One of my favorites. Canticle is a great read, with an enjoyable plot. But it's much much more than that. There is a deeper meaning here about the ultimate nature of humanity. The book shows what good humanity can do when the forces of religion, science and politics work together. It shows how we can destroy ourselves when these forces turn against each other. It shows why each force is essential and it shows what happens when each force is twisted. And the apology against suicide that encompasses the third act is all the more heartbreaking given the author's own suicide. It is a shame Miller could not overcome his own demons, because undoubtedly this book has helped others overcome theirs. ( )

This a novel consisting of three books, book one, Fiat Homo, concerns Brother Francis Gerard of Utah, his discovery of the sacred document of Liebowitz and his subsequent life and travails. In this book we learn that civilisation has been all but destroyed in a nuclear war, and following the fallout came the destruction of learning and technology by the survivors - the 'simplification'. Many years later the church is the only international power and churches have also been the last redoubt of books and technology, where they are held as religious icons and venerated. Brother Francis, belongs to the Albertian Order of Liebowitz. When this bumbling novice finds an original Leibowitz document, a blueprint, in a fallout shelter great political events are put in motion.

In his spare time Francis takes this blueprint, a circuit diagram, and illumniates it producing beautiful religious relic, which will eventually cause his death.

Book two, Fiat Lux, some states are now civilised and technology is being re-developed, there is a struggle between the secular and divine for control of the remaining pre-war knowledge.

Book three, Fiat Voluntas Tua, it is clear that there will be nuclear war again and a small mission from the Order of Lieborwitz join a papal mission to the stars to carry the work of God and man to other worlds and away from a doomed earth.

Written at the height of the cold war, this book is a satire on politics and religion, although the church, in this book, is on the whole a force for good. The story of Brother Francis' life, told in the first book, is very funny, the best part of the story, I think. ( )

Probably my favorite post-apocalyptic novel, greatly enhanced by a historical perspective and its view of the monastic orders' role in conserving human knowledge and culture. ( )

Probably my favorite post-apocalyptic novel, greatly enhanced by a historical perspective and its view of the monastic orders' role in conserving human knowledge and culture. ( )

I read this book when I was fairly young, and it made a big impression on me. For the first time, I got an inkling that what has come before will be repeated. It made the study of history far more engaging, because I had come to realize that human activity follows discernible patterns.

If this book were assigned to more middle school and high school students, more of them might graduate with more appreciation for history. But of course, history would also have to be taught as more than a series of disassociated events with famous names attached to them. ( )

Comparing the United States to the Roman Empire seems to be a fashionable thing to do lately. And the argument is certainly not without merit. As the only superpower left its natural to make judgments based on the worlds great empires and to ask if we are making the same mistakes that caused their downfalls. The real question, of course, is whether we can learn from history in order to avoid those same mistakes.

Which is just another way to say that I recently read A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller, Jr. Published in 1960, the book may be best described as a work of “Catholic science fiction.” It follows the travails of a monastery in a post-apocalyptic world where, following a massive nuclear war, humanity turns against intellectuals and learning in a great “Simplification.” Books are burned, universities torn down and the general populace intentionally becomes illiterate in the hopes that another “Flame Deluge” may be averted. The monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz (ironically, and unintentionally, abbreviated to AOL) have been charged with protecting what writings they are able to smuggle into their great collection (the “Memorabilia”) in the hope that humanity might one day be ready to accept them again.

The book is divided into three sections, each separated by 600 years. The first deals with a young postulant’s discovery of relics of Blessed Leibowitz, whose cause for canonization has been opened. The second chronicles the arrival at the monastery of Thon Taddeo, the age’s greatest secular thinker, and the world’s re-discovery of the treasures hidden there. In the last part humanity is once again threatened by the re-development of nuclear weapons and the Church must decide how best to preserve the world’s knowledge and ensure the survival of future generations.

