Synopsis
In this correspondence Milosz and Merton argue about the role of communism, share advice on literature, and exchange their contrasting views of the natural world.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1996-12-01 | | Editor: | Robert Faggen |
| Size | | Length: | 177 pages | | Height: | 8.0 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 10.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
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.
Industry Reviews
"The letters show both men struggling for a meaning beyond the cliches and spiritual drought imposed by society in the name of soviet atheism or of an American trivialized by the media."
Winfrey
"The Catholic from Poland who is suspicious of his own Church, who stays away from it for long spells, who abstains from its hear and soul (communion and confession) turns to this American priest with a spiritual inwardness and candor that will be powerfully engaging to today's readers, and clearly touched Merton deeply....This book offers their abundant moral energy writ large; and it show us, really, two pilgrims more than addressing one another. In the imagery Walker Percy summons at the end of 'The Moviegoer,' Merton and Milosz 'hand....[one another] along in their dark journey and....[by each other] are handed along....": a most affecting and edifying consequence for us ever so needy readers, who have our own territory to cover, and who will surely be grateful for the companionship these letters provide."
Coles
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