Thomas Merton Criticism
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) was a multifaceted figure whose life and work bridged monastic contemplation and public activism. As a French-born American writer and Trappist monk, Merton's conversion to Catholicism in the 1930s led to a life that harmonized scholarly reflection with Christian principles, while also embracing Zen teachings. His autobiographical work, The Seven Storey Mountain, offers a dual narrative of his natural and spiritual journeys. This seminal work received critical attention from Peter Kountz, who delves into its structure and impact.
Throughout his career, Merton explored themes of religious and secular life, as seen in his poetry and prose. His poem Original Child Bomb, analyzed by Daniel Berrigan, reflects his engagement with the moral dilemmas of scientific destruction, influenced by Eastern philosophies. His final poem, "The Geography of Lograire," critiques Western mythology and addresses violence and cultural alienation, as studied by James York Glimm. His novel My Argument With the Gestapo, with Gothic and satirical elements, explores themes of war and alienation, drawing comparisons to Eliot and Dante by Ross Labrie.
While Merton's poetry has been critiqued by Richard Kostelanetz for stylistic flaws, it remains significant for its thematic depth. Robert McDowell extols Merton's poetic genius, likening it to Yeats in its beauty and truth. Merton's works like The Sign of Jonas and Seeds of Destruction reveal his commitment to addressing social issues such as racism and nuclear threats, embodying his dedication to nonviolent activism.
Merton's literary style and expansive vision have been variously praised and critiqued; Robert Lowell recognized his poetic promise, while Daniel J. Callahan noted his challenges with modern complexities. His efforts to integrate Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, as highlighted in The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton, underscore his role in promoting interfaith understanding. William H. Shannon suggests that Merton's work continues to provide profound insights into the human condition, indicating that there remains ample scholarship to be explored on his contributions.
Contents
- Principal Works
- Merton, Thomas (Vol. 3)
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Monastic Life and the Secular City
(summary)
In the following essay, Thomas Landess examines Thomas Merton's work and highlights how Merton's writings bridge the spiritual and secular worlds, illustrating a Christian commitment to both the monastic and modern temporal life through his use of contemporary metaphors and traditional literary perspectives.
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Merton, Thomas (Vol. 11)
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Thomas Merton's Last Poem: 'The Geography of Lograire'
(summary)
In the following essay, James York Glimm examines Thomas Merton's last poem, "The Geography of Lograire," highlighting its complex structure and themes of violence and cultural alienation, while emphasizing Merton's critique of Western mythology through juxtaposing Western and non-Western "myth-dreams" to reveal the destructive nature of Western superiority.
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'The Seven Storey Mountain' of Thomas Merton
(summary)
In the following essay, Peter Kountz examines the dual narrative structure of Thomas Merton's "The Seven Storey Mountain," highlighting its dual "natural" and "spiritual" levels which, while creating a sense of incompleteness regarding Merton's artistic development, underscore the primacy of his spiritual journey.
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The Seventy Times Seventy Seven Storey Mountain
(summary)
In the following essay, Daniel Berrigan argues that Thomas Merton's poetry, influenced by Eastern philosophies, particularly his work "Original Child Bomb," addresses the apocalyptic themes of scientific destruction with a unique blend of irony and critique, reflecting a profound engagement with existential and moral dilemmas.
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Thomas Merton's War Novel
(summary)
In the following essay, Ross Labrie critiques Merton's My Argument With the Gestapo for its static narrative and moral overtones, yet praises its use of Gothic atmosphere, macaronic language, and satirical elements to explore themes of war, alienation, and the search for meaning, likening it to the works of Eliot and Dante.
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Robert McDowell
(summary)
In the following essay, Robert McDowell argues that Thomas Merton's poetic genius lies in his ability to create a profound and self-sustaining poetic world, akin to a modern Yeats, where beauty and truth in language are never compromised, exhibiting a continuously evolving and erudite voice.
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Thomas Merton's Last Poem: 'The Geography of Lograire'
(summary)
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Merton, Thomas (Vol. 83)
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Review of Thomas Merton's Verse
(summary)
Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Book Award, Lowell presents a mixed assessment of Merton's verse, noting that while Merton is a modest, not altogether satisfactory minor writer, he is also the most promising of American Catholic poets and possibly the most consequential Catholic poet to write in English since Francis Thompson.
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The Sign of Jonas
(summary)
In the following positive review of The Sign of Jonas, Shuster praises Merton's vivid and insightful depiction of life in a monastery. He describes the book as a diary kept during five years spent in a Trappist monastery by a young monk who can write unusually well, noting that Merton earnestly tries to become a saint while remaining relatable and human.
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No Man Is an Island
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Graham praises No Man Is an Island, discussing Merton's views on spirituality and highlighting the importance of Merton's writing in the context of mid-twentieth century man's search for understanding through mystics.
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Seeds of Destruction
(summary)
In the following review of Seeds of Destruction, he faults Merton's lack of sensitivity to the complexity of modern political and moral issues but affirms the importance of Merton's extreme views on morality.
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The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton
(summary)
An American poet, essayist, short story writer, and novelist, Kostelanetz is noted in particular as a writer and supporter of contemporary avante-garde literature. In the following negative review of The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, he faults the stylistic aspects of Merton's poems, concluding that "what remains most interesting about Merton is not his art or his thought, but his life."
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The Art of Thomas Merton
(summary)
In the following excerpt from his study, Labrie discusses Merton's views on the relationship between art, society, and religion. Merton felt a profound intimacy between the roles of religion and art in relation to the vitality of the whole society, and he believed that some form of religious idealism was necessary to sustain art in a technocracy. He also expressed concern about the fragmentation of modern life and the lack of relatedness between various phases of life and thought.
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Words and Silence: On the Poetry of Thomas Merton
(summary)
An American poet who maintained a friendship with Merton, Lentfoehr is considered an authority on Merton's works. In the following excerpt from her study, she discusses recurring social and religious themes in the poet's work.
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The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton
(summary)
Bruckner provides a positive assessment of The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton, highlighting Merton's journey from traditional Western monasticism to a fusion of Eastern and ancient Western mysticism. He notes that the essays are not about writing but about writers and human understanding, suggesting that both Merton cultists and independent readers will find value in his work.
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Thomas Merton
(summary)
Kramer focuses on Merton's portrayal of contemporary man in Collected Poems, noting that while many of Merton's final shorter poems are conventional, others, especially the prose-poems, are unusual. Merton includes personal pieces reflecting his horror at contemporary man's lack of awareness of the need for contemplation, yet he also finds distance and humor in his observations. The collection features a lightness despite Merton's sometimes frightening view of the contemporary world.
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The Sign of Jonas
(summary)
In the following essay on The Sign of Jonas, originally presented in 1986 at a conference of Merton scholars, Kramer discusses Merton's struggle to reconcile the conflicts between his contemplative life and his aspirations as an artist. The journal records Merton's growing awareness of what it means to be a monk while also being a writer, reflecting his doubts and personal history as a Cistercian.
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The Value of Merton's Oeuvre
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In the following essay, Shannon considers the value of Merton's oeuvre and the future reputation of his works, commenting that "Merton scholarship is still in its infancy or at best in adolescence." He reflects on the quantity of Merton's literary output and evaluates several of his works, suggesting that while some may not endure, others possess a quality of insight into the human condition that transcends his own generation.
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Review of Thomas Merton's Verse
(summary)
- Further Reading