Vančura's friend, playwright Otokar Fischer died of a heart-attack when he learned about it; Vančura wrote an obituary about him to Literární listy magazine. In 1938, Rodina Horvátova (Horvát Family), a novel about life of three generations of a gentry family was published which did not attract any reader interest, due to the political crisis. In December 1938, Vančura took part in the burial of his friend Karel Čapek, the famous writer.