Imatge de l'autor

Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1923–1996)

Autor/a de A Canticle for Leibowitz

68+ obres 13,629 Membres 336 Ressenyes 19 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Miller's participation in the bombing of Casino, Italy, during World War II apparently had a lasting impact on the writer, for his only novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960), is rife with images of massive destruction caused by war. Miller began writing short stories in 1950 while recovering from mostra'n més an automobile accident, and most of his writing was done between 1950 and 1960. Often regarded as one of the best science fiction novels ever written, A Canticle for Leibowitz is a complex, beautifully written book that traces human history from a twentieth-century nuclear war forward to another war in a.d. 3781. It stands as one of the best examples of the fear that millions of people have of the power of nuclear weapons and the aftermath of nuclear holocaust. Richly symbolic and multilayered, the novel lends itself to critical commentary more than do most popular works of literature. Critic John B. Ower remarks that, perhaps because of his conversion to Catholicism, "Miller's religious belief is complex and comprehensive enough to contain within itself the dark misgivings, the ironies, and the ambiguities of our deeply disturbed century." (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys

Sèrie

Obres de Walter M. Miller, Jr.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1955) 11,661 exemplars
The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1980) 379 exemplars
Beyond Armageddon (1985) — Editor — 193 exemplars
The view from the stars (1965) 164 exemplars
Conditionally Human (1979) 126 exemplars
Death of a Spaceman (1954) 20 exemplars
The Darfsteller [novella] (1955) 18 exemplars
The lineman [short story] (1957) 8 exemplars
The Hoofer (2010) 7 exemplars
Crucifixus Etiam (1953) 7 exemplars
Check And Checkmate (2010) 7 exemplars
Dumb Waiter [short story] (1952) 5 exemplars
A Canticle For Leibowitz {story} (1955) — Autor — 5 exemplars
Dark Benediction [short story] (1951) 5 exemplars
It Takes A Thief (1952) 5 exemplars
The Ties That Bind (2010) 5 exemplars
The Big Hunger (1952) 3 exemplars
Way of a Rebel (2015) 3 exemplars
The Will (1953) 3 exemplars
Blood Bank (1952) 3 exemplars
I, Dreamer [short story] (1953) 2 exemplars
The Last Canticle {novella} (1957) 2 exemplars
God Is Thus {story} — Autor — 1 exemplars
Check and Checkmate 1 exemplars
The Song Of Marya 1 exemplars
The Yokel 1 exemplars
Bitter Victory 1 exemplars
Let My People Go 1 exemplars

