The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Zukofsky, Louis, 1904-1978

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1967-1968, 1973

Volume: 34 item(s); 51 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Louis Zukofsky and Thomas Merton exchange feedback about each other's work and discuss some of their mutual physical ailments, like bursitis.

Biography

Louis Zukofsky was a poet and professor of English, who was born in New York, where he also spent his professional life. His poetry of the 1930's was considered part of the "objectivist" movement and associated with the work of William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound. Later, he was rediscovered by the Black Mountain poets. He is known for the collection of poems, entitled "A", which spanned his whole writing career from the 1920's to the 1970's and was published the year of his death. (Source: "Zukofsky, Louis." World Authors. 1975. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 4 Oct. 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See also published letters from Merton to Zukofsky in The Courage for Truth, pp. 290-296; see also contributions to Monks Pond, Volume 2.

Other Finding Aids

If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
   

Series List

This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1967/02/21 (#01)HLSto MertonHappily my publisher calls my attention to your review of ALL and I must thank you for it in itself   
 1967/02/21 (#02)HLS[x][d]to MertonHappily only publisher calls my attention to your review of ALL and I must thank you for it  [draft of letter handwritten on four small sheets]
 1967/02/27 HLS[x]from MertonIt was very good to get your letter. Don't be distressed by this stationery- only a bursitis   
 1967/03/02 HLSto MertonAh me, bursitis that disabling ache among others of that kind we're familiar with. Celia and I hope   
 1967/03/11 (#01)TL[c]from MertonMany thanks for your letter of nine days ago. The operation seems to have helped and has perhapsYes  
 1967/03/11 (#02)TALS[x]from MertonMany thanks for your letter of nine days ago. The operation seems to have helped and has perhapsYes  
 1967/03/11 (#03)other[x]by MertonChildren the time of angry Fathers [-] Is torn off the calendar [-] They turn to shadows  [Merton encloses his poem "A Round and a Hope for Smithgirls" with handwritten corrections]
 1967/03/16 HLSto MertonI'm happy that you've settled simply on first names. We hope <u>de ilbow</u>, as Kate said, is   
 1967/03/29 HLSto MertonDear Tom or Fra Louis, or shall it be either as the (my) instant lets me speak. Celia's thanks   
 1967/04/15 (#01)TL[c]from MertonThanks for your wonderful appreciative letter of couple weeks back. And maybe you find ConjecturesYes  
 1967/04/15 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonThanks for your wonderful appreciative letter of couple weeks back. And maybe you find ConjecturesYes  
 1967/04/20 HLSto MertonThe achers here with the acher there acres of sunlight for cure to settle the publisher next week.   
 1967/05/05 TL[c]from MertonMost grateful for yours of April 20th and for the parens in the Smithgirl poem. You are certainlyYes  
 1967/05/08 TLSto MertonI'm so happy that my ex-critical eye was not an intrusion, its only value your <u>own</u> changes   
 1967/06/23 (#01)TL[c]from MertonI don't know if I answered your last letter yet: your suggestion for the end of Smithgirls is fineYes  
 1967/06/23 (#02)TALS[x]from MertonI don't know if I answered your last letter yet: your suggestion for the end of Smithgirls is fineYes  
 1967/07/05 HLSto MertonBriefly -- or under the weather, both of us. But thanks for [indecipherable word..] of Smithgirls   
 1967/07/18 TL[c]from MertonThe main purpose of my last letter was to thank you for "<u>It Was</u>" and so I didn't mention it!Yes  
 1967/08/03 HLSto MertonAs you say East, West - "though is it over"? Whatever rare momentary cheer, this world offers   
 1967/08/30 (#01)TL[c]from MertonShouts from Kentucky. Reading A 18. Two Poetries sent one from Davenport in Lexington and oneYes  
 1967/08/30 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonShouts from Kentucky. Reading A 18. Two Poetries sent one from Davenport in Lexington and oneYes  
 1967/09/02 HLSto MertonToo early for flu, or better never - at least those are our wishes for you. Tho we know   
 1967/11/08 HLSto MertonGuy Davenport calls my attention to "Day of a Stranger," which, if I kept up with the magazines,   
 1967/12/25? HCSto Mertonno wish should [-] hunt, Job watched [-] weather to wish [-] alike all <u>Noël:</u> a glimpse of "A"  [Christmas card with handwritten poem by Zukofsky - "a glimpse of 'A'-21"]
 1967/12/28 TLS[x]from MertonThanks for the letter and for the little bit of A 21 on the card-- very moving. And now what do youYes  
 1967/12/28 (#01)TL[c]from MertonThanks for the letter and for the little bit of A 21 on the card-- very moving. And now what do youYes  
 1968/01/02 HLSto MertonThanks for <u>The Cell</u> - clear! I must be "old fashioned" -- in my leanings to statement.  [misdated by Zukofsky as 1967]
 1968/02/02 (#01)TL[c]from MertonI know what you mean about the bronchial bug. I've had a wicked January, three or four days veryYes  
 1968/02/02 (#02)TALS[x]from MertonI know what you mean about the bronchial bug. I've had a wicked January, three or four days veryYes  
 1968/03/21 HPCSto MertonJust to say thanks for Monks Pond I - and aims and ends to it - to wit your editorial note   
 1970/07/06 TLS[x]from Griffin, John HowardAs you may know, I am preparing the authorized biography of Thomas Merton.   
 1970/07/09 HLS[x]to Griffin, John HowardTo answer your of the 6th: I shall always regret not meeting Tom Merton, I had hoped so much we   
 1973/11/30 TLSfrom Center to Zukofsky, LouisMr. Victor Kramer at Georgia State University has requested permission to look at your   
 1973/12/10 HNSto Center from Zukofsky, LouisThank you for writing. Permission herewithin and Season's Greetings. [-] Louis Zukofsky  [written on the letter send to him and returned to the Merton Center]
        

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