A Canticle for Leibowitz
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{{Infobox Book |
| name = A Canticle for Leibowitz
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = [[Image:A Canticle for Leibowitz cover 1st ed.jpg|200px|A Canticle for Leibowitz]]
| image_caption = First edition dust jacket<br />Illustration by George Sottung
| author = [[Walter M. Miller, Jr.]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = George Sottung
| country = [[United States]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series =
| genre = [[Science fiction]]
| publisher = [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.]]
| release_date = 1960 (©1959)
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]], [[Paperback]])
| pages = 320
| isbn = <!-- published too early to have one assigned -->
| oclc = 1451434
| preceded_by =
| followed_by = [[Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman]]
}}
'''''A Canticle for Leibowitz''''' is a [[post-apocalyptic science fiction|post-apocalyptic]] [[science fiction]] [[novel]] by [[United States|American]] [[Walter M. Miller, Jr.]], first published in [[1960 in literature|1960]]. Based on three short stories Miller contributed to the science fiction [[magazine]] ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]''; it is the only novel published by the author. Considered one of the classics of science fiction, it has never been out of print and has seen over 25 reprints and editions. Appealing to mainstream and genre critics and readers alike, it won the 1961 [[Hugo Award]] for best science fiction novel.
Set in a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[abbey|monastery]] in the desert of the [[Southwestern United States]] after a devastating [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]], the story spans thousands of years as [[civilization]] rebuilds itself. The [[Christian monasticism|monks]] of the [[Albertus Magnus|Albertian]] Order of Leibowitz take up the mission of preserving the surviving remnants of man's scientific knowledge against the day the outside world is again ready for it.
Inspired by the author's participation in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] bombing of the monastery at [[Battle of Monte Cassino|Monte Cassino]] during [[World War II]], the novel is considered a masterpiece by literary critics. It has been compared favorably with the works of [[Evelyn Waugh]], [[Graham Greene]], and [[Walker Percy]], and its themes of [[religion]], [[cyclic history|recurrence]], and [[Religious denomination|church]] versus [[state]] have generated a significant body of scholarly research. Miller's follow-up work, ''[[Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman]]'', was published posthumously in [[1997 in literature|1997]].
==Publication history==
===Development===
Walter Miller was a prolific writer of [[science fiction]] [[short story|short stories]]; by 1955 he had published over 30 stories in such magazines as ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', ''[[Amazing Stories]]'', and ''[[Fantastic Adventures]]''.<ref name="isfdb"/> Significant themes of his stories included loss of scientific knowledge or "socio-technological regression and its presumed antithesis, continued technological advance", its preservation through oral transmission, the guardianship of archives by priests, and "that side of [human] behavior which can only be termed religious."<ref name="seed-texts">{{cite journal | last = Seed | first = David | title = Recycling the texts of the culture: Walter M. Miller's 'A Canticle for Leibowitz | journal = [[Extrapolation (journal)| Extrapolation]] | volume = 37 | issue = 3 | pages = 257–71 | publisher = Kent State University Press | date = Fall 1996}}</ref><ref name="dns-tlc">{{cite journal | last = Samuelson | first = David N. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Lost Canticles of Walter M. Miller, Jr. | journal = [[Science-Fiction Studies]] | volume = 3 | issue = 26 | pages = | publisher = [[DePauw University]] |date=March 1976}}</ref> These thematic elements, combined with the growing subgenre of the “post-disaster” story and Miller’s own World War II experiences, set the stage for the short story that would become the opening section of ''A Canticle for Leibowitz''.<ref>"A Canticle for Leibowitz falls into a well-known subgenre of science fiction, the "post-disaster" story, like John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (1955), Algis Budrys’s Some Will Not Die (1961), and many more. The use of nuclear weapons to end World War II naturally set many writers speculating on the possibilities of future war, mutation, and rebirth.": {{Citation | last = Shippey | first = T.A. | contribution = A Canticle for Leibowitz | year = 2000 | title = Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition | volume = | place = | publisher = Salem Press, Inc.}}</ref>