One of Miller’s main themes is the cyclical nature of history: in forgetting its own past, the world inadvertently makes its second annihilation possible. Miller makes a fairly explicit comparison between ignorance and violence on the one hand and knowledge and peace on the other. The tribal factions of the outside world are constantly at odds, fighting over territory, food and other resources. They are unable to work together and, as a result, can build nothing of lasting value.

Yet there is still hope in the form of community. By maintaining their connection to the past — by remembering who they are and passing on that knowledge to future generations — the monks are able to keep their charge for over 1200 years while, all around them, empires rise, reign and fall. It is the thankless dedication of generations of monks that allows humanity to pull itself from a second Dark Age.

The book also highlights the perennial struggle between science’s pursuit of fact, the state’s pursuit of power and faith’s search for truth. This is especially evident in the second part, during which Thon Thaddeo is at odds with the Order over access to the Memorabilia (he wants to relocate the archive to make them more readily accessible to other scientists) and in the third part in which the state sanctions euthanasia camps for radiation victims. How the monks deal with these threats to their mission says a great deal about how and why the Church pursues knowledge (as opposed to science and the state).

Although it met with mixed reaction upon its release, A Canticle for Leibowitz went on to win a Hugo Award and is now considered a modern classic in science fiction. I highly recommend it to any fan of the genre or anyone interested in the mission of the Church, even in the most trying of times. ( )

I picked up this book because I read a review earlier this year of [Anathem] (#7 of this year) that was kind of negative about Anathem, saying that it was a rip off of books like [[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]. Since I loved Anathem, especially the idea behind it, of one group of society safeguarding history and science from another, I wanted to read this book too.

I found that knowing a bit about the background of the author, Walter M. Miller, who was an Army Air Force pilot and flew a bomber at the bombing of Monte Cassino. Knowing he experienced that makes reading the book even clearer.

The story itself is short and divided over three periods. Miller doesn't go as deep into the story as for example Neal Stephenson did in Anathem, but that's because that isn't the point. The beauty of the book is in the ideas behind it, the idea of cyclic history.

Although this book is generally classified as science fiction, it isn't hard science fiction. The focus of the story is a monastery, low tech. I think this makes the book also good for people who don't like the Star Wars/Star Trek type of science fiction books.

There was also a beautiful librarian quote in it; I will put that in this post tonight, when I am home and can grab the book again to look it up. ( )

Post-apocalyptic fiction can be well written, after all. This is a great, original look at ideas and scenarios that we've seen treated in the same predictable ways over and over.It is the 500 year story of the monks of a Catholic abbey in the American southwest 40 generations after a 20th century nuclear holocaust. The Order of Leibowitz are the self appointed preservationists of the knowledge of the great ancient civilization, a vocation they must practice in secret. Survivors of the nuclear war pledged to eliminate all "knowledge" that had led to the horror, and salvaging what they could from this great "Simplification" behind their abbey walls was the project of the Order. The story of the independent re-emergence of the scientific ways that were lost is the test of the good intentions of the Order and all those who adhere to the axiom "knowledge is good." For me this is the most important question of all, but it is only one of many universal dilemmas raised throughout the bookMiller's is a richly illustrated world of three widely separated generations of residents of the abbey, which teasingly blends realism and elements of the supernatural. His effortless storytelling puts this far above anything else I've read in this genre. ( )

An amazing book; written at a time (1959) when humans were dealing more explicitly with the possibility of annihilation through nuclear war. In a way it is an expansion of the idea "The main question a person has to face is whether to kill himself." Can humanity resist using the weapons it has at hand? Or are we fated to use them out of our greed, hatred, and fear?

