 In the years since , praise for the work has been consistently high . It is considered a " science @-@ fiction classic ... [ and ] is arguably the best novel written about nuclear apocalypse , surpassing more popularly known books like On the Beach " . A Canticle for Leibowitz has also generated a significant body of literary criticism , including numerous literature journal articles , books and college courses . Acknowledging its serialization roots , literary critic David N. Samuelson writes that A Canticle for Leibowitz " may be the one universally acknowledged literary masterpiece to emerge from magazine SF . " Fellow critic David Cowart places the novel in the realm of works by Evelyn Waugh , Graham Greene , and Walker Percy , in 1975 stating it " stands for many readers as the best novel ever written in the genre . " Percy , a National Book Award recipient , declared Canticle " a mystery : it 's as if everything came together by some felicitous chance , then fell apart into normal negative entropy . I 'm as mystified as ever and hold Canticle in even higher esteem . " Scholars and critics have explored the many themes encompassed in the novel , frequently focusing on its motifs of religion , recurrence , and church versus state . 