During World War II, Miller served as part of a [[bomber]] crew that participated in the destruction of the ancient Roman Catholic monastery at Monte Cassino ([[Italy]]) founded by [[Benedict of Nursia|St. Benedict]] in the 6th century. This experience impressed him enough to write, a decade later, the short story "A Canticle for Leibowitz" about an order of monks whose abbey springs from the destroyed world around it.<ref name="garvey">{{cite journal | last = Garvey | first = John | title = A Canticle for Leibowitz: A Eulogy for Walt Miller | journal = Commonweal | volume = 123 | issue = 7 | pages = 7–8 | publisher = Commonweal Foundation | date = [[1996-04-05]]|quote=I went to war with very romantic ideas about war, and I came back sick.}}</ref><ref name="roberson">{{cite book | last = Roberson | first = Williams H. | coauthors = Robert L. Battenfeld | title = Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Bio-Bibliography | series = Bio-Bibliographies in American Literature | publisher = Greenwood Press | date = [[1992-06-30]] | location = Westport, CT | isbn = 978-0313276514}}</ref> The story, which would evolve into the first part of the novel ("Fiat Homo"), was published in the April 1955 edition of ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]] (F&SF)''. Although not originally intended as a serialization, the saga continued in "And the Light is Risen", which was published in August 1956 (also in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''); this work would later grow into "Fiat Lux". It was while writing the third "novelette", "The Last Canticle", for magazine publication the following year (February) that Miller realized he was really completing a novel: "Only after I had written the first two and was working on the third did it dawn on me that this isn't three novelettes, it's a novel. And I converted it."<ref name="roberson"/>
The publication of the three ''Canticle'' stories, along with Miller's "The Lineman", in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' marked a significant evolution in the writer's craft. Under the editorship of [[Anthony Boucher]], ''F&SF'' possessed a reputation for publishing works with "careful writing and characterization." [[Walker Percy]] considered the magazine "high-class sci-fi pulp".<ref name="walker-signposts">{{cite journal | last = Percy | first = Walker | authorlink = Walker Percy | title = Rediscovering A Canticle for Leibowitz | journal = Signposts in a Strange Land | pages = 227 | publisher = [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] | isbn = 0-312-25419-9 | date = 1991}}</ref> The appearance of these stories in the magazine is indicative of the direction Miller's writing had taken toward "'human' stories, less crowded with incident, more concerned with values."<ref name="dns-tlc" />
For the [[novelization]] Miller did not simply colligate the three short stories. Resulting in "decided improvements" over the magazine versions,<ref name="dns-tlc" /> a significant revision process – involving title and character name changes, addition of [[Ecclesiastical Latin|Latin]] passages, the introduction of new characters, and changes in the natures and prominence of existing characters – occurred; these revisions produced significant impacts on and interpretations of the religious and recurrence themes of the story. For example, the existing recurrence motif is augmented by the name change of the abbot of the first part from "Father Juan" to "Abbot Arkos". The cycle/recurrence theme is highlighted by ensuring that the name of the first abbot encountered begins with the first letter of the [[Roman alphabet]] and the last abbot's name (Zerchi) begins with the last letter.<ref name="olsen-revision">{{cite journal | last = Olsen | first = Alexandra H. | title = Re-Vision: A Comparison of A Canticle for Leibowitz and the Novellas Originally Published | journal = [[Extrapolation (journal)|Extrapolation]] | volume = 38 | issue = 2 | pages = 135 | publisher = Kent State University Press | date = Summer 1997}}</ref> This echoes the alpha and omega nature of the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letters ''sadhe'' and ''lamedh'' the Wandering Jew inscribes on the rock for Brother Francis in the novel's beginning.<ref>{{cite book | last = Scholes | first = Robert | coauthors = Eric S. Rabkin | title = Science Fiction: History-Science-Vision | publisher = Oxford UP | date = 1977 | location = New York | pages = 221}}</ref> Miller also expanded scenes, increasing their importance: for instance, the initial encounter between Brother Francis and Abbot Arkos in "Fiat Homo" grew from a brief, two-page scene in the short story to a substantial eight-page treatment clearly showing an Arkos possessed of doubts and uncertainty (unlike the [[dogma]]tism of Father Juan).<ref name="olsen-revision" />
