Book Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz

A couple of weeks back a friend saw my review of "Her Majesty's Wizard" and suggested I might also like "A Canticle for Leibowitz." I read the Amazon.com reviews and thought it sounded interesting, so I picked up a copy. You know, it was pretty good.

First published in 1959, in the midst of the Cold War and all the anxiety about nuclear attacks ("duck and cover," as though a school desk could shield you from the initial blast or subsequent radioactive fallout) this book has a pessimistic tone that drifts into outright humor in places.

The story, set in the centuries after a global nuclear war, follows an order of monks devoted to preserving and maintaining the written remnants of the former civilization. Although for long ages they do not understand anything in the texts and schematics they copy (and even illuminate), they faithfully preserve the deposit of work left to them. They protect the writings (they call it "Memorabilia") from angry mobs, marauding tribes and national conflicts until the day dawns that humanity can once again benefit from scientific learning.

There is a strong Roman Catholic tone to the entire work, for obvious reasons. The monks are true believers in their faith and carry out their labors with religious devotion. At the same time, they are no simpletons. Perhaps because of their constant contact with the learning of times past, or more likely because it represents the majority view of all historic Christianity, when the new age of enlightenment comes they do not oppose it.

In fact, when a secular scholar visits the abbey he is shocked to find that the monks actually accept the results of scientific research. At one point one of the monks asks the scholar if he had considered St. Augustine's pondering on the origins of humanity. Specifically, what about the possibility that all life evolved from simpler forms? The secular scholar practically scoffed at the notion.

Along these lines I felt a certain commonality with the monks dealing with a "secular" scholar. I suppose that all the conservative evangelicals in the United States have colored the perspective of agnostics, atheists and others, as more than once I have been accused of holding backwards or at least uninformed opinions of science. There is an arrogance that borders on ignorance among many that makes them believe quite deeply that it is impossible for a believing, faithful Christian to accept the methods and conclusions (remember that all scientific "conclusions" are subject to further testing) of science.

As I mentioned above, the Catholic element is quite strong in this book. There is an enigmatic hermit/wanderer who writes in Hebrew and seems to have biblical ties and there is plenty of Latin thrown around. You don't really have to be too familiar with either the Bible or Catholicism (particularly in its pre-Vatican II form) to enjoy this book, but it certainly helps to grasp some of the references.

If I were assigning stars from one to five, I'd give this one four and a half. There was a quality to it not unlike Asimov's "Foundation," though I'd say "Canticle" has a far more meditative tone. It's a reflection on what went wrong with humanity and whether anything can ever change.