snpmurray's Full Review: James Blish - A Case of Conscience
Hugo award winner of 1958, this novel was first published in short story form under the same name in “If” magazine five years earlier. I formed an instant love/hate relationship with this novel. But we’ll come back to that……
The author of this fine story, James Blish, became better known for his novel adaptations of Star Trek episodes than his novels and novellas. This is sad, especially considering that the last few of these adaptations were hacked by his wife and daughter, Blish himself being too sick by the time with the cancer which took him from us. Case of Conscience is a good example of his work, introspective and imaginative, and beautifully crafted.
Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, a Jesuit priest by vocation and a biologist by training, is a member of a four man team. Like many Jesuits before him historically, he has been sent forth into an unknown wilderness to determine what works of God may lie there. He must report back to the Holy Father, and also report back to the governing scientists of Earth who have sent the team out. And a long way out it is, too… fifty light years in actual fact, to the first and only planet mankind has discovered which bears sentient life.
The planet Lithia is a paradise. Its sentient life form, a twelve foot lizard, is graceful, humble, kind and moral. They have no arts, no need for entertainment or periods of reflection, they have sparse inner lives, they have no God or religion. And yet, they have no concept for war, envy, greed, they are by nature altruistic and respectful of the rights of others. To Father Ramon, this is a dilemma. His catholic faith can admit no perfection in a sentient race which has no concept of a maker, and yet the Lithians seem to have walked straight out of the Garden of Eden (indeed, they seem to be living in it). To the Father this indicates that the planet is a snare set by Satan for mankind. His committee being sent there to evaluate the planet for human use, he votes it should be shunned forever.
How unfortunate for the Father though, in making this decision, and acting upon it, he falls foul of his own established creeds. For also, according to Catholic tradition, it is held that Satan is barren…he can destroy, but he cannot create, certainly not a whole planet. In attempting to save his people from an affront to his faith, he blasphemes against them so heavily that he may be excommunicated.
On his return to Earth the Father is given a gift by a Lithian who had become his friend. It is
his child, still in egg form. This infant Lithian is raised by human foster parents, but lacking a cultural vocabulary, it grows into a twisted adolescent genius, raging (perhaps rightly) against the sick human culture in which it finds itself. It becomes a celebrity, and incites riot and uprising. Earth has become a maze of underground bomb shelter societies (remember this is a cold war era novel) , and many of its inhabitants are ready for such a message.
Can the father solve the dilemma he has come across and avoid excommunication? How can the young Lithian orphan be stopped from destroying society? These are some questions we seek answers to in the story “A Case of Conscience”.
So much for the plot. A good one, as you can see. Plenty of meat.
These are not the question central to this work however. The question central to this piece is whether it is possible to have a moral society in the absence of God. Blish was a keen amateur explorer of comparative religion, and also a biologist in training. As such, he was able to expertly weave a theosophical dilemma into a biological oddity. The protagonist Father is endlessly torn between awe at the beauty of this society and these creatures, and inherent distrust of life in the absence of dogma. Throughout the book, the nature of Lithain biology, on Lithia, and later on Earth, will magnify this dilemma more and more for the Priest. Is the Young orphan Lithian an organ of the Diabolical Adversary on Earth, or the only voice of reason in an insane society?
The planet Lithia, described in the first half of the book, is beautifully painted on the imagination. Blish achieves a balance between scientific validities, and lush use of descriptive language to produce that rare effect, an “Other World” which stays distinct and alive in the imagination of the reader long after the reading is over. This in itself is reason to read this book. His Lithian culture is fascinating….although I lament enormously that Blish chose to remove the arts from the Lithian profile, they are otherwise as fine a race of people as one could hope to find. Once established, every page which further explores their lives is a totally absorbing voyage of discovery.
In the second half of the book, back on Earth, we are painted a portrait of a human way of life evolving from the cold war. Heavily satirical, and by turns pessimistic and forgiving in its outlook on the human nature in general, and the arms race in particular, this piece deals with the rise to fame of a the Lithian infant. Blish’s view of the innate hypocrisies of hierarchical culture, and consumer society are always amusing, and you will spend much of the second half of your reading of this book with a wry grin on at least half of your face. The very ending of the novel is infamously grim, I do however feel it is fair to warn, and it is truly depressing. And impacting. I don’t mind depressing content , if it carries a message forward, and this does. Also, to be honest, I have learned to commence unknown fifties Science fiction kind of expecting it to have a grim undertone.
As I mentioned Earlier, I formed a love/hate relationship with this novel. I am in the middle of moving house, so it took me a while to read it anyway, but that’s not the whole reason…..I LOVED the story of this novel. I have instant and great respect for anyone who can blend a great story with a great idea, and completely absorb me in the process, I search for these books. And this is a great example. BUT......
.... Blish keeps dropping the ball in terms of the pace of the story. It will be breathtaking, and absorbing for four pages, and then……dirge. Pedantries. Dialogue the consistency of treacle. There are numerous times I considered stopping reading it because of this odd stop/start style. I have recommended it to my patients as a cure for insomnia, it has been working for me for the last two weeks!
Now, don’t think I’m condemning the book, it’s a fine book, and I’m going to give it a good recommendation. I couldn’t stop reading it, its too worthwhile. But this weird style of his…man, I could live without it.
If you read it you’ll see what I mean about this. And I DO recommend you read it, you’ll take a lot away from it I feel.
Father Ruiz-Sanchez, a priest and scientist, is sent to Lithia, where he comes upon a race of aliens who are admirable in every way except for their t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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