Miller also used the adaptation process to add a significant layer of complexity to the story. Walker Percy recognized this dimension of the novel, which he compared to a "cipher, a coded message, a book in a strange language."<ref name="percy-rediscoveries">{{cite journal | last = Percy | first = Walker | title = Walker Percy on Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz | journal = Rediscoveries | volume = | issue = | pages = | publisher = Crown Publishers | date = 1971}}</ref> David Seed deemed the novel "charged with half-concealed meaning," an intricacy that seems to have been added as Miller was revising the stories for publication as a novel. Decoding messages such as this is an important activity in Miller's works, both in ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' and his short stories.<ref name="seed-texts" /> For example, in the original version of "Fiat Homo" Miller limits his "wordplay" to an explicit symbolism involving the letter "V" and Brother Francis's "Voice/Vocation" during Francis's encounter with the wandering pilgrim. In the novel, however, "Miller reserves such symbolistic cross-references to the more intellectual analysts and builds a comedy of incomprehension around Francis."<ref name="seed-texts" />
Miller's extensive experience in writing for science fiction magazines contributed to his achievement with ''A Canticle for Leibowitz''. His strengths were with the medium lengths of the short story, novelette, and short novel, where he effectively combined character, action, and import. The success of this full-length novel rests on its tripartite structure: each section is "short novel size, with counterpoint, motifs, and allusions making up for the lack of more ordinary means of continuity."<ref name="dns-tlc" />
===Publication===
[[Image:A Canticle For Lebowitz.jpg|thumb|right|Cover of a paperback 1997 Spectra paperback edition of ''A Canticle for Leibowitz''.]]
The novel was published by [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.]] as a [[hardcover]] in 1960 (although the [[copyright]] is 1959), and demand for the book was enough to prompt two reprints within the first year.<ref name="oclc">{{cite web | title = A canticle for Leibowitz; a novel | publisher = OCLC | date = 2007 | url = http://worldcat.org/oclc/1451434?tab=details | accessdate = 2007-12-08}}</ref> In 1961 it was awarded the prestigious [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]] by the [[Worldcon|The World Science Fiction Convention]].<ref name="isfdb">{{cite web | title = Bibliography: A Canticle for Leibowitz | publisher = The Internet Speculative Fiction Database | date = 2007 | url = http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2283 | accessdate = 2007-12-02}}</ref> Since then ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' has had new editions and reprints issued in [[paperback]] and [[hardcover]] more than 40 times, and has never been [[out of print]]. It regularly appears on "best of" lists and has been recognized three times with [[Locus (magazine)|Locus]] Poll Awards for best all-time science fiction novel.<ref name="roberson" /><ref name="isfdb" />
==Plot summary==
{{Plot|date=July 2008}}
===Background===
''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' opens 600 years after 20th century civilization is destroyed by a global nuclear war, known as the "Flame Deluge". The text reveals that as a result of the war there was a violent backlash against the culture of advanced knowledge and technology that had led to the development of nuclear weapons. During this backlash, called the "Simplification," anyone of learning, and eventually anyone who could even read, was likely to be killed by rampaging mobs. Illiteracy became almost universal, and books were destroyed ''en masse''.
Isaac Edward Leibowitz had been a [[Jew]]ish [[electrical engineer]] working for the [[United States]] military. Surviving the war, he converted to [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and founded a [[Monasticism|monastic order]], the "[[Albertus Magnus|Albertian]] [[Order (religious)|Order]] of Leibowitz", dedicated to preserving knowledge by hiding books, smuggling them to safety (''booklegging''), memorizing, and copying them. The Order's [[abbey]] is located in the American southwestern desert, near the military base where Leibowitz had worked before the war, on an old road that was "a portion of the shortest route from the [[Great Salt Lake]] to Old [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]]." Leibowitz was eventually betrayed and [[martyr]]ed. Later [[Beatification|beatified]] by the [[Roman Catholic Church]], he became a candidate for [[saint]]hood.
Centuries after his death, the abbey is still preserving the "memorabilia", the collected writings that have survived the Flame Deluge and the Simplification, in the hope that they will help future generations reclaim forgotten science.
The story is structured in three parts titled: "Fiat Homo", "Fiat Lux", and "Fiat Voluntas Tua". The parts are separated by periods of six centuries each.
