Product Description

First there was the Fallout, the plagues and the madness. Then the bloodletting of the Simplification began, when the people - those few who were left - turned against the rulers, the teachers and the scientists who had turned the world into a barren desert, where great clouds of wrath had destroyed the forests and the fields. All knowledge was destroyed, all the learned killed - and only Leibowitz managed to save some of his books. And the monks of the Order of Leibowitz kept the sacred relics, copying, illuminating and interpreting the holy fragments, slowly fashioning a new Renaissance in a barbarous and fallen world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3757 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
A monk struggles to preserve spiritual life and wisdom in the years following a nuclear holocaust.

About the Author
Walter M. Miller Jr (1923- 1996) grew up in the American south. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps a month after Pearl Harbor and spent most of the war as a radio operator and gunner, participating in fifty-five combat sorties over Italy and the Balkans, including the assault on Monte Cassino. After the war he studied engineering before turning to writing. A Canticle for Leibowitz won a Hugo, and his only other novel, Leibowitz and the Wild Horsewoman was published posthumously.

Customer Reviews

Sci-fi that isn't
Do you know many science-fiction books that quote Latin? Where the heroes are monks and abbots? Where the protagonists argue over illuminated manuscripts? A Canticle for Leibowitz has an appeal well beyond science-fiction fans.

Too much of it shouldn't be given away, but the story takes place after a nuclear war and concerns the fight to preserve what is left of human literacy and knowledge. Of course, this is about the need for spirituality and wisdom to balance progress in scientific pyrotechnics. But A Canticle for Leibowitz is first and foremost an utterly convincing political fable, interwoven with a host of private adventures and tribulations. And while nuclear holocaust may sound less likely today than in the 1950s, what is astonishing is that this book hasn't aged a bit, that it has none of the technological and contextual faux pas that makes so much of science fiction dated.

Walter Miller wrote with authority, conviction and humour. His dialogue between churchmen is jaw-dropping in its veracity; I couldn't believe afterwards that he was never a priest or a novice. The novel's politics are as credible as they are subtle. Miller creates a reality in which you will find yourself completely immersed without wanting to leave it, however harsh it may be. My only quibble, in fact a major disappointment is that, incredibly, Walter Miller never wrote anything else.

Intriguing on some levels, but not so good as a novel
This is not an easy read. It contains some interesting theological viewpoints and in particular towards the end portrays both sides of the the euthanasia debate in a vivid and gripping way. But as a post-apocalyptic novel, it failed for me as the world described lacked any characters or reference points to which I could relate and which make the best post-apocalyptic novels so chilling and haunting. There was no real feel for the lives of ordinary people outside the monastic community that formed the centre of the novel.

First Rate Science Fiction
This post-apocalyptic tale is narrated by the survivors of a 20th century "Flame Deluge" (nuclear war). Modern civilisation is decimated and the world's population largely annihilated. The anger of the few survivors is channelled toward the remaining scientists and politicians, leading to a cull of the inteligencia which culminates in book burning and the slaughter of anyone who can read. The novel is set mostly within the walls of an abbey constructed to preserve the remaining knowledge until the population is ready to understand it and rebuild. The author revisits the abbey three times over the next two thousand years, charting the technological and philosophical development of civilisation at each point in history. The subsequent emergence and renaissance of this fictional civilisation parallels that of our own and the author uses this as a plot device to discuss the failings of humanity and the propensity of society to make the same mistakes throughout history. Is history destined to repeat itself?

So the cold war brought the world to the brink of the apocalypse, this may be so, but this period instilled a level of fear and paranoia in the mind that can germinate great creative ideas, and this book is full of them, I can't recommend it highly enough! The prose is beautifully written and incredibly readable, although at points intensely depressing I was surprised how richly comic I found this novel given the subject matter.

I'm a massive Sci-fi fan but must concede that although some of the great literary ideas are produced in this genera, the quality of the writing and characterisation frequently falls short of the mark. I would often tar even the `greats' such as Azimov and Clark with this brush, although don't get me wrong, I hugely enjoyed some of their books. This novel, alongside precious few others, including Frank Herbert's Dune and John Wyndham's, "The Day of the Triffids" is in my opinion an exception to this rule. The opening is reminiscent of John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic classic, "The Chrysalides" and the subtext and social commentary of these two novels is similar. "Ignorance and failure to communicate are potent sources of bigotry and prejudice which frequently lead to conflict and war." The multilayered ideas and deep philosophical content of Canticle is reminiscent Kurt Vonneget's "Slaughterhouse 5", despite the contrasting style of these authors. Contemporary works of post apocalyptic fiction such as the excellent "The Road" by Cormack Mccarthy owe a great debt to this highly original and thought provoking novel.

Although an atheist, I much enjoyed the religious symbolism in Canticle, indeed the "Wandering Jew" makes several appearances throughout a two millennia time span, and thus the reader witnesses the failure of humanity again and again through his eyes; make no mistake, this is a deeply pessimistic novel. The catholic doctrine is fervently espoused by various characters, particularly in the context of euthanasia and suicide; however, a passionate secular counter argument is also put forward and this makes for compelling reading, it's as though the author is wrestling with his conscience and thrashing out these ideas in his mind. I found this aspect to be very interesting, indeed, the strength of the catholic arguments put forward in this novel adds to the deep irony as well as the monumental tragedy of the author's suicide.