Consideration of Works Past: A Canticle for Leibowitz

(Picture fromhere.)

We can’t effectively criticize Shakespeare or the Bible because they have so profoundly interpenetrated our culture and our language. People who have never read a word of the Bible know the meaning of the phrase “the patience of Job.” People who would barely know the Bard’s name know the meaning of the phrase “the green eyed monster.” Such works have become the water in which we as fish swim. We read the Bible. We watch the plays. But we’re seeing our own culture write larg...