==="Fiat Homo" (Let There Be Man)===
In the 26th century, a [[monk]] named Brother Francis Gerard is on a vigil in the desert. While searching for a rock to complete a shelter Brother Francis encounters a [[Wanderer]] who inscribes [[Hebrew]] on a rock that appears the perfect fit for the shelter. When Brother Francis removes the rock he discovers the entrance to an ancient fallout shelter containing "relics", such as handwritten notes on crumbling memo pads bearing cryptic texts resembling a 20th century shopping list. He soon realizes that these notes appear to have been written by Leibowitz, his order's founder. The discovery of the ancient documents causes an uproar at the monastery, as the other monks speculate that the relics once belonged to Leibowitz. [[Abbot]] Arkos, the head of the monastery, worries that the discovery of so many potentially holy relics in such a short period may cause delays in Leibowitz's [[canonization]] process. Francis is banished back to the desert to complete his vigil and defuse the sensationalism.
Many years later the abbey is visited by [[Monsignor]]s Aguerra ([[God's advocate|God's Advocate]]) and Flaught (the [[Devil's advocate|Devil's Advocate]]), the Church's investigators in the case for Leibowitz's sainthood. Leibowitz is eventually canonized – based partly on the evidence Francis discovered in the shelter – and Brother Francis is sent to New Rome to represent the Order at the canonization [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]. He takes the documents found in the shelter and an [[Illuminated manuscript|illumination]] of one of the documents on which he has spent years working, a gift to the [[pope]].
En route, he is robbed and his illumination taken. Francis completes the journey to New Rome and is granted an audience with the pope. The pope comforts Francis by giving him gold with which to ransom back the illumination, however, Francis is murdered during his return trip by the robbers, receiving an arrow through the head for his troubles. The [[Wanderer]] discovers and buries Francis's body.
==="Fiat Lux" (Let There Be Light)===
[[Image:Fiat Lux Canticle map.png|thumb|left|North America in 3174, showing Texark territory in yellow. Texark expansion as described in this story and in ''Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman'' marked in orange.]]
In 3174, the Albertian Order of St. Leibowitz is still preserving the half-understood knowledge from before the Flame Deluge and the subsequent Age of Simplification. The new [[Societal collapse|Dark Age]] is ending, however, and a new [[Renaissance]] is beginning. Thon Taddeo Pfardentrott, a highly regarded secular scholar, is sent by his cousin Hannegan, Mayor of [[Texarkana]], to the abbey. Thon Taddeo, frequently compared to [[Albert Einstein]], is interested in the Order's preserved collection of Memorabilia.
At the abbey, Brother Kornhoer, a talented engineer, has just finished work on a "generator of electrical essences", a tread-mill powered [[electrical generator]] that powers an [[arc lamp]]. He gives credit for the generator to work done by Thon Taddeo. After arriving at the monastery, Thon Taddeo, by studying the Memorabilia, makes several major "discoveries", and asks the abbot to allow the Memorabilia to be removed to Texarkana. The Abbot Dom Paulo refuses, stating he can continue his research at the abbey. Before departing, the Thon comments that it could take decades to finish analyzing the Memorabilia.
Meanwhile, Hannegan makes an alliance with the kingdom of [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]] and the neighboring, relatively civilized [[City state|city-states]] against the threat of attack from the nomadic warriors. Hannegan, however, is manipulating the regional politics to effectively neutralize all of his enemies, leaving him in control of the entire region. Monsignor Apollo, the papal [[nuncio]] to Hannegan's court, sends word to New Rome that Hannegan intends to attack the empire of [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]] next, and that he intends to use the abbey as a base of operations from which to conduct the campaign. For his actions, Apollo is executed, and Hannegan declares loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church to be punishable by death. The Church [[Excommunication|excommunicates]] Hannegan.
==="Fiat Voluntas Tua" (Thy Will Be Done)===
It is the year 3781, and mankind has nuclear energy and weapons again, as well as [[starship]]s and [[Space colonization|extra-solar colonies]]. Two world [[superpower]]s, the Asian Coalition and the Atlantic Confederacy, have been embroiled in a [[Cold war (general term)|cold war]] for 50 years. The Leibowitzan Order's mission of preserving the Memorabilia has expanded to the preservation of all knowledge.
