eBook War with the Newts (Unicorn) ePub

Satire is my favorite genre. And this book is a gem.

Nowhere have I ever found a better description of homo sapiens’s boundless greed, bigotry, stunning thoughtlessness, and utter stupidity.

This book leaves no parts, levels or facets of society unscathed. Karel Capek satirizes science, academia, education, business, politics, fascism, communism, militarism, law, religion, philosophy, racism, journalism, and just about every trait of human nature one can think of. Yet it isn’t all funny. It is also sad and scary. The centre topic of the book is how discrimination leads to exploitation, violence, and cruelty. This will make you cry instead of laugh. And it will make you more cry when you realize that little has changed since 1936, when the book was written.

I wish Karel Capek were still alive and could shoot his satirical arrows at targets in our present world. He wouldn’t have to look very far to find plenty.

This book is a must-read for everyone who is interested in the future of our planet. And I can assure you: In order to achieve an apocalypse, newts won’t be necessary.

I am surprised that this book and its author are quite unknown outside of Czechoslovakia. “War With the Newts” should be a classic. The author’s other works and his life story also deserve more attention. I recommend reading what Wikipedia tells about Karel Capek. Here is the link:

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I also recommend reading Charley Ada’s, more detailed review of “War With the Newts”. Here is the link:

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An indisputable and highly entertaining (although frightening in its predictive accuracy) novel by Czech novelist/playwright Karel Capek. Aside from the brilliant novel War With The Newts (published in 1936), Capek is well-known for his 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) in which the term "robot" was coined and Capek touched on issues ranging from technological effects on mankind's evolution to the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence.

Living in Czechoslovakia (as well as Austria) during the turbulent decades between the First and Second World War, Capek set out to write a comedic, sci-fi novel about an invasion of newts (the tiny, often beautiful little reptile also referred to as salamanders) who begin organizing amongst themselves with plans for methodically infesting and eventually enslaving or destroying the human race. Capek cleverly used the idea of newts as a metaphor for the growth of fascism throughout Europe as well as mans' increasing reliance on environmentally destructive technology. This is most evident when the "Chief Salamander" finally reveals himself and the demands of the newts via radio broadcasts, an obvious nod to Adolf Hitler's hyperbolic speeches. The novel is filled to the brim with underlying political and social satire offering a dire warning of the encroaching threat posed by the growth of fascism, totalitarianism, and over-reliance on technology at the expense of the environment.

Yet even without the very astute, prescient political subtext, War With The Newts is a very entertaining sci-fi tale of a war between man and a seemingly innocuous, but quickly discovered deadly, foe. The quickly reproducing masses of newts allows them to wreak ecological havoc (floods, earthquakes, etc.) on human society. For the first 2/3 of the novel the human population is befuddled by the yet unstated demands or goals of the salamanders. It is not until the "Chief Salamander" announces the choice of servitude or destruction, that the human race awakens to the true scope of their situation.

War With The Newts is probably the most unique piece of political satire (disguised as a simple sci-fi novel) I've ever read. Its characters are memorable, the humor is black, and the story simply fascinating. Capek chose to utilize a unique narrative method, blending second person narration with first person news reports, dispatches, etc., creating a fast paced tale in which the few actual characters pop in an out to provide much of the novel's underlying humor as well as to offer their perspectives (ranging from apathetic to alarmed).

The only bummer about this wonderful work of art is that Capek's warnings went unheeded as shortly after the novel's publication Europe plunged into WW2, Czechoslovakia fell to Hitler's Nazis, totalitarianism in the Soviet Union tightened its grip during and following the war, and man continues to worship technology at the expense of the environment. Which in a sense makes War With The Newts as pertinent today as it was in the 1930's. At just over 240 pages and featuring a VERY high quality translation by Ewald Osers, both R.U.R. and War With The Newts are two of the most visionary, yet sadly lesser known, works of the 20th Century. Written by a man who was frighteningly astute concerning his time (and our present) and who possessed the skills to speak the truth in a blackly humorous, unique, seemingly lighthearted, yet starkly dire way.

Giant Newts are found in the south seas. It's observed they're intelligent, capable of speech and using tools. How to exploit the Newts for human gain is soon discovered. Said "discoveries" spread across the planet and a period of unprecedented prosperity for humans ensues, "The Age of Newts." Various societies to improve the lot of the Newts spring up, schools for Newts are opened. Newts multiply and multiply, eventually finding themselves requiring more habitat to support their growing population. Newt habitat are the shallow coastal shorelines of the world and Newts begin a campaign to increase those. It doesn't end well for humanity.
Capek is a social satirist in the same vein as George Orwell, Jonathan Swift and Jody Scott, but very much a pessimist. The only ray of hope, of redemption in Newts is the postulated possibility that the Newts too will eventually destroy their civilization, for reasons similar to the cause of humanity's downfall, namely "human nature."
In the concluding chapter, The Author Talks with Himself, Capek summarizes the internal dilemma of his own pessimistic prescience, and makes the moral case for social satirists:
"Don't ask me what I want. Do you think that through my will human continents are falling to bits, do you think that I wanted this to happen? It is simply the logic of events; as if I could intervene. I did what I could; I warned them in time... They all had a thousand absolutely sound economic and political reasons why it's impossible. I'm not a politician or an economist; I can't change their opinions, can I? What is one to do? The earth will probably sink and drown; but at least it will be the result of generally acknowledged political and economic ideas, at least it will be accomplished with the help of the science, industry and public opinion, with the
application of all human ingenuity! No cosmic catastrophy, nothing but state, official, economic, and other causes. Nothing can be done to prevent it."
Written in 1936 War with the Newts may seem a tad slow in places for readers of today, weaned as we are on multiple, simultaneous, attention span-eroding streams of constant external input, but the reader willing to enter into the pace of Capek's novel will be rewarded with a story that is funny, sometimes horrifying, often thought-provoking, richly satisfying and still very much relevant, Recommended!
-Mary Whealen