The Catholic Book Club discussion

7. As a pilot during World War II, Miller bombed the Benedictine Monastery at Monte Cassino. How might that fact color his writing of this work?

What book is this comment referring to?

Bice wrote: "What book is this comment referring to?"

This is a discussion question for our discussion of Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Very late to the discussion, having recently joined the group and having just finished reading the novel. Miller's participation in the bombing of the monastery had a profound effect on him, was instrumental in leading him to the Catholic Church and to the writing of the three novellas that would evolve into Canticle a decade later.

The theme of repetitive pointless destruction is prominent in the novel, and though this story (covering eighteen-hundred years) teeters on the brink of despair, ultimately we are left with--if we choose to remain open to it--hope. If anyone is interested, please see my impressions of the novel.