A Case of Conscience by James Blish (July 2017)

[Joe]

Hi everyone. This is for discussion of July's group book:
A Case of Conscience by James Blish

Unless it’s a very general comment make sure you use spoiler code.
< spoiler>Comment< /spoiler> Without the spaces.

A second slightly slimmer classic SF book for the summer; also from the 1950's.

[Joe]

Book One

I kept reading and was waiting for the chapter to end at an appropriate point but didn’t realise until I’d read all of book one it’s not in standard chapters.

(view spoiler)[
So a culture that is apparently without sin and is right and proper in a way humanity isn’t. Interesting idea to explore. It’s not interesting me all that much so far though. Someone’s personal views could affect their opinion on this book far more than many others I suspect.

I don’t have much to say yet really as there’s so much close to being learnt but not quite yet. I’ve read 2 other books by Blish before and this is easily the most difficult. I had no issue with the other two but this isn’t an area I relate or understand easily.
(hide spoiler)]

[Joe]

Book Two

(view spoiler)[
The first thing I liked was learning about Earth finally. How a bunker system, which I couldn’t help thinking of the Fallout games during reading, is now in place and there’s unrest unsurprisingly to go along with it. Egtverchi creating unrest due to learning and developing in a way that nobody else in his culture ever had is a curious idea and it’s done well though it’s not easy to realise, for me anyway, until you get really far into it.

My thoughts are still somewhat confused for the time being. I’m trying to figure out quite a few aspects of it and suspect it’ll take awhile, if not possibly a future reread to really understand what it is I’ve just read.
(hide spoiler)]

So finished it already. It was easy and remarkably fast to read. I'm just unsure what it was I just read though. I may well say more once I've had a good few days to think of things.

[Jon]

Book One

(view spoiler)[
This takes place on a newly discovered planet with sentient reptile-like aliens. This alien society is based on logic and reason and apparently adheres perfectly to Christian morals and ethics while not having any type of religion at all. Four scientists (all male of course) have come to the planet to decide if it should be opened up to the rest of society for trade and such. Blish sets this up so that he can explore the moral argument for the existence of God and the transcendental argument for the existence of God through his priest character, Father Ruiz-Sanchez. Father Ruiz-Sanchez is a Jesuit and based on a couple of his comments I think he's a young earth creationist.

I don't really care about the religious arguments. If handled in an even handed manner they might be interesting but they rarely are (even handed or interesting). And this goes both ways. In this one it just happens to be the religious pov that sets up a straw man and poisons the well.

My other big problem in stories like this is that they are often framed as religion vs science. That was one of my problems with A Canticle for Leibowitz and it's a problem here. Science is a tool that is used to explore and understand the natural world. That's pretty much it. How it is used depends upon the ideology of the person or group (political or religious) that is using it. Scientism isn't a thing. Fascism, communism, Catholicism, capitalism (and many more)- all of these are things and are ideologies that can be in conflict with each other. Science is a tool that can be and is used by all of them.

In this story Father Ruiz-Sanchez is the stand in for Religion. He is well spoken, thoughtful, polite and a trained scientist. He has leaned the Lithia (alien) language and is very respectful to them and their culture. Ruiz-Sanchez is one heck of a nice guy.

On the other hand we have Science. Science is represented by Paul Cleaver. I might be reading between the lines here but I do have a couple of examples to explain my thinking. Father Ruiz-Sanchez refers to Cleaver as 'the dedicated man of science, working for the greater glory of man'. At another point Cleaver says: 'Are we scientists or Boy Rangers? Any rational man up against a majority of do-gooders would have taken the same precautions I did.' Of course Cleaver can't be a nice guy in the discussion that Blish wants to set up. Cleaver lies to the other three and when caught in his lies tries to justify them instead of apologizing or admitting it might have been the wrong approach. He is a complete bigot, referring to the aliens dismissively as 'snakes' and refusing to learn their language or culture. And of course, as any true scientist or rational man would want to do, he proposes closing off the planet so that the government can enslave the aliens and turn the planet into a nuclear bomb factory. Ooops I forgot, in case you missed it in the quote Cleaver is dismissive of religion and religious people. Not very even-handed and at this point I'm not really interested in any argument that Blish wants to make.

Sorry for the rant. Let's see what happens in Book Two!
(hide spoiler)]

[Joe]

Jon

(view spoiler)[
Very well said. I had the same issues and thoughts but couldn't think how to say them. He makes everything far too black and white. It's confrontational between science and religion and gives them no chance to meet in a middle ground.
(hide spoiler)]

[Jon]

Joe,

(view spoiler)[Thanks. It's funny 'cause I'm at the 80% mark and I feel just like you mentioned in your comment after Book Two in that I'm just unsure what it is that I'm reading. Book One was kind of annoying but it was cohesive. It felt connected and I could feel a 'purpose' to it. Not so for Book Two. It's all over the place and the book is almost finished. I can't see how the author is going to pull this together. (hide spoiler)]

[Jon]

Book Two

(view spoiler)[So in Book One Father Ruiz-Sanchez mentions that the planet Lithia is comparable to the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man. And that's pretty much the set up for Book Two. Egtverchi, a Lithian, is brought to Earth in a beaker/vase. He is born during the trip to Earth and is raised there. There, through the eyes of Father Ruiz-Sanchez, he symbolically eats the apple given to him by the snake and by the end he travels back to Lithia to bring about the Fall of his people. In the meantime the Pope has given Father Ruiz- Sanchez the task of performing an exorcism on the planet Lithia in the hopes of saving his soul. And Cleaver travels back to Lithia to start his nuclear bomb factory. You can draw several different conclusions from the ending of this book based upon your worldview and I think that was what Blish was trying to do. Obviously you have the religious interpretation because the priest was his main character and most of the story is seen through his eyes. But you can see hints of other interpretations in the writing. And that's why this book failed for me. Book One was pretty tight and straightforward. Even though I had problems with it I would have rated it 3 - 3.5 stars. Book Two was a hot mess. It was all over the place and boring throughout most of it. The ending could have been pretty good with a better setup and if it was seen through more than one set of eyes or worldviews in order for the reader to draw her own conclusions. Instead it felt blurry and incomplete.

Joe,
Because of the Cold War it seems like bunkers were featured in a lot of the early SF. At least in the few that I've read. Didn't a bunker feature prominently in the beginning of A Canticle for Leibowitz? And atomic power was the future, especially as rocket engines! (hide spoiler)]