War with the Newts
Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited
Published: 2010
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9780141192703
Subjects: Allegories
Description: "War with the Newts" 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.