Item #16013 VALKA S MLOKY [WAR WITH THE NEWTS]. Karel Capek.

VALKA S MLOKY [WAR WITH THE NEWTS].

Praha: Nakladatel Fr. Borovy, 1936. Octavo, pp. [1-8] 9-348 [349-352] [353: ad] [354: blank], preliminaries printed in orange and black, original gray cloth, front panel stamped in brown and back, spine panel stamped in black. First edition. Capek's last novel, published in English in 1937 as WAR WITH THE NEWTS. "WAR WITH THE NEWTS is Capek's greatest work in the utopian genre. Closer to Swift than to Wells, it has a satirical tone absent in R.U.R., and is far less melodramatic. Like the earlier FACTORY FOR THE ABSOLUTE, the novel is a roman feuilleton, and it too appeared serially in Lidove noviny. The loose form of the roman feuilleton allowed Capek great freedom for satire and parody. The novel is a brilliant pastiche of the most diverse kinds of writing: newspaper articles, memoirs, scholarly works, manifestoes, etc. Every conceivable typographic device is employed for comic or satiric effect; there is even an obscure historical note printed in the older Czech type (svabach), as well as an extremely blurred and tiny photograph of the giant newts." - Harkins, Karel Capek, p. 95. "This novel is basically an elaboration of the theme of R.U.R. (1920). The newts are an alien species liberated from their subterranean home by an accident. They begin to learn human ways, and learn them all too well. Eventually they replace their models, providing in the meantime a particularly sharp caricature of human habits and politics. Slightly long-winded, but remains the most effective of Capek's works." - Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 2-17. Aldiss and Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree, p. 179. Anatomy of Wonder (1976) 3-10; (1981) 2-14; (1987) 2-16; and (2004) II-215. Clarke, Tale of the Future (1978), p. 71. Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 191. Lewis, Utopian Literature, p. 39. Survey of Science Fiction Literature V, pp. 2424-28. Bleiler (1978), p. 39. Reginald 02558. 7 mm closed tear to cloth at the head of the spine, a bright nearly fine copy. A scarce book. (16013). Item #16013

Price: $7,500.00

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