Monday, April 12, 2021

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)

A desert monastery tries to preserve civilization after the end of the world as we know it.

SciFi Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of the classic, post-apocalyptic one-hit wonders from the 1950's such as I Am Legend (1954), On the Beach (1957), or Alas, Babylon (1959), and the one with the best sense of humor about the situation. As the full realization of a world with the Bomb sank in, many in the Fifties were scared spitless. Although occasionally written with tongue in cheek, this is an adult novel, capable of containing two opposing thoughts simultaneously. An ability all too rare in fiction. A Canticle for Leibowitz is also unafraid of pushing religious argument to a point that may infuriate the reader. A by-product of which is that there is more Latin in this book than any I've read within memory. Written in three sections, each projecting farther into our shared imaginary future, there is thematic unity and continual growth in thought and scrutiny throughout. Such that at the beginning the reader is far ahead of the characters, amused at their befuddlement, but by the end the reader knows not what's coming next, and can only be piqued by the parallels to current events from a novel published six decades ago. A Canticle for Leibovitz is for those who want their science fiction both clever and contemplative.  [5★]

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