Rumors that both sides are [[Militarisation of space|assembling nuclear weapons in space]] and that a nuclear weapon has been detonated increase public and international tensions. At the abbey, the current abbot, Dom Jethras Zerchi, recommends to New Rome that the Church reactivate the ''Quo Peregrinatur Grex'' ("Whither Wanders the Flock") contingency plans involving "certain vehicles" the Church has had since 3756. A "nuclear incident" occurs in the Asian Coalition city of Itu Wan: an underground nuclear explosion has destroyed the city, and the Atlantic Confederacy counters by firing a "warning shot" over the South Pacific.
New Rome tells Zerchi to proceed with ''Quo Peregrinatur'' and plan for departure within three days. He appoints Brother Joshua as mission leader, telling him that this is an emergency plan for perpetuating the Church on the colony planets in the event of a nuclear war on Earth. The Order's Memorabilia will also accompany the mission. That night the Atlantic Confederacy launches an assault against Asian Coalition space platforms. The Asian Coalition responds by using a nuclear weapon against the Confederacy capital city of Texarkana. A ten-day cease-fire is issued by the World Court. Brother Joshua and the space-trained monks and priests depart on a secret, chartered flight for New Rome, hoping to leave Earth on the starship before the cease-fire ends.
During the cease-fire, the abbey offers shelter to refugees fleeing the regions affected by [[Nuclear fallout|fallout]], which results in a battle of wills over [[euthanasia]] between the abbot and a doctor from the a government emergency response camp. The war resumes and a nuclear explosion occurs near the abbey. Abbot Zerchi is trapped by the falling walls of the abbey, finding himself lying under tons of rock and bones as the abbey's ancient crypts disgorge their contents. Among them is a skull with an arrow's shaft protruding from its forehead (presumably that of Francis Gerard from the first section of the book).
After the Abbot's death, the scene flashes to Joshua and the ''Quo Peregrinatur'' crew launching as the nuclear explosions begin. Joshua, the last crew member to board the starship, knocks the dirt from his sandals, murmuring "''Sic transit mundus''" ("Thus passes the world"). As a coda, there is a final vignette depicting the [[ecological]] aspects of the final human war: seabirds and fish succumb to the poisonous fallout, and a shark evades death only through moving to particularly deep water, where, it is noted, it was particularly hungry that season.
==Major themes==
===Recurrence and cyclical history===
Scholars and critics have noted the theme of [[cyclic history]] or recurrence in Miller's works, epitomized in ''A Canticle for Leibowitz''. David Seed, in discussing the treatment of nuclear holocaust in science fiction in his book ''American Science Fiction and the Cold War: Literature and Film'' (1992), states, "it was left to Walter M. Miller's ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' to show recurrence taking place in a narrative spanning centuries."<ref name="seed">{{cite book | last = Seed | first = David | title = American Science Fiction and the Cold War: Literature and Film | publisher = Routledge | date = 1999 | chapter = XI The Signs of War: Walter M. Miller and Russell Hoban | pages = 158 | isbn = 978-1579581954}}</ref> David N. Samuelson, whose 1969 doctoral dissertation on ''Canticle'' is considered the "best overall discussion of the book", calls the "cyclical theme of technological progress and regress ... the foundation-stone on which A Canticle for Leibowitz is built."<ref name="roberson" /><ref name="dns-tlc" />
''A Canticle for Leibowitz'''s circular structure – and the [[Social cycle theory|cyclical history]] it presents – support a number of thematic and structural elements which unify its three sections. Although the novel's events take place in a fictional future, the three parts allegorically represent crucial phases of Western history. The first section, "Fiat Homo", depicts a Church preserving civilization, a counterpart to the "Age of Faith" after the Fall of Rome. The action of the second part, "Fiat Lux", focuses on a renaissance of "secular learning", echoing the "divergences of Church and State and of science and faith". "Fiat Voluntas Tua", the final part is the analog of contemporary civilization, with its "technological marvels, its obsessions with material, worldly power, and its accelerating neglect of faith and the spirit."<ref name="cowart" />
