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jazzy_daveKarel Capek "War With The Newts" (Penguin Modern Classics)
This is a very dark satire of the political and ecological situation in the Czech republic before WWII. A colony of newts is discovered, newts that can not only learn to talk, but also to use tools. As mankind discovers their abilities, they start to exploit the new found species. These animals can do work humans can't and they can fight our wars for us. But of course all goes wrong and the newts, lead by the Great Salamander (Hitler?) starting to take over, the consequences of the actions nearly destroy the world.
This story is wonderful and quite surreal. Dark, humorous, absurd and brilliant and ends with a dialogue between the author and himself about a possibly better ending (or not) which in itself is a fantastic bit of writing or metafiction.
The political events in the years leading up to the writing of the novel (it was published in 1936) do shine through the fiction as a dark foretelling of a future. This book is a very good mirror of the society in Europe as it was then but it's also a quite amazing story, full of colour and beautiful prose. Highly recommended.
This is a very dark satire of the political and ecological situation in the Czech republic before WWII. A colony of newts is discovered, newts that can not only learn to talk, but also to use tools. As mankind discovers their abilities, they start to exploit the new found species. These animals can do work humans can't and they can fight our wars for us. But of course all goes wrong and the newts, lead by the Great Salamander (Hitler?) starting to take over, the consequences of the actions nearly destroy the world.
This story is wonderful and quite surreal. Dark, humorous, absurd and brilliant and ends with a dialogue between the author and himself about a possibly better ending (or not) which in itself is a fantastic bit of writing or metafiction.
The political events in the years leading up to the writing of the novel (it was published in 1936) do shine through the fiction as a dark foretelling of a future. This book is a very good mirror of the society in Europe as it was then but it's also a quite amazing story, full of colour and beautiful prose. Highly recommended.
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Date: 2020-06-14 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-14 06:23 pm (UTC)