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Questions tagged [a-canticle-for-leibowitz]

Published in 1960, A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic novel from Walter M. Miller. It is widely considered one of the "classics" of science-fiction. The tag should be used for questions about the story, background, or adaptations.

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What is the meaning of the Defense Minister's comments on motherhood?

In the Fiat Voluntas Tua section of A Canticle for Leibowitz the narrative around the increase in nuclear tension is partially told via the news conferences of the Defense Minister, Lord Ragelle. At ...
A.Steer's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
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What accounted for the Wanderer's lifespan?

In general, A Canticle for Leibowitz is known as science fiction and as I recall, it is a science fiction story: no magic spells, etc. But the Wanderer I think was supposed to be supernaturally old or ...
releseabe's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
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The electron: "portion" or "torsion" in "Fiat Homo"?

I read A Canticle for Leibowitz decades ago, in French translation. It left a durable impression on me. To my shame I admit I never reread it in English when I became able to. So I still do not know ...
Alfred's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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What fasting laws was Br. Francis subject to?

I have always wondered what Lenten fasting laws Brother Francis Gerard of Utah was actually supposed to be subject to, while he was in the wilderness at the beginning of A Canticle for Leibowitz ...
Buzz's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
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Is the original, incomplete manuscript of Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman available anywhere?

In a similar vein to this question I asked yesterday, I am wondering about what had to be done to complete Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s second novel Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman. The book is an ...
Buzz's user avatar
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7 votes
0 answers
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Is there a listing of all the changes to A Canticle for Leibowitz between the magazine and novel versions?

The original magazine novelettes that became A Canticle for Leibowitz were apparently heavily reworked for the final novel publication, after Miller's conception of the work as a whole changed. Only ...
Buzz's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
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What is the significance of the title "Fiat Voluntas Tua" (a quote from the Latin "Our Father") as a section title in A Canticle for Leibowitz?

When Walter M. Miller Jr. originally wrote the novelettes that he later fixed up to become A Canticle for Leibowitz, they were titled: "A Canticle for Leibowitz" (The Magazine of Fantasy ...
Buzz's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Fiat Voluntas Tua — Are Mrs. Grales & Rachel allegorical characters for Mary and Jesus?

In Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, part III — Fiat Voluntas Tua — we jump 600 years into the future. The Leibowitz abbey still exists, and Abbot Zerchi and New Rome prepare a mission ...
Silly but True's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
289 views

What was Thon Tadeo referring to with the myth of re-creation?

In the "Fiat Lux" section, Thon Tadeo mentions evidence that the humans then-living were not the original humans, but a created servant race who had rebelled. It seems clear from the context that he ...
Chris B. Behrens's user avatar
21 votes
1 answer
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Where is the Abbey of the Albertian Order of St. Leibowitz?

Obviously a book set 600 (and 1200, and 1800) years in a post-apocalyptic future isn't necessarily going to have much in the way of noticeable landmarks that are definitively similar to ours. Still, ...
Matt Gutting's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
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What is the relationship between Benjamin and Leibowitz?

In Fiat Homo, one of the monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz (Brother Fingo) finishes a hand-carved woodcarving of Leibowitz (who had not yet been deemed a saint). The woodcarving was passed ...
Beofett's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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How did the Poet "die for the faith"?

In the section Fiat Voluntas Tua, the Poet receives some mention through the hindsight of history (emphasis mine): the fable had probably arisen out of the story that one of the early Hannegans had ...
Beofett's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
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Who did Benjamin think Thon Thaddeo was?

In Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, at the end of the Fiat Lux section, Benjamin, the seemingly immortal Jewish hermit, interrupts Thon Thaddeo's farewell dinner. As I recall, he (Benjamin) gets ...
Beofett's user avatar
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