A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller Jr.
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Book Reviews of A Canticle for Leibowitz
Book Review: Not since high school ...
Summary: 5 Stars
... had I read Canticle for Leibowitz, and read it now because my "school" reading group included undergraduates who had never read it. The book is, of course, far, far better than I could possibly have grasped as an adolescent. It stands up remarkably well to the passage of time, and remains a memorable read.
It raised, for us, three areas of discussion that proved valuable.
1) How fearful should one be now that a nuclear apocalypse is possibly around the corner? It is easy to mock the excesses of my youth in the 1950's ("Duck and cover!"). But I was dismayed to discover how little attention to the still-very-real threat is found in undergraduates. The proliferation of nuclear weapons, even though Saddam had none, is terrifying, and we have done little or nothing about it for many years.
2) The portrayal of the Catholic Church is highly illuminating., At first you think, Those idiots, don't they know they're making a Jew into a saint? But then one thinks a little, and notes that the Church has indeed survived as an institution when little else has ... again! And that part of the secret of its success is that it steals from others, like the holiday of Christmas. (Did you know that in the 4th century A.D., they had _no idea at all_ of the month in which Jesus had been born, and chose that day because it was a popular Roman holiday, celebrating the Birth of the Glorious Sun? and that the holiday is truly far more ancient than that?
3) So what causes a Dark Age? What survives during one? What does it take to start a Renaissance? Canticle ... raises such fascinating questions, and does a credible job of dealing with them.
In short, a fine read and an intellectually provocative one.
Book Review: Charming, Sad, Horrifying, Funny
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an examination of the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust and the struggle between religion and rational thought. Others have reviewed this in detail, so I'll just say that it's charming, sad, horrifying, and quite funny. I and most others I know who have read this consider the first part the best, but the other two acts have their charm as well.
Other reviews here cover the book in detail, but from discussing this with other people who have read it, there are three major points to keep in mind:
- This is dry humor, with no laugh track. It's counting on you to keep up. Do so and it will reward you. The funniest bits are the most understated. It will also help to be able to parse some basic Latin as there are a few untranslated jokes, but it's not required. You will also find many, many correspondences and references from act to act if you're paying attention.
- The religious angle is very strong, but if you have a kneejerk reaction towards or against Catholicism, don't be blinded. The author himself was very conflicted and there is no 'winner' here. You will find much here to love and hate about both blind faith and progress at all costs, especially in the final act - and that's how it should be.
- The Cold War mentality here is a bit alien now, but keep in mind this was written in the early 1960s when everyone was convinced imminent nuclear war with the Soviet Union was inevitable (in fact as far as I know this is the first major post-nuclear holocaust book, but I wouldn't swear to that). This is probably the most dated aspect of the book, but the other aspects are universal.
This is well worth the read if you're old enough to comprehend it.
Book Review: A truly great book--one you must read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had read "Canticle" ages ago as a teenager, but after reading "The Day After Tomorrow", a slam bang thriller that was fun apocalyptic fiction, I was tempted to re-read "Canticle" to compare it.
Was I ever surprised.
"Canticle" is the story, not of one man, but of humanity itself after nuclear war has utterly destroyed civilization. Mankind went through a frenzy of book burning after the nuclear holocaust, machines were destroyed, and only a few monks hidden in the desert were left to memorize old texts and save whatever fragments they could find.
By the time the book begins, one of these monks, Brother Francis, stumbles across an ancient nuclear shelter. "To find a bit of the past which had escaped both the bonfires and the looting scavengers was a rare stroke of luck" (p 30).
Miller works out humanity's destiny with brilliant logic and real insight into human behavior. So many of the apocalyptic books are fun, but never convincing because the author's never delve into what drives men.
Miller mixes his story with plenty of humor. For example, towards the end of the book, which is many centuries after Brother Francis, another monk in the desert glares at his new electronic Autoscribe and complains, "'Nothing could be that perverse without premeditation...It knows good and evil...and it chose the latter'" (p 241).
Miller's real question is whether or not humanity can avoid destroying itself again, once the nuclear genie is out of the bottle.
Expect wonderful writing, symbols, deep questions, and one wandering Jew.
This one is worth your time.
Book Review: Monotonous but thought provoking
Summary: 3 Stars
The premise is fascinating: A nuclear war in the 20th century sends surviving humanity back into a second Dark Age. 18 centuries later, humanity is finally modernized again to a point roughly 2 centuries more advanced than the height of the prior civilization (complete with space travel to other solar systems), only to fall again in a second nuclear war. Relics and information from prior to the first nuclear war are preserved and protected by a succession of Catholic monks.
The novel begins 600 years after the first war. It ends with the second war 1200 years later (or 1800 years after the first war). It is ultimately a story of the peculiar self-destructive cycle of the human race seen through the eyes of the monks and abbots of the strict Catholic Church.
What a fascinating idea! Unfortunately, I found it hard to get through. It bogged down in philosophical discourse complete with annoying passages of Latin. Sorry, but I didn't feel abliged to follow along with a translator. The writing was a little too "creative" and high-and-mighty for my taste. The person who wrote the intro in the copy I had made the claim that there was a difference between "fiction" and "literature" and Canticle for Leibowitz falls into the rarified air of "literature." Why, just because of the Latin and convoluted prose? I don't think so.
Still, it was just good enough to hold my attention and I closed the book feeling entertained if a bit annoyed. I have to admit that the subject matter and the 1200 year timeline must have made for a challenging writing project for the author. And, somehow he makes it work--just.
Book Review: On everyone's "Top 10 Best SF" list -- and for good reason
Summary: 5 Stars
There are certain classic science fiction novels that everyone with any claim to being an sf fan absolutely must have read -- and this is one of them. Now fifty years old, it's still one of the most original and most literary post-holocaust novels every written. The setting is the Utah desert a couple of centuries after everything ended -- and we're never told how, but given the era in which Miller was writing, it's easy to imagine. For all that civilization has mostly failed, the Catholic Church has just kept on going, and Brother Francis Gerard is spending Lent as a hermit in search of a true vocation. He stumbles upon a fallout shelter (no one is sure any longer just what sort of beast a "fallout" is but it's probably unpleasant) and a sealed metal toolbox which turns out to include a grocery list and a couple of electronics blueprints signed by the Blessed Leibowitz -- the patron of Brother Francis's own monastery. His life become wrapped up in copying one of the blueprints on vellum as a gift for the Holy Father, but only tragedy follows. That's only the first part of the monastery's story, however, as the world tries to climb back up out of the abyss. Will it all come to an end again? Because this is a cautionary tale, written with gentle humor and fully realized characters. I read this book in high school when it was first published (one of my English teachers was a secret sf fan) and it had such an effect on me that when I decided to publish a fanzine a two decades later, my first choice as a title was THE POET'S GLASS EYE. If you haven't read this book, do so. Immediately. If you have, but it's been awhile, read it again.