In her analysis of Miller's fiction, Rose Secrest connects this theme directly to one of Miller's earlier short fiction works, quoting a passage from "The Ties that Bind", published in the May 1954 edition of ''[[If (magazine)|If]]'' magazine: "All societies go through three phases.... First there is the struggle to integrate in a hostile environment. Then, after integration, comes an explosive expansion of the culture-conquest.... Then a withering of the mother culture, and the rebellious rise of young cultures."<ref name="secrest">{{cite book | last = Secrest | first = Rose | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Glorificemus: A Study of the Fiction of Walter M. Miller, Jr. | publisher = [[University Press of America]] | date = [[June 28]] [[2002]] | location = Lanham, Maryland | pages = 47 | isbn = 978-0761822578}}</ref>
===Church versus state===
The third part, "Fiat Voluntas Tua", includes a debate between future Church and state stances on [[euthanasia]], a thematic issue representative of the larger conflict between Church and state.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Rowland | first = Stanley J. | title = With Moral Passion | journal = The Christian Century | volume = LXXVII | issue = 21 | pages = 640–1 | date = [[1960-05-25]]}}</ref> Literary critic Edward Ducharme claimed that "Miller's narrative continually returns to the conflicts between the scientist's search for truth and the state's power."<ref>{{cite journal | last = Ducharme | first = Edward | title = A Canticle for Miller | journal = English Journal | volume = 55 | issue = 8 | pages = 1042–4 | publisher = National Council of Teachers of English | month = November | year = 1966 | doi = 10.2307/812735}}</ref> Walter Miller, himself mentally ill for years, committed suicide several decades after publication of his masterpiece. Just as the Order of Leibowitz in the book could not prevent the death of civilization on earth, the enormous success of the book could not prevent Miller's own suicide.<ref name="bisson">{{cite web | last = Bisson | first = Terry | title = A Canticle for Miller; or, How I Met Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman but not Walter M. Miller, Jr. | publisher = TerryBisson.com | date = 1998 | url = http://www.terrybisson.com/miller.html | accessdate = 2007-06-03}}</ref> And yet in the book the Order lives on, giving meaning and value to humanity even as it questions its own behavior, just as the book itself lives on after Walter Miller's tragic death — asking similar questions of us all. As Duncan Lawie noted, the book has become its own metaphor.<ref name="lawie">{{cite web | last = Lawie | first = Duncan | title = A Canticle for Leibowitz | publisher = Slashdot | date = [[1999-12-03]] | url = http://slashdot.org/books/99/11/29/0827208.shtml | accessdate = 2007-06-03}}</ref>
==Literary significance and reception==
Initial response to the novel was mixed, but drew responses from newspapers and magazines normally inattentive to science fiction. ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' was reviewed in such notable publications as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', the ''[[New York Times Book Review]]'', and ''[[The Spectator]]''.<ref name="cowart"> {{Citation | last = Cowart | first = David | last2 = Wyner | first2 = Thomas L. | contribution = Miller Bio-Bibliography | year = 1981 | title = Dictionary of Literary Biography | volume = Volume 8: Twentieth-Century American Science-Fiction Writers | pages = 19–30 | place = | publisher = The Gale Group}}</ref> While the ''The New Yorker'' was negative – calling Miller a "dull, ashy writer guilty of heavy-weight irony"<ref>{{Citation | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = A Canticle for Leibowitz | magazine = [[The New Yorker]] | volume = 36 | pages = 156 | date = [[1960-04-02]] | accessdate = 2007-12-07}}</ref> – ''The Spectator’s'' was mixed. Also unimpressed, ''Time'' said, "Miller proves himself chillingly effective at communicating a kind of post-human lunar landscape of disaster," but dubbed it intellectually lightweight.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = Mixed Fiction | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,939646,00.html |publisher = [[Time|Time, Inc.]] | date = [[1960-02-22]] | accessdate = 2007-12-08 | quote = Author Miller proves himself chillingly effective at communicating a kind of post-human lunar landscape of disaster. His faith in religious faith is commendable but not compelling. It is difficult to tell whether he believes that better bomb shelters or more Roman Catholics are the hope of the world. On the flyleaf of Canticle for Leibowitz, Novelist Miller writes, "A dedication is only a scratch where it itches." Intellectually speaking, so is his book.