War with the Newts - Rambling Readers

352 pages

English language

Published Nov. 4, 2010 by Penguin Books, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-119270-3

(1 review)

War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek's darkly humorous allegory of early twentieth-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade and use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures and their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation – they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, and can fight – but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.

4 editions

stozzer reviewed War with the Newts by Karel Čapek

Unalloyed vintage sci-fi

4 stars

20th century mankind discovers another species on Earth that is capable of civilization, but it needs some assistance from us. It is going to get messy.

Almost an antique, this story was written in 1936 and may initially give the sense of not having aged very gracefully. Taken as a whole, it proved to be a refreshing and balanced vehicle for delivering a lorry-load of deadpan black humour with a relentless focus on ethical, economical and geopolitical norms that have not lost any currency with the antics of current times. The author makes use of multiple perspectives to put flesh on the bones of a wide cast of players, and quite casually denies the reader of any heroes whatsoever as events inexorably move from quotidian to epic.

Initially the pace seems a bit slow, but this relatively short book suddenly covers a lot of ground without breaking a sweat. I'm …

20th century mankind discovers another species on Earth that is capable of civilization, but it needs some assistance from us. It is going to get messy.

Almost an antique, this story was written in 1936 and may initially give the sense of not having aged very gracefully. Taken as a whole, it proved to be a refreshing and balanced vehicle for delivering a lorry-load of deadpan black humour with a relentless focus on ethical, economical and geopolitical norms that have not lost any currency with the antics of current times. The author makes use of multiple perspectives to put flesh on the bones of a wide cast of players, and quite casually denies the reader of any heroes whatsoever as events inexorably move from quotidian to epic.

Initially the pace seems a bit slow, but this relatively short book suddenly covers a lot of ground without breaking a sweat. I'm left with the impression that the writer had a lot of fun putting this together.

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