A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer Walter M. Miller, Jr., first published in 1960. Based on three short stories Miller contributed to the science fiction magazine ; it is the only novel published by the author during his lifetime. Considered one of the classics of science fiction, it has never been out of print and has seen over 25 reprints and editions. Appealing to mainstream and genre critics and readers alike, it won the 1961 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel.

Set in a Roman Catholic monastery in the desert of the Southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war, the story spans thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself. The monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz take up the mission of preserving the surviving remnants of man's scientific knowledge until the day the outside world is again ready for it.

Inspired by the author's participation in the Allied bombing of the monastery at Monte Cassino during World War II, the novel is considered a masterpiece by literary critics. It has been compared favorably with the works of Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Walker Percy, and its themes of religion, recurrence, and church versus state have generated a significant body of scholarly research. Miller's follow-up work, , was published posthumously in 1997. (Wikipedia)

Después de la hecatombe nuclear el Venerable Leibowitz, muerto seiscientos años antes, va a ser canonizado. De la antigua civilización no quedan otros vestigios que los conservados por la Orden Albertiana, cuyos monjes consumen sus vida en la interminable tarea de iluminar e interpretar las obras del Venerable para reconstruir sobre ellas el mundo tal como fue.

Son muchos los misterios que perduran. Por ejemplo, el documento que reza: “Libra de pastrani, lata de kraut, traer a casa para Emma”. Es un enigma. Pero los monjes saben que la luz se hará algún día y que, con ella, la antigua cultura retornará.

¿Ridículo? ¿Grotesco?

Bien, si nuestro civilizado y orgulloso mundo sucumbe un día ante una catástrofe de proporciones millones de veces superiores a las del hundimiento del mundo clásico, ¿qué ocurrirá? ¿Qué quedará de nuestra civilización? ¿Cómo y por quién serán conservados, interpretados y aprovechados los vestigios tecnológicos que heredarán los hombres del mañana?

Książka Waltera Millera, jr. to kamień milowy literatury SF i zdobywca nagrody Hugo w 1960r. Książka opowiada o losach ludzkości po katastrofie nuklearnej. Rolę przewodnika tych, którzy przetrwali, przejmuje odrodzony Kościół katolicki, a konkretnie mnisi zakonu Leibowitza — konstruktora i wynalazcy, którego osiągnięcia wykorzystano do celów wojny jądrowej. Prześladowany przez społeczeństwo, zrozpaczony po stracie żony, zakłada on pokutne zgromadzenie zakonne pod wezwaniem Alberta Wielkiego z zadaniem przechowywania wiedzy o przeszłości, zbierania książek I dokumentów dla przyszłych pokoleń, gdy ludzkość wyjdzie z okresu barbarzyństwa.

Wkrótce ukaże się też napisana przez Millera po trzydziestu latach kontynuacja tej powieści.

Ideea Evului Mediu postatomic şi a repetării ciclice a istoriei găseşte în romanul de faţă una dintre expresiile sale cele mai puternice şi mai coerente. În momentul începerii povestirii, cu şase sute de ani după catastrofa atomică, mici comunităţi religioase încearcă, la modul cel mai naiv cu putinţă, să conserve ultimele ale ştiinţei străvechi, apărându-le în faţa barbariei.

It has been nearly forty years since Walter M. Miller, Jr., shocked and dazzled readers with his provocative bestseller and enduring classic, Now, in one of the most eagerly awaited publishing events of our time, here is Miller’s masterpiece, an epic intellectual and emotional tour de force that will stand beside 1984, and

In a world struggling to transcend a terrifying legacy of darkness—a world torn between love and violence, good and evil—one man undertakes an odyssey of adventure and discovery that promises to alter not only his destiny but the destiny of humankind as well….

Millennia have passed since the Flame Deluge, yet society remains fragmented, pockets of civilization besieged by barbarians. The Church is in turmoil, the exiled papacy struggling to survive in its Rocky Mountain refuge. To the south, tyranny is on the march. Imperial Texark troops, bent on conquest, are headed north into the lands of the nomads, spreading terror in their wake.

Meanwhile, isolated in Leibowitz Abbey, Brother Blacktooth St. George suffers a crisis of faith. Torn between his vows and his Nomad upbringing, between the Holy Virgin and visions of the Wild Horse Woman of his people, he stands at the brink of disgrace and expulsion from his order. But he is offered an escape—of sorts: a new assignment as a translator for Cardinal Brownpony, which will take him to the contentious election of a new pope and then on a pilgrimage to the city of New Rome. Journeying across a continent divided by nature, politics, and war, Blacktooth is drawn into Brownpony’s intrigues and conspiracies. He bears witness to rebellion, assassination, and human sacrifice. And he is introduced to the sins that monastery life has long held at bay.

This introduction comes in the form of Ædrea, a beautiful but forbidden “genny” living among the deformed and mutant castouts in Texark’s most hostile terrain. As Blacktooth encounters her again and again on his travels—in the flesh, in rumors of miraculous deeds, and in the delirium of fever—he begins to wonder if Ædrea is a she-devil, the Holy Mother, or the Wild Horse Woman herself.

Picaresque and passionate, magnificent, dark, and compellingly real, is a brutal, brilliant, thrilling tale of mystery, mysticism, and divine madness, a classic that will long endure in every reader’s memory.

A Leibowitz-rend apátságában a Memorabíliákat gyűjtik, a Tűzözön előtti civilizáció becses írott emlékeit. Nem veszélytelen hivatás ez, hiszen a tudományellenes közhangulat épp a tudományt, a kultúrát okolja az új nyomorúságért.

A szerzet a kőkorszaki körülmények között is jó munkát végez. A nemzedékről nemzedékre átmenekített és megőrzött források révén az emberiség újra megalkotja az „első” gőzgépet, az „első” izzólámpát, majd természetesen az „első” atommáglyát.

És 1200 évvel a Tűzözön után végre ismét elhárulnak a technikai akadályok az újabb Tűzözön elől…

Az először 1959-ben megjelent (és 1988-ban magyarul is közreadott) amerikai regény valóságos mérföldkő a sci-fi irodalom történetében, műfajának klasszikusa. Szerzője, Walter M. Miller (1923–1996) szinte nem is írt egyebet. Hiába próbálkozott, képtelen volt tökéletes művét felülmúlni. Könyvét második világháborús élményei ihlették: bombázótiszt volt az itáliai hadszíntéren. Ötvenhárom bevetésen vett részt, ő találta telibe a Benedek-rendiek ősi apátságát. A tragédia súlya egész életében nyomasztotta. Önkezével vetett véget életének.

The Duke of Rochester marries Lady Isobel Drummond in order to obtain an heir. She marries him to save her family from financial ruin but also because she's fallen in love with the dissolute duke. Alexander, Lord Bentley, realises how much he loves his wife after he has driven her away by his objectionable behaviour.

Can he convince Isobel he is a changed man?

Can Isobel forgive the man she once loved?