THE LAST LIEBOWITZ CANTICLE

Name a great writer with the name of Miller. Most of you would probably name Arthur Miller, the guy who wrote a ton of plays in the 50s. But there's another one, a much better writer, but his best (and til after his death, his only) book remains in the memories of 50s and 60s old farts. Walter Miller Jr. wrote the best SciFi novel ever written, a book called A Canticle for Liebowitz, a book that the New Hollywood Left would never tolerate.

The plot seems a simple one. The earth has been destroyed by atomic war and the few survivors remaining include the monks in the Chapel of St. Liebowitz. These monks do what all monks do when things go bad, they exhume the past and try to preserve it for future generations. One of the things of the past the monks found in the ruins is a grocery list made out by a paragon of past glory now known as St. Liebowitz. First the monk examined the jotted notes which were scrawled by the same hand that had written another note glued to the lid of a tea jar, and the penmanship was no less abominable. Pound pastrami, said one note, can kraut, six bagels- bring home for Emma. Another reminded: Remember- pick up Form 1040, Uncle Revenue. The story, and what a story, begins when a monk doing his time fasting in the desert stumbles upon a ruined bomb shelter, the very place where Liebowitz spent his last hours, uncovering a hoard of twentieth century relics and documents. The current world is totally anti technology so the monks bring thing after thing forward to improve an impoverished world. The book spans centuries still focusing on the monastery of St. Liebowitz as they carefully restructure each and every relic they find. Since the disgusting monks are Catholic and the story features God as one of the good guys, this great book has remained a book and cannot be seen as a movie.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. I mention Miller and Canticle because at long last Miller's last book (he only wrote two) is getting some ink. The more or less new book is titled St. Leibowitz and The Wild Horse Woman, a book that praises God too, so forget the movie. The new book is not well reviewed, even by Miller fans. Both books are available at the usual places.

As a footnote I just point out that Miller wrote short SciFi stories for all the usual pulp mags and Canticle won a ton of awards within the SciFi community.