}}</ref> The ''New York Times Book Review'', however, was solid in its praise: Martin Levin hailed ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' as an "ingenious fantasy".<ref>{{cite news | last = Levin | first = Martin | title = Incubator of the New Civilization; A Canticle for Leibowitz | pages = BR42 (Book Review) | publisher = [[New York Times]] | date = [[1960-03-27]]}}</ref> The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', gave the book unusual exposure outside the genre in a front page review in the ''Chicago Tribune Magazine of Books'', reviewer Edmund Fuller calling the book "an extraordinary novel".<ref>{{cite news | last = Fuller | first = Edmund | title = An Extraordinary Tale Speculating on Man's Destiny | pages = B1 | publisher = [[Chicago Tribune]] | date = [[1960-03-06]]}}</ref> A decade later, ''Time'', re-characterized its opinion of the book, calling it "an extraordinary novel even by literary standards, [which] has flourished by word of mouth for a dozen years."<ref>{{cite magazine |title = Future Grok | last = Sheppard | first = R.I. | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944340-1,00.html |publisher = [[Time|Time, Inc.]] | date = [[1971-03-29]] | accessdate = 2008-06-21}}</ref>
Sales of the hardcover publication were significant enough to justify two additional reprints of the book within the first year, and the novel was recognized with a [[Hugo Award]] by science fiction and fantasy fans as the best science fiction novel of 1960.<ref name="isfdb" />
In the years since, praise for the work has been consistently high. It is considered a "science-fiction classic ... [and] is arguably the best novel written about nuclear apocalypse, surpassing more popularly known books like ''[[On the Beach (novel)|On the Beach]]''".<ref>{{Citation | last = Rosenberg | first = Paul | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Apocalypse Avoided, Revisited | magazine = The Christian Science Monitor | year = | date = [[1997-11-20]] | url = http://www.csmonitor.com/1997/1120/112097.feat.books.4.html}}</ref> ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' has also generated a significant body of literary criticism, including numerous literature journal articles, books and college courses.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Infography about Walter Miller, Jr. (1923-1996) | publisher = Fields of Knowledge | date = 2007 | url = http://www.infography.com/content/040281001962.html | accessdate = 2007-12-09}}</ref> Acknowledging its serialization roots, literary critic David N. Samuelson writes that ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' "may be the one universally acknowledged literary masterpiece to emerge from magazine SF."<ref>{{cite journal | last = Samuelson | first = David N. | title = Twentieth Century American Science-Fiction Writers | journal = Dictionary of Literary Biography | volume = 8 | issue = | publisher = Gale | date = 1981}}</ref> Fellow critic David Cowart places the novel in the realm of works by [[Evelyn Waugh]], [[Graham Greene]], and [[Walker Percy]], stating it "stands for many readers as the best novel ever written in the genre."<ref>{{citation | last = Cowart | first = David | contribution = A Canticle for Leibowitz | title = Contemporary Literary Criticism | publisher = The Gale Group | date = 1975 | quote = Unfortunately, it is little known outside science-fiction circles, even though it compares favorably with the work of such mainstream Catholic writers as François Mauriac, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Walker Percy.}} "Unfortunately, it is little known outside science-fiction circles, even though it compares favorably with the work of such mainstream Catholic writers as François Mauriac, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Walker Percy."</ref> Percy, a [[National Book Award]] recipient, declared ''Canticle'' "a mystery: it's as if everything came together by some felicitous chance, then fell apart into normal negative entropy. I'm as mystified as ever and hold Canticle in even higher esteem."<ref>{{cite journal | last = Garvey | first = John | title = A Canticle for Leibowitz: A Eulogy for Walt Miller | journal = Commonweal | volume = 123 | issue = 7 | pages = 8 | publisher = Commonweal Foundation | date = [[1996-04-05]]}}</ref> Scholars and critics have explored the many themes encompassed in the novel, frequently focusing on its motifs of [[religion]], [[cyclic history|recurrence]], and [[Religious denomination|church]] versus [[state]].<ref name="shippey">{{Citation | last = Shippey | first = T.A. | contribution = A Canticle for Leibowitz | year = 2000 | title = Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition | volume = | place = | publisher = Salem Press, Inc.}}</ref>
