Review Page: A Case Of Conscience by James Blish
| Title: |
A Case Of Conscience |
| Author: |
James Blish |
| Format: |
Novel |
| Genre: |
Science Fiction |
| Publisher: |
Millenium |
| Date of Publication: |
2000 (new edition) |
| ISBN: |
1-85798-924-4 |
No. of Reviews: 2
Av. Rating: 8/10
Buy this book from the Amazon website.
19.01.2001 - Agema - 6/10
List of Reviews | Bio
Hm. I must confess I couldn't help but wish I knew more about the
Roman Catholic church and theology having read this. I'm not sure I was in a position to give enough thought to the issues going on inside it. In fact,
as some of the fine points have escaped me (not helped by the fact I
devoured it in one sitting) I'd like to suggest my mark should be taken with
some leeway, probably upgradable rather than the reverse.
There's a quote that says Blish was responsible for dragging SF out of the
pulp age and giving it much greater intellectual depth. While this is
largely true, there are some moments which are, frankly, straight out of
that age - one where a character turns up dead on the doorstep of the hero, which is painfully - and pulpily - convenient.
For someone not well enough connected with the theology, as I am, it's a
difficult read, as it details the struggle with his conscience of a Jesuit
biologist, faced with a race of aliens who may be demons or angels. As the
author points out, it's not intended as much a critique of Catholicism as
the internal workings of one man.
Aside from these difficulties, it reads well enough, and to my layman
knowledge stands up to intellectual scrutiny well enough. It's not a
gripping book; but there's mental food there. The characters are a trifle
weak (as usual in early SF) but that's not the point, and the aliens are not
interesting in that they are construction to make a point rather than a
source of creation in themselves.
This is the hardest judgement I've had to decide. At the end of the day,
it's well intentioned, intelligent and does, simply, go places, but it seems
on occasions anaemic and obtuse. I'd suggest you give it a look for
curiosity's sake, but I can't wholeheartedly recommend it.
23.01.2001 - Shahrazade - 9/10
List of Reviews | Bio
A Case of Conscience is an interesting book for several reasons. It is, in fact, one of the books that makes genre catagorisation so difficult. What indeed, do you make of a nominally science fiction setting in which Catholic theology is as 'true' as physical laws?
The setting is the planet of Lithia, where Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez is part of a scientific mission from earth to study the indigenous sentient alien species. The word mission is used advisedly because Ruiz-Sanchez is a catholic priest and his role on the mission is to evaluate the aliens from a theological point of view.
The plot is predicated on an interesting twist of Catholic theology and something called the Manchaean heresy: in short the question of whether or not the Devil has the power to create. Sanchez's wrestling with a heresy personified makes for a rigorously intellectual plot but also for an unusual work of science-fiction. The aliens are not the characterful xenologically-realised beings we look for in modern science-fiction but are, as is the entire book, the embodiment of a theoretical premise.
Strange reading indeed and a work of fiction that transcends genre. Despite certain apparant naivities of style which belong to an earlier age of sf this book is, in my opinion, one of the all time greats of the genre. It is also, interestingly, very likely to have been the inspiration for Maria Doria Russell's The Sparrow and, although Russell makes a very different book out of it, Blish's original concept is still superior.