THE WAR WITH THE NEWTS

War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek's darkly humorous allegory ofearly twentieth-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colonyof 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 andtheir wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe forexploitation - they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work nohuman wants to do, and can fight - but the humans have given no thought tothe terrible consequences of their action