==Latin phrases in the text==
{{detail|List of Latin Phrases in A Canticle for Leibowitz}}
[[Ecclesiastical Latin|Latin]] phrases populate much of the novel, and are related to [[Roman Catholic Church]] practices, rituals and official communications. Susan Olsen writes that Miller is not including the Latin phrases just to "add dignity" to the work, but is emphasizing its religious themes and is consonant with the tradition of Judeo-Christian writings. Many of the phrases are not translated, but those essential to the story are accompanied by their English equivalents.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Olsen | first = Alexandra H. | title = Re-Vision: A Comparison of A Canticle for Leibowitz and the Novellas Originally Published | journal = [[Extrapolation (journal)|Extrapolation]] | volume = 38 | issue = 2 | pages = 135 | publisher = Kent State University Press | date = Summer 1997}}</ref>
==Adaptations==
A 15-part serial of the novel was adapted for radio by John Reed and broadcast in 1981 by [[National Public Radio|National Public Radio (NPR)]]. Directed by Karl Schmidt, it was produced by Carl Schmidt and Marv Nunn. Carol Collins narrated the production.<ref>{{cite web | title = Crazy Dog Audio Theatre Masterpiece Gallery | publisher = Crazy Dog Audio Theatre - www.crazydogaudiotheatre.com| date = | url = http://www.crazydogaudiotheatre.com/fame.php | accessdate = 2007-06-04}}</ref>
==Sequel==
{{main|Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman}}
Toward the end of his life, Miller wrote another installment of the Abbey of Saint Leibowitz saga, ''Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman''. A full-length novel (455 pages) significantly longer than its predecessor, it is set in AD 3254, seventy years after the events of "Fiat Lux" but before "Fiat Voluntas Tua"; it is thus, strictly speaking, a [[midquel]] to ''A Canticle for Leibowitz''. Suffering from [[writer's block]] and fearful the new work would go unfinished, Miller arranged with author [[Terry Bisson]] to complete the work. According to Bisson, all he did was go in and tie up the loose ends Miller had left.<ref name="bisson" /> The novel tells the story of Brother Blacktooth St. George of the Leibowitzan abbey who, unlike Brother Francis, wants to be released from his holy vows and leave the abbey. In addition to recounting his travels as [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] Brownpony's personal secretary, the book describes the political situation in the 33rd century as Church and empire (Texark) vie for power. Miller died before the novel's publication.<ref name="bisson" />
''Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman'' has been called "Walter Miller's other novel." Reviewer Steven H. Silver points out that this "... is not to say that ''Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman'' does not deserve to be read. It is a fantastic novel, only suffering in comparison to Miller's earlier work."<ref name="silver">{{cite web | last = Silver | first = Steven H. | title = Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman | publisher = Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman | date = 2007 | url = http://www.sfsite.com/10b/leib19.htm | accessdate = 2007-12-05}}</ref>
==References==
===Footnotes and citations===
<div class="references-small">{{reflist|2}}</div>
===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last = Roberson | first = Williams H. | coauthors = Robert L. Battenfeld | title = Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Bio-Bibliography | series = Bio-Bibliographies in American Literature | publisher = Greenwood Press | date = 1992-06-30 | location = Westport, CT | isbn = 978-0313276514}}
* {{cite web | last = Wagner | first = Thomas M. | title = A Canticle for Leibowitz | publisher = SF Reviews.net| date = 2005 | url = http://www.sfreviews.net/cfl.html | accessdate = 2007-06-03}}
{{refend}}
==External links==
*{{isfdb title|id=2283|title=A Canticle for Leibowitz}}
{{Walter M Miller}}
{{Hugo Award Best Novel 1961-1980}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canticle for Leibowitz, A}}
[[Category:1960 novels]]
[[Category:American novels]]
[[Category:Hugo Award Winner for Best Novel]]
[[Category:Post-apocalyptic novels]]
[[Category:Science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Texarkana]]
[[Category:Novels by Walter M. Miller, Jr.]]
[[br:Ur C'hantik evit Leibowitz]]
[[es:Cántico por Leibowitz]]
[[fr:Un cantique pour Leibowitz]]
[[it:Un cantico per Leibowitz]]
[[pl:Kantyk dla Leibowitza]]
[[sk:A Canticle for Leibowitz]]
[[zh:莱博维兹的赞歌]]