Karel Capek - A Guerra das Salamandras

Much has already been said about The War with the Newts (1936): cult book, hilarious philosophical tale, visionary dystopia.

This "satirical vision of abyssal madness," according to Thomas Mann, dates back to the moment when, off the island of Tana Masa, Captain Van Toch discovers intelligent salamanders, affable and cordial creatures, far from imagining that they would change the world. Soon, these "workers of the sea" are at the center of a lucrative world trade, become scientific guinea pigs and attractions in zoos, victims of well-intentioned Societies for the Salamander Question and heralds of global communism, are lynched in the USA and the subject of tabloid polls ("Do Salamanders Have Souls?"). The entire salamander class will then set its sights on humanity and, following its example, claim the planet. War with the Newts is not only Karel Čapek's masterpiece, published amidst the rise of Nazism, but also the story of a self-inflicted wound by our own species and an epic disaster gleefully fueled by international greed and human folly.