A Canticle for Leibowitz

I read this 40 years ago, just reread it now, so much more depth and understanding this time

Interesting set of juxtapositions in this science fiction tale. Religion preserving science through many millennia. Much of the language in the book was Latin, an adaptation of traditional church Latin, with a modern focus. Most importantly, this book makes me wonder if humanity is destined to destroy itself over and over again. God help us. All.

Every time I read this book (this is about the 4th round) I pick up something new. As a teenager, much of the message went over my head. As an old man, I sympathize with a different set of characters and causes. Unlike most post-apocolyptic dramas, this story is set 600 years after a nuclear war has devastated the Earth. Nations have ceased to exist and local bosses govern small territories in the American southwest. The monks of Leibowitz abbey venerate an obviously Jewish EE who attempted to save as much human knowledge as possible from vengeful mobs who blamed scientists for the horrible state of their world. The monks share their desert with a curmudgeonly Jewish hermit who is looking for someone, and whose true identity is hinted at in several different ways, but never completely explained. The church also serves as a counter-force to governmental figures who know no way to resolve their differences than the use of violence. Like Haldeman's _The_Forever_War_ and Vonnegut's _Slaughterhouse_Five_, this story is the product of a traumatized soldier, trying to process unimaginable pain and return to the human race. Understanding his experience gives new meaning to the novel. In the end, the story only poses heavy moral questions (How do we feel about war, the handicapped, euthanasia?) without attempting to answer them. If it has a weakness, it is its overreliance on untranslated phrases in 7 foreign languages (chiefly Latin) that are germane to the plot, and require an incredible amount of extra study to decipher.