A Canticle for Leibowitz

Locations
Call Number: Science Fiction / Miller, Walter, Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / Classic / Miller, Walter M
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Science Fiction / Miller, Walter	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / Classic / Miller, Walter M	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / Classic / Miller, Walter M	4-week checkout	Due 05-02-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / Classic / Miller, Walter M	4-week checkout	Due 04-24-2024

Reprint of the ed. published by Lippincott, Philadelphia.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Pleasantly Surprised submitted by brady.emmett on June 20, 2011, 11:01am I selected this book for our Speculative Fiction book club, having not read it beforehand. I am so glad that I did. The story was interesting and thought provoking at the same time. It was humorous in all the right ways and just as depressing in a post apocalyptic way too.

This goes on my list of favorite books for the year!

Cyclical History and the Importance of Archives submitted by Meginator on June 20, 2019, 10:13pm This is quite possibly the thematically deepest book I have ever encountered, and I highly recommend reading it with a partner or a group as it makes for a fantastic (and potentially endless) source of spirited intellectual discussion and debate. Miller uses religious devotion in the wake of nuclear devastation (an unlikely combination, yes, but it totally works) as a lens through which to examine the cyclical nature of history and the ways in which knowledge persists and changes between generations. Though deeply philosophical, the book has just enough plot intrigue to keep the reader moving along, and it rewards deep introspection even as it entertains.

Moreover, the book is strikingly relevant today despite its age, with its ruminations on everything from the imminent threat of complete annihilation to the effects of the widespread dissemination of knowledge to the impact of religious dogma on legal policy. It does make for pretty heavy reading, dense with occasionally untranslated Latin and Hebrew (to say nothing of a multitude of Biblical references), yet it proceeds at a good pace and offers just enough dramatic tension in each of its three segments to carry the reader along. Altogether, the novel is a richly rewarding reading experience, one to be savored and shared, though not for the faint of heart.

History Meets Science submitted by derantho on July 13, 2019, 7:10pm If you're a lover of both futuristic dystopian novels and history then this novel will be right up your alley. Divided up into three different epochs, the story covers roughly 1500 years of mankind. Exploring a future that resembles our past, it is a gripping meditation on how history repeats itself, how institutions and their purposes transform with the times, and how we as humans mythologize our own history. Are we moving forward? Or just in circles?

Overall the novel is a fun read if you're in it purely for the plot. There is some symbolism and allusions to other historical events if you are into that sort of thing too. The writing itself is easy enough to read and isn't too heavy on metaphor. Definitely the kind of book you can get more out of on a re-read. 4/5

A superbly discussable classic submitted by eknapp on August 24, 2020, 3:33pm Part I: Fiat Homo
In the 26th century, the remnants of civilization exist in ignorant poverty. 600 years after man nuked itself to oblivion, knowledge and scholarship are capital crimes. Illiteracy is a virtue. An abbey in what was once the American southwest has squirreled away what books it could to preserve knowledge for future generations.

Part II: Fiat Lux
In the 32nd century, medieval nation-states have risen. Most people still live simple village lives but scholarship is surging. An academic visits the abbey to examine its 'Memorabilia' and discovers a vast treasure trove of revolutionary information.

Part III: Fiat Voluntas Tua
In the 38th century, a second space age has risen. Despite awareness of what befell the previous great human civilization, two mighty nuclear powers perch on the cusp of war. The abbey--serving as a camp for terminally irradiated refugees--enacts a plan to once again preserve the knowledge of the world for future generations, this time off-world.
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It's a slow starter as we follow a monk novitiate starving himself in a desert, but after that I was hooked. Miller's turns of phrase (eg "the plodding patience of a man listening to an argument which he had long ago refuted to his own satisfaction") were immensely satisfying to me.

His pessimistic contention seems to be that we as a species will not, in fact, learn from our mistakes and will inevitably repeat them across millennia. The three parts of the book take place in the future but recall our past: post-Roman Dark Ages**; Renaissance; and Cold War modernity. The wheel of time will turn and mankind will keep self-immolating and (maybe...hopefully) rising from the ashes.

In the meantime, the abbey's interactions with outside interests make for fascinating debates. The abbot in Fiat Homo has to take some weird, counter-intuitive steps while negotiating the canonization of his order's founder against his own Church. The abbot in Fiat Lux argues repeatedly with the visiting scholar about the morality and dangers of knowledge for its own sake. The abbot in Fiat Voluntas Tua has an enthralling clash with a Red Cross-ish organizer about the ethics of euthanasia, against the backdrop of victims dying agonizingly of radiation sickness. Two genuinely good men, each sacrificing greatly for the benefit of others, cannot find common ground on this issue. And while I wholeheartedly sided with one of them, I completely understood where the other was coming from. That's damn good writing.