The novel takes place at three distinct times after the first nuclear war decimates the earth in the 20th century. The church gathers the remnants of civilization as it has in past Dark Ages. But will humanity learn from its mistakes, knowing the costs of nuclear war? This is what the characters in the book struggle with. There are no easy answers. ( )

Since I've been on my dystopian kick I picked this beat up copy up. It wasn't what I expected. I don't feel that it was a dystopian novel more a pos apocalyptic one. It was a different take than the other PA novels I've read or heard about. Instead of being about the regrowth of the political system it was more of the rise of the church. I feel that the last fifteen pages summed up the whole gist of the book. That state, often mentioned as Ceaser and the church can not function together as one unit. The most extensive example of this is when the subject of euthanasia comes to the front. Whether or not the body should suffer so the soul can be free or that the physical suffering is too much to bear and the need for euthanasia is needed.
All in all I'd say a good novel, if a few pages too long. ( )

Apocalypse fiction split into three tales shadowing the fall, slow rise and fall of the human race. Heavy with portent and grim, has lovely descriptions of post nuclear-war mythology plus an endearing, awful prophet.

First of all, let me say that if you haven't had a catholic education this could be hard going, the rites & rituals of the catholic church feature heavily as does the use of vulgate latin.

Huge nuclear war, civilization almost destroyed, the survivors then go about blaming science & learning for the catastrophe and the usual bonfire of books occurs. The order of monks founded by Leibowitz do what they can to save the past with the memorabilia (there is a very obvious parallel here with the role of Celtic monasteries in the dark ages). The abbey is in the desert and sends its novices out to survive over lent and test their vocation. One novice meets and old pilgrim, who shows him where to find an ideal rock for his shelter, which he marks up in Hebrew. The novice then finds a small cache of documents one of them seemingly written by Leibowitz himself. What follows is an interesting tale of church politics & a society despertly scrabbling to regain knowledge. The book then jumps forward to a renaisance type society, where the tension between church & state is explored alongside that between faith & knowledge. Finally the book leaps forward again, to an advanced society, where despite the lessons of the past it looks like history is going to be repeating itself.

Through all of this there are bits & peices of linkage, the wandering Jew (is it perhaps Liebowitz himself ?) the statue of the Saint carved by one of the brothers in the first part, the abbey & memorabilia, and the poet.

Apparently the author was involved in the attack on Monte Cassino in WWII and that's where the idea came from. Its a beautifully realised picture of a post apocalypse future, where the patterns of the past are evident, stir in the mystery of the Jewish pilgrim and a couple of pointers to the reader and you have this, possibly under known book. If you remember the cold war or like post apocalypse fiction this book is a must, don't let teh atin & the church put you off ( )

Written in 1959, this post-apocalyptic science fiction book won the Hugo award in 1961 for the best novel. For a book meant to evoke the apprehension of a nuclear war and worldwide conflagration (much more common and topical in the late 1950’s than today), it has held up rather well.

The book assumes that very few humans survived a nuclear war in the early 1960’s and that the survivors have little or no record or recollection of how it came about. Moreover, their technology 600 years after the war has deteriorated to the level of the first Dark Ages. Survivors of the nuclear holocaust had gone on a murderous rampage destroying everyone deemed responsible, not only including political leaders but also scientists, teachers, technicians, and other intelligentsia. Books were also burned as part of this “Simplification.”

The Catholic Church, however, seems to have survived in a very recognizable form. In the southwest desert, some of them built a monastery and scriptorium dedicated to preserving knowledge by hiding books, smuggling them to safety (booklegging), memorizing, and copying them. It was named after its founder, the Blessed Martyr Leibowitz (who was burned to death by angry mobs).

A novice from the monastery, Brother Francis, while on a vigil in the desert, encounters a mysterious pilgrim who leads him to the site of a hitherto undiscovered fall-out shelter. When Brother Francis stumbles down into it, he finds numerous documents, even one for circuit design by “Leibowitz, I.E.” The monks have no idea whatsoever concerning what a circuit design might be, but the reference to Leibowitz is earth shaking. Rumors start that the unknown hermit could have been the Blessed Leibowitz himself. The abbot of the monastery is a wise old codger, who is not ready to admit the newly discovered documents into the order’s “Memorabilia” without a rigorous test of authenticity. The new documents might just be enough to qualify Blessed Leibowitz for canonization. After several years of review by the Dominicans as devil’s advocate, Blessed Leibowitz becomes a serious candidate for sainthood.

