The novel “Gather, Darkness!” by Fritz Leiber was published for the first time in 1943 in the magazine Astounding. It’s set at the beginning of the XXIV century in a theocracy that took power on the Earth and the space colonies after a terrible nuclear war which took place a few centuries earlier. Humanity is ruled by the Hierarchy of the Great God, whose priests exploit religious beliefs to keep ordinary people in a state of ignorance and submission.
Brother Jarles is an idealistic priest who has become impatient towards the Hierarchy after discovering that the religious teachings that are given to the people are just lies used to maintain its power. The reality is that priests use technologies they keep secret to make their alleged miracles.
When an old flame is accused of being a witch, Brother Jarles rebels openly. At that point he should be smitten by the Great God but he’s saved by another faction whose members claim to be followers of Satan. Actually those members of the Witchcraft use technology developed in secret to overthrow the Hierarchy and Jarles’ actions are an opportunity to begin the offensive.
Fritz Leiber had recently finished his first novel “Conjure Wife” for the magazine Unknown when its director John Campbell asked him to write a science fiction novel for his other magazine, Astounding. Leiber had still in mind all the elements of the supernatural he had thought about during the writing of his previous novel but he decided to use them only as a cover for the use of technological devices.
A few years earlier Fritz Leiber had a negative experience with religion and the cynicism that he had developed against it led him to see the future as a new Middle Age in which a religious organization holds the power in a dictatorship.
In “Gather, Darkness!” it’s a group of scientists who originally gave a religious appearance to scientific knowledge after the nuclear war on the pretext of guarding it better but it’s actually a way to establish a form of power. Leiber doesn’t describe the evolution of this group of scientists into the Hierarchy but he’s merciless in showing how those priests exploit religious beliefs to control common people well aware that they are lying using technology to create fake miracles.
Actually many elements in “Gather, Darkness!” are inspired by Robert A. Heinlein’s novels “If This Goes On” (1940) and “Sixth Column” (1941), also published in the magazine Astounding. Fritz Leiber develops those elements in a more coherent and credible way because in “If This Goes On” the criticism of religious fundamentalism is a bit lost in the love story between two of the characters and in “Sixth Column” there’s just a handful of patriots who defeat the Asian invaders.
Leiber focuses on the clash between the Hierarchy and the Witchcraft, where the latter is a rather wide organization grown in the shadow, taking advantage of the smoldering resentment among ordinary people who have to work hard towards priests who live in comfort. Actually the exact plans of the Witchcraft after overthrowing the Hierarchy aren’t clear so the novel ends in a moral gray area.
“Gather, Darkness!” is a short novel for today’s standards – just over 200 pages in the thickest editions – but Fritz Leiber handles well the sub-plots that follow the main characters. The author also develops in a considerable way a number of characters through not only their actions but their thoughts and memories as well.
Almost 70 years since it was written, “Gather, Darkness!” gives little signs of age and it deserves its reputation as a science fiction classic that every fan of this genre should have read more than once.
