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Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1923–1996)

Autor(a) de A Canticle for Leibowitz

68+ Works 13,629 Membros 336 Críticas 19 Favorited

About the Author

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 mostrar mais 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) mostrar menos

Séries

Obras por Walter M. Miller, Jr.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1955) 11,661 exemplares
The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1980) 379 exemplares
Beyond Armageddon (1985) — Editor — 193 exemplares
The view from the stars (1965) 164 exemplares
Conditionally Human (1979) 126 exemplares
The Darfsteller and Other Stories (1980) 54 exemplares
Death of a Spaceman (1954) 20 exemplares
The Darfsteller [novella] (1955) 18 exemplares
The lineman [short story] (1957) 8 exemplares
The Hoofer (2010) 7 exemplares
Crucifixus Etiam (1953) 7 exemplares
Check And Checkmate (2010) 7 exemplares
Dumb Waiter [short story] (1952) 5 exemplares
A Canticle For Leibowitz {story} (1955) — Autor — 5 exemplares
Dark Benediction [short story] (1951) 5 exemplares
It Takes A Thief (1952) 5 exemplares
The Ties That Bind (2010) 5 exemplares
MillemondiEstate 1995 3 exemplares
The Big Hunger (1952) 3 exemplares
Way of a Rebel (2015) 3 exemplares
The Will (1953) 3 exemplares
Blood Bank (1952) 3 exemplares
I, Dreamer [short story] (1953) 2 exemplares
The Last Canticle {novella} (1957) 2 exemplares
God Is Thus {story} — Autor — 1 exemplar
The Song Of Marya 1 exemplar
The Yokel 1 exemplar
Bitter Victory 1 exemplar
Let My People Go 1 exemplar

Associated Works

The World Treasury of Science Fiction (1989) — Contribuidor — 889 exemplares
The Hugo Winners: Volumes One and Two (1972) — Contribuidor — 697 exemplares
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories (1992) — Contribuidor — 446 exemplares
The Hugo Winners: Volume One (1955-1961) (1962) — Contribuidor — 314 exemplares
The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973) — Contribuidor — 248 exemplares
A Science Fiction Omnibus (1973) — Contribuidor — 148 exemplares
Penguin Science Fiction (1961) — Contribuidor — 137 exemplares
The Road to Science Fiction #4: From Here To Forever (1982) — Autor — 127 exemplares
The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 5th Series (1956) — Contribuidor — 121 exemplares
Spectrum 5 (1952) — Contribuidor — 120 exemplares
The Worlds of Science Fiction (1963) — Contribuidor — 112 exemplares
SF: The Best of the Best (1967) — Autor, algumas edições107 exemplares
An ABC of Science Fiction (1809) — Contribuidor — 102 exemplares
Space Odysseys (1974) 98 exemplares
The Crash of Empire (Imperial Stars, Book 3) (1989) — Contribuidor — 92 exemplares
Catastrophes! (1981) — Contribuidor — 89 exemplares
5 Unearthly Visions (1952) — Contribuidor — 85 exemplares
Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet (2018) — Contribuidor — 83 exemplares
SF: The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy (1956) — Contribuidor — 79 exemplares
Cities of wonder (1967) — Contribuidor — 78 exemplares
The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy. (1966) — Contribuidor — 65 exemplares
Tomorrow's Worlds: Ten Stories of Science Fiction (1969) — Contribuidor — 52 exemplares
Amazing Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction (1985) — Contribuidor — 44 exemplares
Science Fiction Thinking Machines (1954) — Contribuidor — 37 exemplares
Alpha 9 (1978) — Contribuidor — 37 exemplares
Eight Strange Tales (1972) — Contribuidor — 33 exemplares
Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction (2011) — Contribuidor — 30 exemplares
Human Machines: An Anthology of Stories about Cyborgs (1975) — Contribuidor — 30 exemplares
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ... (1974) — Contribuidor — 29 exemplares
Human? (1954) — Contribuidor — 29 exemplares
Man Against Tomorrow (1965) — Contribuidor — 26 exemplares
We, Robots (2010) — Contribuidor — 23 exemplares
Sociology Through Science Fiction (1974) — Contribuidor — 21 exemplares
Heyne Science Fiction Jahresband 1982 (1982) — Contribuidor — 19 exemplares
Asleep in Armageddon (1962) — Contribuidor — 19 exemplares
Earth in Transit (1976) — Contribuidor — 16 exemplares
The New Awareness: Religion Through Science Fiction (1975) — Contribuidor — 16 exemplares
The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1954 (1954) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Year's Best Science Fiction Novels: 1953 (1953) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Die besten Science Fiction Geschichten (1962) — Autor, algumas edições11 exemplares
Astounding Science Fiction 1952 04 (1952) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Masters' Choice 2 (1969) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Østenfor sol : 38 fantastiske fortellinger fra hele verden (1969) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Astounding Science Fiction 1951 05 (1951) — Contribuidor — 9 exemplares
Ikarus 2002 (2002) — Contribuidor — 8 exemplares
Science Fiction Stories 12 (1980) — Contribuidor — 7 exemplares
Ikarus 2001. Best of Science Fiction. (2001) — Contribuidor — 7 exemplares
Amazing Stories Vol. 27, No. 6 [August-September 1953] (1953) — Contribuidor — 7 exemplares
Science Fiction Stories 5 (1970) — Contribuidor — 5 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Discussions

Second Round: A Canticle For Leibowitz (Miller) em Consensus Press (Novembro 2022)
Leibowitz: what's the appeal? em Consensus Press (Outubro 2022)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (Book 10) discussion em Group Reads - Sci-Fi (Fevereiro 2014)

Críticas

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.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
nitrolpost | 305 outras críticas | 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.
 
Assinalado
MXMLLN | 3 outras críticas | 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.… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
majackson | 9 outras críticas | 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.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
tombomp | 305 outras críticas | Oct 31, 2023 |

Listas

1950s (1)
1960s (1)

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Estatísticas

Obras
68
Also by
55
Membros
13,629
Popularidade
#1,703
Avaliação
3.9
Críticas
336
ISBN
150
Línguas
16
Marcado como favorito
19

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