A Canticle for Leibowitz was written at a time when global
nuclear war
seemed imminent. It is written in three parts,
each corresponding
to a post-nuclear-holocaust era. The first begins six centuries
after the war, when man is
beginning to recover lost knowledge.
The second era, six centuries later, describes a period when man is
beginning to apply the recovered knowledge with
science. The
third – and last era – is that in which science has been applied and
man destroys himself again.
The protaganists of the story are the monks of the Order of Saint
Leibowitz. In the first stage of the story, the brothers are
copyists, finding and preserving fragments of information. They
have little understanding of the content of the documents they copy,
and take pleasure in their decoration. In this period, the
devastation of the nuclear war is still evident in mutations and
excavation of ruins is dangerous because of the residual danger of
“Fallout”, which is considered a scourge for sin. The Leibowitz
Abbey is fortified and provides physical protection to wayfarers and
the brothers themselves.
In the second stage, illiterate barbarian warlords have established
some order, and secular scientists are beginning to covet the documents
the monks have so carefully preserved. The monks are themselves
scientists, as well as librarians and copyists. Technology is
being re-discovered, though already there is uneasiness as to where it
will lead.
In the final stage, the world is much as it was when Walter Miller
wrote the book. Science has learned to create monstrous weapons
of war, politicians do not seem to have the wisdom to refrain from
using them, and civilians are at their mercy. The Church pleads
in vain for restraint and respect for human life.
Despite the dark message of this book, the story is captivating and not
devoid of humour. From the tribulations of Brother Francis Gerard
of Utah who endures several years as a novice to the antics of The Poet
who routinely removes his false eyeball, the characters are consolingly
and enjoyably human. Miller has man conserve his patrimony at the
second nuclear fallout by launching into space, abandoning Earth for a
time until it is possible to start again. Perhaps this as
optimistic as any man can hope to be given the weapons at our disposal
and the apparent willingness to use them.