#93. RUR & WAR WITH THE NEWTS By Karel Capek

Published : 1920 & 1936
Pages : 349
Overall Mark : 6/10

R.U.R., or Rossum's Universal Robots, is regarded as the most important play in the history of SF. It introduced the word 'robot' and gave the genre one of its most enduring tropes.

Written against the background of the rise of Nazism, War With The Newts concerns the discovery of a sea-dwelling race, which is enslaved and exploited by mankind. In time they rebel, laying siege to the strongholds of their former masters in a global war for supremacy.

KAREL CAPEK (1890-1938)
Karel Capek was one of the most important Czech writers of the twentieth century and a major voice in early European science fiction. His work traversed many genres, and his most famous play, R.U.R., introduced the word 'robot' into popular usage. He died on Christmas Day 1938.

VERDICT
It may just be that the concept of these stories have been lost in translation, but I found these not only difficult to read, but at times padded out with a lot of unneccessary detail. The play's abrupt ending makes me think that Capek was actually becoming bored of the story (not surprisingly), and though War With The Newts was a better thought through concept with some nice focus on the background of the hatred that would lead to the war, it was still at times a little hard to follow.