53 pages • 1 hour read
War with the Newts
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
War with the Newts by Karel Čapek was originally published in Czech as Válka s Mloky in 1936. The novel has been adapted as a play and a musical, including Kenny Murray and Ken Campbell’s 1981 theatrical version and the 2005 BBC Radio adaptation. Čapek is known for his play R.U.R. (1921), which introduced the word robot to science fiction. He also published several novels before War with the Newts.
Čapek’s experience as a journalist can be seen in the theme How Newspapers Inform and Confuse in War with the Newts. It is a work of classic science fiction with utopian elements that also examines The Horrors of Slavery and The Problems With Nationalism. The title is sometimes translated as The Salamander Wars; the titular salamanders learn to talk, read, and use tools.
This guide cites the 1985 edition of M. and R. Weatherall’s translation, originally published in 1937.
Content Warning: The source material includes language that is antisemitic, including parodic criticisms of white nationalism and Nazism. In its parody of other forms of nationalist prejudice, the text includes negative stereotypes of Cuban and Batak people. The source material also includes discussions of slavery and violence against Black people—including lynching.
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