Memory in the Apocalyptic Archive: A Literary and Computer Textual Analysis of A Canticle for Leibowitz

Abstract

This thesis analyzes A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. to argue that traditional literary analysis and digital humanities methods are often more effective when used in combination. Beginning with a literary analysis of memory and materiality in Canticle, this thesis also examines the same themes in a corpus of post-apocalyptic science fiction texts using topic modeling and compares the results of the two methods. Although previous scholarship on Canticle emphasizes the struggle between religion and science, examining cultural memory through the material remnants of the pre-apocalyptic society foregrounds the struggle between the Leibowitzean monks—who wish to preserve cultural memory—and the government—who plan to use pre-apocalyptic knowledge to gain the upper hand in conflict. Their struggle does not find a clear resolution in the novel and humanity seems doomed to an endless cycle of nuclear destruction. However, comparing Canticle to a topic model of a post-apocalyptic science fiction corpus suggests an explanation to Canticle’s ambiguous ending. By statistically determining the latent topics within a corpus of science fiction texts, a topic model produced the word children as the most significant term within a topic consisting of memory and materiality words such as book, story, year, and future. Passing on cultural memory to children therefore plays a significant role in many post-apocalyptic science fiction novels, but there are few children in Canticle to learn such lessons. Only the Leibowitzean monks concern themselves with the future that children represent, which leads humanity to destruction in the search for gratification.