Research Catalog

Thomas Merton and James Laughlin : selected letters

Title: Thomas Merton and James Laughlin : selected letters / edited by David D. Cooper.
Author: Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.
Publication: New York : W.W. Norton, 1997.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	PS3525.E7174 Z485 1997	Off-site

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Description

xxxiii, 398 pages; 22 cm

Summary

Thomas Merton must have seemed an unlikely candidate for best-selling author. Cloistered in a remote Kentucky monastery, Merton struggled as a young man to reconcile his intrinsic desire to write with his chosen life as a Trappist monk.
James Laughlin encountered Merton's work early, when it was still firmly rooted in religious theme and form. Although he had created the New Directions Publishing Corporation as a means of participating in the fledgling modernist literary movement, Laughlin recognized in Merton's poetry a profound voice that even the strictest self-censorship could not hide. He encouraged the young monk to follow his poetic instincts and was richly rewarded.
Merton developed into one of Laughlin's most daring authors, revealing in poems and essays a tremendous world view encompassing issues of race, politics, war, and the spiritual decay of modern society. Nearly thirty years of lively correspondence documents this remarkable literary and personal relationship. The different perspectives of Merton and Laughlin produce a fascinating portrait of the times, and their letters open an important window into the life and mind of Thomas Merton.

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Bibliography (note)

ISBN

0393040690

LCCN

96039819

OCLC

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries