |
| Author | Frigyes Karinthy |
|---|---|
| Original title | Capillária. |
| Translator | Paul Tabori |
| Cover artist | Lilla Lóránt |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Corvina Press |
Publication date | 1921 |
| Publication place | Hungary |
Published in English | 1965 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Preceded by | Voyage to Faremido |
Capillaria (Hungarian: Capillária, 1921) is a fantasy novel by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy, which depicts an undersea world inhabited exclusively by women and recounts, in a satirical vein reminiscent of the style of Jonathan Swift, the first time that men and women experience sex with one another.
Expressing a pessimistic view of gender relations, the novel is set in a world where women, portrayed as emotional and illogical, dominate men, the creative, rational force within humanity who represent the builders of civilization.
The males, known as "bullpops", are of small stature. They spend their time building and rebuilding tall, complex, suggestively phallic[citation needed] towers that the gigantic women destroy as quickly as these structures are erected. Meanwhile, the females engage in sexual adventures, surviving by eating the brains of the miniature men, who have become little more than personified male genitals.
The undersea kingdom is mentioned in the comic book version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.[full citation needed]
A readily available summary of the relatively rare novel's plot is provided in The Dictionary of Imaginary Places.[1]
- ^ Manguel, Alberto, and Gianni Guadalupi. The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. New York, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1980, p. 66-8