Canticle/Leibowitz--False Correction/(false memery?)

Sheldon Klein (sklein@CS.WISC.EDU)
Fri, 4 Oct 1996 02:00:20 -0500

>
>The artifact mentioned isn't a blueprint of a circuit diagram, it's a
>grocery list, if my memory is still memeing away. :-) Lynn

Alas,
A circuit diagram was in the original magazine version where I first read it,
(See quoted review #2)
A grocery list,as well, may have appeared in a later,
longer book version finished by someone else.


<Excerpt quoted with author's permission>:
1. ============================
STUDY GUIDE FOR WALTER M. MILLER, JR.: A CANTICLE FORLEIBOWITZ (1959)
Prof. Paul Brians, Washington State Univ.
brians@wsu.edu
_________________________________________________________________

"Introduction

"Although A Canticle for Leibowitz was publishedas a book in 1959, it
was written earlier. The first section, also entitled"A Canticle for
Leibowitz" (now "Fiat Homo" ["And HeCreated Man"]) appeared in 1955,
the second section appeared as "Andthe Light Is Risen" ("Fiat Lux"
["Let There be Light"])the next year, and the conclusion appeared in
1957 as "The LastCanticle" ("Fiat Voluntas Tua" ["Thy Will Be
Done"]),all in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Although
Millerpublished a few stories before and after, and wrote most of a
sequel to Canticle, at his death this remained his only successful
work. (The sequel is being completed by Terry Bisson.) It is widely
considered a classic, has never been out of print,and is widely taught
in science fiction courses.

" ........... Part of the novel's success derives from its richly
realized setting, apost-holocaust America where scraps of pre-war
knowledge are gathered andpreserved by a Catholic Church which no
longer understands that knowledge. The novel takes for granted
familiarity with the idea that after the fall of theRoman Empire,
knowledge was preserved in Western Europe almost exclusively insmall,
isolated communities of priests and monks during a centuries-long
darkage, recopied by men who often understood little of the ancient
manuscripts ofwhich they were the custodians.
=========================================
SK- RE: THE BLUEPRINTS-- retrieving from LYCOS on "Canticle, Leibowitz"
yielded:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/canticle.html (0k)

2. ===============================
"A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter Miller

"This is what someone says about this book:

"For a science fiction twist, Walter Miller's *A Canticle for
"Leibowitz* is a wonderful book. It's used in some Christian ethics
"classes at Duke. It's got an interesting twist on the science-religion
"feud; on post-apocalyptic earth, old blueprints are copied and
"illuminated by Christian monks. Fascinating."
=======================================================================

Cheers,
Sheldon Klein
sklein@cs.wisc.edu