#117. A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ By Walter M Miller Jr

Published : 1959
Pages : 319
Overall Mark : 8/10

In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, the rediscoveries od science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of knowledge.

By studying the Holy Relics of the past, the Order of St Liebowitz hopes to raise humanity from its fallen state. But is such knowledge the key to salvation? Or the certain sign that we are doomed to repeat our most grievous mistakes...?

WALTER M MILLER JR (1922-96)
Walter M Miller grew up in the American south. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps a month after Pearl Harbour and spent most of the war as a radio operator and gunner, participating in fifty-five combat sorties over Europe. After the war he studied engineering before turning to writing. A Canticle for Liebowitz won the Hugo Award for best novel in 1961. His only other novel, Liebowitz and the Wild Horsewoman was published posthumously.

VERDICT
This is a compelling parody of how religion takes ideas from prior periods and puts them up on a pedestal, regardless of how important they really are. The idea that something as simple as seeing a man in the desert, or of someone finding some old paperwork of a revered individual, could lead to a religious following taking a new road. Conversely, this ends with what can only really be described as an immaculate conception in a form that isn’t even recognised by the religions of the future, but is probably the only true miracle of God portrayed in this highly intriguing comic novel.