Obres associades

The World Treasury of Science Fiction (1989) — Col·laborador — 889 exemplars
The Hugo Winners: Volumes One and Two (1972) — Col·laborador — 697 exemplars
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories (1992) — Col·laborador — 446 exemplars
The Hugo Winners: Volume One (1955-1961) (1962) — Col·laborador — 314 exemplars
The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973) — Col·laborador — 248 exemplars
A Science Fiction Omnibus (1973) — Col·laborador — 148 exemplars
Penguin Science Fiction (1961) — Col·laborador — 137 exemplars
The Road to Science Fiction #4: From Here To Forever (1982) — Autor — 127 exemplars
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 5th Series (1956) — Col·laborador — 121 exemplars
Spectrum 5 (1952) — Col·laborador — 120 exemplars
The Worlds of Science Fiction (1963) — Col·laborador — 112 exemplars
SF: The Best of the Best (1967) — Autor, algunes edicions107 exemplars
An ABC of Science Fiction (1809) — Col·laborador — 102 exemplars
Space Odysseys (1974) 98 exemplars
The Crash of Empire (Imperial Stars, Book 3) (1989) — Col·laborador — 92 exemplars
Catastrophes! (1981) — Col·laborador — 89 exemplars
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: A 30-Year Retrospective (1980) — Col·laborador — 86 exemplars
5 Unearthly Visions (1952) — Col·laborador — 85 exemplars
Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet (2018) — Col·laborador — 83 exemplars
SF: The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy (1956) — Col·laborador — 79 exemplars
Cities of wonder (1967) — Col·laborador — 78 exemplars
The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy. (1966) — Col·laborador — 65 exemplars
Tomorrow's Worlds: Ten Stories of Science Fiction (1969) — Col·laborador — 52 exemplars
Amazing Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction (1985) — Col·laborador — 44 exemplars
Science Fiction Thinking Machines (1954) — Col·laborador — 37 exemplars
Alpha 9 (1978) — Col·laborador — 37 exemplars
Eight Strange Tales (1972) — Col·laborador — 33 exemplars
Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction (2011) — Col·laborador — 30 exemplars
Human Machines: An Anthology of Stories about Cyborgs (1975) — Col·laborador — 30 exemplars
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ... (1974) — Col·laborador — 29 exemplars
Human? (1954) — Col·laborador — 29 exemplars
Man Against Tomorrow (1965) — Col·laborador — 26 exemplars
We, Robots (2010) — Col·laborador — 23 exemplars
Sociology Through Science Fiction (1974) — Col·laborador — 21 exemplars
Heyne Science Fiction Jahresband 1982 (1982) — Col·laborador — 19 exemplars
Asleep in Armageddon (1962) — Col·laborador — 19 exemplars
Earth in Transit (1976) — Col·laborador — 16 exemplars
The New Awareness: Religion Through Science Fiction (1975) — Col·laborador — 16 exemplars
The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1954 (1954) — Col·laborador — 11 exemplars
Year's Best Science Fiction Novels: 1953 (1953) — Col·laborador — 11 exemplars
Die besten Science Fiction Geschichten (1962) — Autor, algunes edicions11 exemplars
Astounding Science Fiction 1952 04 (1952) — Col·laborador — 11 exemplars
Masters' Choice 2 (1969) — Col·laborador — 11 exemplars
Østenfor sol : 38 fantastiske fortellinger fra hele verden (1969) — Col·laborador — 11 exemplars
Astounding Science Fiction 1951 05 (1951) — Col·laborador — 9 exemplars
Ikarus 2002 (2002) — Col·laborador — 8 exemplars
Science Fiction Stories 12 (1980) — Col·laborador — 7 exemplars
Ikarus 2001. Best of Science Fiction. (2001) — Col·laborador — 7 exemplars
Amazing Stories Vol. 27, No. 6 [August-September 1953] (1953) — Col·laborador — 7 exemplars
Science Fiction Stories 5 (1970) — Col·laborador — 5 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Membres

Converses

Second Round: A Canticle For Leibowitz (Miller) a Consensus Press (novembre 2022)
Leibowitz: what's the appeal? a Consensus Press (octubre 2022)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (Book 10) discussion a Group Reads - Sci-Fi (febrer 2014)

Ressenyes

Having just come from back from a trip from Cyprus which saw me admiring old and venerable iconostasis, listen to the eerie chants of mass goers behind closed church doors and getting glimpses of the devout kissing pictures of saints, a reread of A Canticle Of Leibowitz was just was the doctor ordered, so to speak.
This book gives me the goosebumps still and because of my recent experiences in and around Byzantine churches, the (re)reading experience was amplified.
The setting is post-deluge - civilization had been utterly destroyed in a nuclear holocaust- and it is a sort of Christian order, the order of the St. Leibowitz that becomes the caretaker and perhaps more importantly the interpreter of past knowledge. The parallels between the Christian church after the destruction of the Roman Empire are striking, by the way.
“From the monster Fallout - deliver us.”
“From the spirit of fornication - deliver us.”
“From the Strontium, the Casium, the Cobalt- deliver us
It all kicks into gear when brother Francis finds among other items, a shopping list and a drawing of a circuit plan in an old fallout shelter which become objects of religious veneration.
It is then when taken out of context, we realize how easily the banal, the trivial is recognized as the ultimately profound, the lifeless becomes alive and ignorance becomes king. We, through the endless arrogance of contemporary societies are not aware that each and everyone of us, just as brother Francis and the whole church of St. Leibowitz, are forever dwelling inside universal concentric circles of dramatic irony. In that sense, ignorance permeates all there is and can’t be abdicated.
Walter Miller’s tale is a forever masterpiece, a classic of speculative fiction. Ah, what arrogance to suppose, to claim that anything can be forever-lasting .
Yet, Miller’s work ticks all the boxes. It is masterly eloquent, at times lusciously, then disturbingly ironic.
“What did the world weigh? It weighs but is not weighed. Sometimes it’s scales are crooked. It weighs life and labor in the balance against silver and gold. That will never balance. But fast and ruthless it keeps on that way. It spills a lot of life that way and sometimes a little gold. And blindfolded a king comes riding across the desert with a set of crooked scales, a pair of loaded dice and upon the flag is emblazoned vexileragis.”
The plot moves on like a steam engine, undisturbed and not caring for a reader’s preference. Driven by the stark reality of circumstance, it takes no prisoners. Simply wonderfully profound. Ah, I’m getting carried away.
A spiritu fornicationis, Domine, libera nos (in religious context fornication is often used as idolatry) Deliver me from the sin of idolatry.
Deo gratias.
… (més)
 
Marcat
nitrolpost | Hi ha 305 ressenyes més | Mar 19, 2024 |
I read 3 of the 14 short stories:

1. You Triflin' Skunk!
2. The Will
3. Dark Benediction

Dark Benediction was the only one I liked. I'm generally not a fan of short stories.
 
Marcat
MXMLLN | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Jan 12, 2024 |
Not a thriller, but an emotional pressure cooker. This story takes place in the interim between the beginning and end of "A Canticle for Leibowitz"; it seems to describe the difficulties of recovering the lost civilization. While there's a lot of pessimism in this book, Miller does give us a relatively believable structure for the various attempts at a new civilization. Sadly, he doesn't give us much hope for any quick revival. What made the story tolerable for me, and kept me reading, was the in-depth exploration of the mental and emotional states of most of the characters--most of it pretty dark, but sadly realistic.… (més)
½
 
Marcat
majackson | Hi ha 9 ressenyes més | Nov 29, 2023 |
She leaned close to whisper behind her hand. “I need be giving shriv’ness to Him, as well.”
The priest recoiled slightly. “To whom? I don’t understand.”
“Shriv’ness-to Him who made me as I am,” she whimpered. But then a slow smile spread her mouth. “I-I never forgave Him for it.”
“Forgive God? How can you-? He is just. He is Justice, He is Love. How can you say-?”
Her eyes pleaded with him. “Mayn’t an old tumater woman forgive Him just a little for His Justice? Afor I be asking His shriv’ness on me?”


A book about hope, death, suffering, endings, nostalgia, heritage, preservation, change, what actually matters, whether a small group of people has the power to change the world, tradition, and other stuff that I'm bad at articulating. Pretty depressing too. It gives an amazing sense of time passing, of how things change, how people forget and remember. The society presented feels real.

I came away with a feeling of just how important nuclear disarmament is, how important peace is, how disgusting justifications for war are. I feel like there's more to say but it's hard to articulate, there's a lot to think about that feels like it needs an essay to put into words.

The ending is a little weird and it's really depressing sometimes and the Latin can be a bit confusing with no translation (BUT whenever it's key to the story it's translated) but otherwise it's great.

Also, I will say that although they get only minimal mention in the book: I have strong sympathy for the "Simpletons" (very minor early spoiler) who burned the books.
… (més)
 
Marcat
tombomp | Hi ha 305 ressenyes més | Oct 31, 2023 |

Llistes

1950s (1)
1960s (1)

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Estadístiques

Obres
68
També de
55
Membres
13,629
Popularitat
#1,703
Valoració
3.9
Ressenyes
336
ISBN
150
Llengües
16
Preferit
19

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