Striving Towards Being The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz
In 1958 Thomas Merton wrote an admiring letter to Czeslaw Milosz about his seminal work The Captive Mind. Milosz replied and thus began an animated correspondence which lasted until Merton's death in 1968. During this highly productive decade, Merton continued, a Trappist, to write about nonviolence and the monastic life. Milosz, meanwhile, was writing influential essays and translating the poetry of Aleksander Wat and Anna Swir. In this dynamic correspondence, Milosz and Merton differ in their views of the role of Communism, share thoughts about the power of literature, and contrast their views on the natural world. As different as Milosz and Merton were, they found common ground in their spiritual search and in a desire to understand the human race. A memorial to a great friendship between two of this century's celebrated men of letter, Striving Towards Being is a testament to the examined life.
Religion
RELEASED1997
PUBLISHERFarrar, Straus and Giroux
LENGTH177
LANGUAGEEN
Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was a 20th century American Catholic writer. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews, including his best-selling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), which sent scores of disillusioned World War II veterans, students, and even teen-agers flocking to monasteries across US, and was also featured in National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century. Merton was a keen proponent of interfaith understanding. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama, D.T. Suzuki, the Japanese writer on the Zen tradition, and the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Merton has also been the subject of several biographies.
Striving Towards Being The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz
by Thomas Merton, Czesaw Miosz, Czesław Miłosz
In 1958 Thomas Merton wrote an admiring letter to Czeslaw Milosz about his seminal work The Captive Mind. Milosz replied and thus began an animated correspondence which lasted until Merton's death in 1968. During this highly productive decade, Merton continued, a Trappist, to write about nonviolence and the monastic life. Milosz, meanwhile, was writing influential essays and translating the poetry of Aleksander Wat and Anna Swir. In this dynamic correspondence, Milosz and Merton differ in their views of the role of Communism, share thoughts about the power of literature, and contrast their views on the natural world. As different as Milosz and Merton were, they found common ground in their spiritual search and in a desire to understand the human race. A memorial to a great friendship between two of this century's celebrated men of letter, Striving Towards Being is a testament to the examined life.
Religion
RELEASED1997
PUBLISHERFarrar, Straus and Giroux
LENGTH177
LANGUAGEEN
Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was a 20th century American Catholic writer. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews, including his best-selling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), which sent scores of disillusioned World War II veterans, students, and even teen-agers flocking to monasteries across US, and was also featured in National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century. Merton was a keen proponent of interfaith understanding. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama, D.T. Suzuki, the Japanese writer on the Zen tradition, and the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Merton has also been the subject of several biographies.