The story picks up 600 years later. Humanity has made some technological progress, but has not yet come close to the level of the 1960’s. The monks of now Saint Leibowitz have maintained their Memorabilia, but have focused more on their preservation than on sharing the documents for the advancement of knowledge. A secular power has arisen in the East, and one of its scholars, Thon Taddeo, is aware of the existence of the Memorabilia and comes to the monastery to study them. His perusal of the documents in the scriptorium enables him to draw inferences in physics that otherwise would not have been possible.

Several interesting debates ensue about the role of science and the danger presented by science in the hands of an aggressive secular power and the respective roles of Church and State. Successive abbots wonder why history must always repeat itself. The second third of the book closes with a general premonition of impending war.

The narrative then jumps many more years into the future. The world has a very advanced technology, but the monastery is still in place, though much augmented. News reports say there have been two nuclear explosions, but no one wants to admit who was responsible. The major powers confer and call for a ceasefire that is ultimately violated. The monks learn that the level of radioactive fall-out in their area is increasing rapidly. Many refugees begin to arrive on the grounds of the monastery and government agents arrive to administer euthanasia to victims of radiation poisoning.

The final chapters of the book deal with the confrontation between the abbot of the monastery and a government doctor. The abbot argues that assisted killing is wrong but the doctor declares that “Pain is the only evil I know about.” At the conclusion, a large explosion rips the abbey, and the abbot is buried from the waist down, unable to extricate himself. He discovers just how hard it is to continue living without hope and in great pain.

The pilgrim we meet at the beginning of the book keeps reappearing. He seems to stand for all Jews, still searching for a Messiah.

Because its themes have been copied so much the book may not seem as imaginative at first glance as it was when written. The characters are well-wrought and the moral issues are nicely framed without becoming overly tendentious. The atmosphere, the role, and the moral position of the Church are consistently portrayed and accurate. The story line of the book is not nearly as important as its mood, which is distinctly noir.

(JAB)

Dissent by JAF:

My husband may not have minded the excessive amount (to me) of passages in Latin, since he passed much of his education in Catholic schooling. I however, did not understand much of the prayers and thought they could have been edited out quite nicely. I also found the religious and philosophical debates overly prolix and ultimately boring. Compare this book to one like On the Beach. The theme is the same, even the end is the same, but the route to get there is vastly more entertaining. ( )

The story of humanity's rise and fall after a nuclear disaster changes the face of the world.

Like the best classic science fiction, this book is about ideas. Miller thrusts us into one hell of a "what if" scenario and runs with it. I must say, I was quite impressed with the end product. It's broken into three parts, each of which takes place about six hundred years after the previous segment. This doesn't give the reader much of a chance to get to know the characters, but it does give Miller an effective platform from which to develop his themes. He does so very, very well.

On a technical level, the prose is readable and occasionally quite funny. The world is realistically delineated, and the characterization is really quite good given how little time we spend with each of these people. I found it easy to sink into the book. This was never a struggle to read. It was often quite a pleasure.

I did feel that the last segment, in which Miller takes a decidedly more science fictiony approach, was a bit weak compared to the previous two. This is likely just my own bias coming through, though; I'm not terribly big on sci fi, as a general rule.

I'm glad I gave the book a try, though. It was certainly worth it. I doubt I'll ever feel the need to revisit it, but I'm happy to have read it. Recommended. ( )

Absolutely fantastic. The only seminal classic of apocalyptic fiction which has undeniable literary merit, A Canticle for Leibowitz succeeds brilliantly on several levels. Must own for fans of the subgenre, and must read for everyone else. ( )

Publication date: 1960
Original language: English



Summary


The novel begins some six centuries after nuclear war destroyed twentieth-century civilisation. The anti-scientific backlash which followed this disaster led to almost total illiteracy amongst the survivors, who murdered intellectuals and destroyed books. The monastic order of Leibowitz was founded in the American desert to try to preserve learning by smuggling books to safe places and making copies of them. The circumstances behind the founding of the order and the identity of the iconic Leibowitz are slowly revealed as the novel progresses.


