| Author: | Walter M. Miller |
| Copyright: | 1959 |
| Date Reviewed: | 3/22/86 |
| Rating: | 9.0 |
Review/Synopsis: There are three related short stories in "A Canticle for Leibowitz". The first and best takes place about 600 years after a nuclear holocaust which destroyed modern civilization. A young novice, Brother Frances Gerard of Utah, is sent into the desert for two weeks for the Lenten fast. The novice belongs to the order of Leibowitz, a sect which is dedicated to saving and copying the last remaining bits of written text for when the world will need them again. At this point in time, illiteracy runs rampant, although it's a great improvement over the years just after the war when the populous, angered at the politicians and scientists for destroying their world, burnt many books and the people who read them. Leibowitz was the first person to recognize the need to save the remaining documents and was given permission by new Rome to start the order. He died a martyr for his cause. After 600 years, the meanings of those documents are totally lost on the descendents who copy them.
Getting back to the novice, while in the desert, hungry and trying to find shelter for the night, he meets an old pilgrim who says he is on his way to the brother's abbey. The pilgrim tempts the novice with food and when is rebuked, attacks him. He leaves but before he crosses the horizon, he points out to the novice a possible shelter. Frances digs for a while and finds himself in a Fallout Out shelter. The novice is fearful of the dreaded Fallout monster which was created by the wrath of God after man destroyed his world but finds the courage to investigate. He finds some documents actually written by Leibowitz. Also found is proof that Leibowitz's wife did die in the war. Thus he did not commit a sacrilege by becoming a priest. This paves the way for Leibowitz's canonization.
By the time he gets back to the abbey, the story has gone around that the pilgrim Frances met, who never made it to the abbey, was actually Brother Leibowitz, risen from the dead. The novice, who can't make a decision in the best of times, disputes that he was anything but a man. Because of the controversy, he is kept from becoming a priest for seven years. Eventually he does become a priest of the order and is given the endless job of helping to copying the Memorabilia. Most priests have a project to keep them interested in their spare time. One is making a statue of the soon to be Saint Leibowitz and another is using mathematics to discover the contents of pages half burnt away. Each page takes about 5 years. Brother Frances' pet project is the construction of a beautiful gold embroidered image of a Leibowitz blueprint. He labors on this for 15 years.
During his time at the abbey, Francis matures some, though he is still subject to fainting spells. The brother is given the task of bringing the original blueprint and his image of it to New Rome, as a gift for the patchy in honor of the canonization of the orders' Saint. On his way to New Rome, he is attacked by robbers which is inevitable, who take from him is donkey and the image. The brother was greatly saddened for the loss of 15 years work but at least he has the original to present to the Pope. Finally, he makes it to New Rome and is treated with honor. The Pope gives him two heklos of gold to buy back the image, but before he could meet up with the robber, he is killed by an arrow between the eyes.
I enjoyed this first story, "Fiat Homo", very much. There was a innocent charm to the people of this time, especially the young novice. The story was told with a subtle humor which made me laugh more than the comedies I had recently read. It was at the same time funny and sad. It was sad to see the priests spending life times making copies of unimportant documents. Not since the historian who played Wodan in "Time Patrolman" by Poul Anderson did I care so much about a single character. When poor Brother Francis was killed, I almost mourned.
The next story, "Fiat Lux" takes place after another 600 years. The priests at the abbey still maintain the Memorabilia but they don't copy it so blindly. There is now some understanding. Meanwhile civilization has begun to sprout up again. What was once the mighty United States of America is now divided into small territories, each ruled by a powerful if unintelligent despot. Here "A Canticle for Leibowitz" is very much like "Of Things to Come" by H. G. Wells. Both novels relate post world war Earth struggling to rebuild itself. I never read that book but I found a deep similarity between several characters in "Canticle" and the ruler in movie version "Of Things to Come". Each ruler is a war monger, claiming only to want peace - his peace. The rulers are illiterate and distrustful of science.
One such local ruler, Hannegan, sends his cousin Thon Thaddeo, an Einstein of his times, to the Leibowitz abbey to learn whatever he can from the memorial. Just before his arrival, a brother with certain technical abilities constructs an electrical generator and an electric lamp from his studies of the ancient text. The Thon is angered that such a humble monk should design so fantastic a device but eventually he comes to respect the monk and learn himself. The Thon leaves the abbey just as his cousin declares war on neighboring states.
Another 600 years pass when the third story, "Fiat Voluntas Tua", begins. The old abbey still exists but it is supplemented across the road by a new rectory. There are space ships and colony worlds in this century. There are also orbiting nuclear weapons. The new nations of this Earth have once again learned the powers of global destruction but this time, if they unleash their fury, there will be nothing left. As tensions build between the nations and one or two 'accidental' nuclear explosions go off, the abbot arranges to ship 20 priests, three bishops, a load of colonists, and microfiche copies of the Memorabilia to a new colony world. If Earth is not to survive, at least some can be saved. The bombs start falling and hoards of people arrive at the abbey to be treated. Against the abbots will, the hopeless radiation cases are sent to a Mercy camp two miles down the road. While the abbot is hearing the confession of a two headed woman, the abbey is finally destroyed. He survives but is pinned under tons of stone. Before he dies, he is given the last rights by the woman's other head, a creature of primal innocence raised up in this the last disaster.
I enjoyed "A Canticle for Leibowitz" very much, most especially the first story. The novel helped me take a glimpse into the theories and practices of the Christian church, something I'm not very familiar with. There is one unanswered question which bothers me some. Who was the old man who appeared in each one of the stories. In the first he is a pilgrim, in the second he's a 3,000 year old Jewish hermit waiting for his messiah, and in the third he's Lazarus. Is this really the same person in all three stories? Is he flesh or spirit? I wonder.