Science, religion, euthanasia

The first part of Canticle (Fiat Homo - Let there be man) is set in a post-nuclear apocalypse 'dark ages.' The second section (Fiat Lux - Let there be light) follows six hundred years later, at the time of a scientific renaissance.

The pre-apocalypse 'memorabilia' that the monks of the order of St. Leibowitz have been keeping safe for all those centuries are finally of interest again. And one scientist- the brilliant, difficult Thon Thaddeo - comes to the abbey to study them.

Canticle has been studied in college courses for its discussion of 'the relationship between science and religion' (a phrase which, as a biologist, I have come to truly hate). I'm not sure what Miller really has to say about that relationship, however. The monks are mostly saintly, true. But Thon Thaddeo is far from a bad person; proud and bad-tempered, yes, but basically honest.

The bad guys in Canticle are neither the monks nor the scientists, even though science will eventually (in the third section of the book, Fiat Voluntas Tua - Let thy will be done) make another nuclear holocaust possible. The bad guys are the politicians, the people who want power.

The humor - still much present in part two - is less evident toward the end of the book, but then impending nuclear war tends to make life seem less funny. And Miller spends a fair amount of time on the question of euthanasia.

The first bombs have fallen. The government has set up 'relief stations' (read: euthanasia) for those individuals who have received such a high dose of radiation that death is inevitable. The doctors (playing the scientist role, here) are in favor of the idea; the monks resist.

I wasn't entirely convinced by their argument that we should suffer through to the end, but I'm not sure that Miller intends for us to be. You cannot read this section, now, without remembering that Miller himself suffered from serious depression for much of his life, and that 12 years ago, in 1996 - he committed suicide.