A Canticle for Leibowitz is split into three sections. The first, Fiat Homo, describes the discovery of some relics of the Blessed Leibowitz in a fallout shelter in the desert. The second, Fiat Lux, set in the year 3174, chronicles the beginning of a Renaissance, as half-remembered scientific and technical knowledge is picked up by scholars. The final section, Fiat Voluntas Tua, begins in 3781. Nuclear weapons and space travel have been redeveloped, and the two superpowers of the third millennium, the Atlantic Confederacy and the Asian Coalition, are at a very fragile standoff. The development of the situation depends on mankind’s ability to listen to reason and to learn from its mistakes.



Why you must read this book


Even those who hate sci-fi will admit that this is a classic. The transcendent themes of cyclicality and the inescapable nature of history is beautifully dramatised here, alongside the eternal question of the value of learning. The brutality of the post-war “Simplification”, in which the literate are murdered and their books burned, is chilling, and yet we are called to question whether the arrogance and greed of the twentieth century nuclear powers was – or is – any less inhuman. The critique of technological advancement for its own sake may have become almost cliché to us, but this novel demands that we make that critique without irony and bearing in mind the real political consequences of our social setup.


Miller has an amazing depth of understanding of human nature and uses it to provide a narrative which never once rings false in its presentation of characterisation and motivation. The grand sweep of political history and the relationship between Church and State form a solid background to the novel, yet it is in the minutiae of everyday life for the monks of the Order of Leibowitz that the real pathos and drama are revealed.


Apart from being a rare sci-fi literary classic, however, this is also an absolute page-turner. The story is inexorable and it is almost impossible to break off from reading it.



If you liked this, you'll love...


The Children of Men by P. D. James
I am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1166955...

I have loved this book since I read it for the first time as a teenager attending a convent school. It won the Hugo in 1961, and traces the rise and renewed fall of human civilisation after a nuclear holocaust in three snapshots of crucial moments in the history of a monastery, the resting place of much of human knowledge which has otherwise been lost (in an anti-intellectual reaction to the original war). It does not wear its learning lightly and I am glad that there is a reader's guide readily available.

How things have changed since the late 1950s! On the one hand, we no longer accept the inevitability of the destruction of civilisation by nuclear war (which Miller has happening not once but twice). The Cold War seemed inevitable and unescapable in 1959, and indeed for most of the next three decades. We have different concerns now.

On the other hand, it's difficult to imagine a serious writer today taking such a positive view of the Church. Benedict XVI is very different from John XXIII; the Vatican has boxed itself in politically. There is a greater tension now than then between religion and science, thanks to the foolishness of the religious right on the one side and the determination of Richard Dawkins to miss the point on the other; Miller's understanding of the Church's role in the Dark Ages has itself been weakened (though not totally disproved) by later scholarship. And Miller is able to largely ignore sex and women in his novel, which I think would be impossible for anyone writing about the Church today.

For all that, it's a great book, and rightly won the Hugo in 1961 (of its rivals, I've read Budrys' Rogue Moon and Anderson's The High Crusade) Miller explores faith, history, tradition, political engagement, the advancement of science, and grace; and does it all with a wry and sympathetic humour. The Wandering Jew who pops up from time to time in the narrative is thought by some romantics to have been inspired by Judith Merrill, but clearly comes from many sources (and is occasionally the author's own viewpoint). And there is the continuing enigma of Mrs Grales at the end.

It is sad that this was basically the end of Miller's literary career. He seems to have agonised for thirty-five years over Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman before ending his own life, and never published another story. ( )

In yet another detour from my reading plans, I have also re-read Canticle for Leibowitz. Yet another book from my past, it came up in conversation recently, and again, my failing memory prompted me to re-read it.

What a fabulous book, but what a lot of loose ends! What happened to Benjamin the hermit? Was he Leibowitz? Did the world get destroyed? Yet AGAIN, with the magic of Google I discover that there is a sequel to this book, which Miller was writing when he died, and finished posthumously. So that's another book I have to read once I can get hold of a copy.

I'm sure this book has a message for Librarians? Perhaps that we shouldn't ignore our role in conserving knowledge for the generations to come? Defend that knowledge from the barbarians, even by the sword? But not forget that it needs to be used and not just locked away for posterity? But, that if ancient knowledge is released into the secular world, mankind will probably end up destroying the planet? I wonder if somewhere in the world there is an order of Librarian monks preserving the words of Paris Hilton for the benefit of generations to come? If there is, just remember to shred the blueprints for the nuclear weapons, guys!

Read this book if you like science-fiction, theology, or wry humour. (Or stories featuring immortal hermits and pedal powered electric light-bulbs).

A Canticle for Leibowitz is classic science fiction, a post apocalyptic story set in the American west.

The book follows the tale of a Catholic order founded on the post-apocalyptic St. Leibowitz through three stories, progressively further removed from the Flame Deluge or nuclear holocaust that destroyed earth in the late 20th century.

I particularly enjoyed the first two chapters. Their protagonists for some reasons resonated with me, even though they both died at the end. I also liked following the tale of the order and mankind's "progress" from near starvation to a sense of some sort of order. The final chapter I had a hard time with, perhaps because it was a bit to cliche, as man seemed too willing to fail to follow the lessons of history and repeat his mistakes and suffer the catastrophic consequences.

Lots of interesting word play, lots of Latin. It is worth a second read and I don't say that about many books. ( )

After the nuclear holocaust known as the Flame Deluge, all knowledge and holders of knowledge were destroyed in the Great Simplification. Isaac Edward Leibowitz, an engineer, seeks refuge and permission to preserve what knowledge he can from the Catholic Church, the only surviving organizational institution. A Canticle for Leibowitz revisits this world at 600 year intervals after the death of the founder of a desert abbey and the Albertian Order of Leibowitz. The first interval follows the story of Francis as he attempts to become ordained while the Order attempts to canonize Leibowitz. During the second interval, civilization has risen to the level of city-states and science is reemerging as a secular subject. By the third interval, mankind is reaching for the stars, and once again is threatening to destroy themselves via world war. This classic novel of apocalyptic fiction has a less well known sequel, also written by Miller, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman.

After the nuclear holocaust known as the Flame Deluge, all knowledge and holders of knowledge were destroyed in the Great Simplification. Isaac Edward Leibowitz, an engineer, seeks refuge and permission to preserve what knowledge he can from the Catholic Church, the only surviving organizational institution. A Canticle for Leibowitz revisits this world at 600 year intervals after the death of the founder of a desert abbey and the Albertian Order of Leibowitz. The first interval follows the story of Francis as he attempts to become ordained while the Order attempts to canonize Leibowitz. During the second interval, civilization has risen to the level of city-states and science is reemerging as a secular subject. By the third interval, mankind is reaching for the stars, and once again is threatening to destroy themselves via world war. This classic novel of apocalyptic fiction has a less well known sequel, also written by Miller, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman.

http://home.comcast.net/~ktoonen/summ... ( )

With allegorical allusions to the fall of man, his banishment from Eden and man’s propensity to repeat this act over and again no matter the age are all central to the ideas brought forth in “A Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter M. Miller, Jr. While not exactly my cup of tea, Mr. Miller presents a painfully real civilization after a nuclear holocaust in three widely varied stages. It is this change of scenery that enlivens the novel’s prose and promotes rather interesting philosophical debate within Mr. Miller’s work. That I finished this novel while the Antikythera device has been rebuilt was just too good for words. ( )

Cast: monks, barbarians, the Wandering Jew
Timeframe: immediate post-catastrophe through a thousand years of recovery
Mary Sue: Nostalgic Catholics ( )

I can scarcely endure science fiction, but this book is so famous I finally decided I should read it. The author was a Catholic when the book was first published in 1959, but I often felt the book was mocking of Catholic things. In the denouement portentous issues are raised, and if there was some inspiration available to the author it would deserve study, I suppose. I was glad when I was finished with it, however. ( )

In my Youth, one of my very favourites. ( )