MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Hunt, John
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Descriptive Summary
Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1966-1967
Volume: 21 item(s); 22 pg(s)
Scope and Content
Herein is a long deliberation over writing an article for The Saturday Evening Post's "Speaking Out" column, which deals with unpopular or dissenting opinions. Themes for the article change frequently, and Merton does not seem to find a niche he feels comfortable with and eventually decides not to write anything. The collection contains original letters from Hunt, and carbon and Xerox copies of Merton's letters.
Biography
At the time of writing, John Hunt was Senior Editor of The Saturday Evening Post.
Usage Guidelines and Restrictions
Related Information and Links
See also "Appleton, John" and "Congdon, Thomas B." files for more information on articles published in The Saturday Evening Post ; and one letter from Merton to Hunt in Witness to Freedom, pp. 329-330.
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
| Series | Date | Type | To/From | First Lines | Pub | Full Text | Notes |
| | 1966/09/01 (#01) | TLS | to Merton | By a circumlocution which I find to be most fortunate from my point of view, a letter of yours | |
| letter from last March from Merton to John Appleton (former Senior Editor of the <u>Saturday Evening Post</u>) / mentioning accompanying form letter giving an invitation to contribute to "Speaking Out" section of the publication |
| | 1966/09/01 (#02) | TL | to Merton | This is an invitation to contribute to Speaking Out - the Post's voice of dissent against popular, | |
| recent contributors - Ogden Nash; Philip Wylie; William F. Buckley, Jr.; Dr. Seuss; Russell Baker; J. B. Priestley; Arnold Toynbee; Martin Luther King / subjects presented by each prior author / dissent is the theme, "not preachment, or editorializing" |
| | 1966/09/10 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter inviting me to contribute something to the "speaking out" column in the | |
| Merton's limitations in commenting on current events - does not read papers, listen to radio or watch TV / philosophical article instead / possible themes - "'myth' of protest" and feasibility of it; and Merton's vocation and whether it is right to "leave the world" / question of monasticism in a largely Protestant country |
| | 1966/09/10 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter inviting me to contribute something to the "speaking out" column in the | |
| Merton's limitations in commenting on current events - does not read papers, listen to radio or watch TV / philosophical article instead / possible themes - "'myth' of protest" and feasibility of it; and Merton's vocation and whether it is right to "leave the world" / question of monasticism in a largely Protestant country |
| | 1966/09/21 | TLS | to Merton | Your letter has been read, studied, discussed. In the meantime a copy of another letter you wrote | |
| W. H. Ferry (Ping Ferry) / likes Merton's option of writing on the monastic vocation and whether it is ethical to "leave the world" / terms of agreement and payment for article / asking an article by Merton on the "love of God" for a special year-end issue |
| | 1966/09/24 | HLS[x] | from Merton | Please excuse scrawl -- I am not near a typewriter and I want to answer your letter today. I have | |
| notes for article on "Love and Need" - "marketing psychology in the love of man and woman" |
| | 1966/10/06 | TLS | to Merton | My colleague Congdon is right--the Speaking Out project must survive and prevail whatever peripheral | |
| W. H. Ferry (Ping Ferry) |
| | 1966/12/02 | TLS | to Merton | Two questions. When can I expect to see a manuscript? And since we customarily run photographs of | |
| photos of Speaking Out authors included with article - photograph of Merton |
| | 1966/12/09 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | In reply to your kind letter of the 2nd with its two questions: I have been thinking the whole | |
| Merton dropping the article on monasticism for "Speaking Out" / already stated his ideas on monasticism long ago / will "inspir[e] a few stifled yawns" in Hunt's readers / question very confused among monks and Merton hasn't included himself in recent discussion / too much trouble to have someone get photo |
| | 1966/12/09 (#02) | TLS[x] | from Merton | In reply to your kind letter of the 2nd with its two questions: I have been thinking the whole | |
| Merton dropping the article on monasticism for "Speaking Out" / already stated his ideas on monasticism long ago / will "inspir[e] a few stifled yawns" in Hunt's readers / question very confused among monks and Merton hasn't included himself in recent discussion / too much trouble to have someone get photo |
| | 1966/12/13 | TLS | to Merton | It seems I have done everything wrong. There was never any suggestion that you had to write the | |
| Merton can write on any subject, but the one mentioned is still interesting / lack of photo not a problem / wants to hear "ideas from the backwoods" as he often hears the same message from the "frontwoodsmen" |
| | 1966/12/18 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Thanks for your letter of the 13th. All right, I am still open to all kinds of suggestions and even | |
| new idea for article - "Speaking Out for the Inside" - awareness of interior life blocked by externals and fragmented by superficial notions of the self - more than unconscious - what Tillich called "ground of our being" - it is "God" / communion with same unknown in others / William James / Zen / LSD |
| | 1966/12/18 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Thanks for your letter of the 13th. All right, I am still open to all kinds of suggestions and even | |
| [Xerox of Merton's 1966/12/18 letter enclosed with Hunt's 1966/12/27 letter] |
| | 1966/12/27 | TLS | to Merton | I am enclosing a xerox of your letter of December 18 in case you don't have a carbon | |
| asking for Merton to write on himself and monastic life - provide point of reference for readers to make article more accessible to the general public |
| | 1967/01/11 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter of Dec. 27th. All right, I will go ahead with the idea and will take | |
| hoping to sent Hunt a copy of article by March |
| | 1967/01/11 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter of Dec. 27th. All right, I will go ahead with the idea and will take | |
| [same as Merton's 1967/01/11 letter but with signature and draft of reply Hunt sends on 1967/02/03] |
| | 1967/02/03 | TLS | to Merton | I report belatedly, but I did get your letter, and look forward to seeing a manuscript. Methinks | |
| hearing talk of "getting away from the world", and people who do it, in cafés and "booze parlors" with a tone of "waspish, fascinated resentment" |
| | 1967/03/16 | TLS | to Merton | A reminder: We look forward to seeing that Speaking Out manuscript. Would you let me know roughly | |
| wanting to know when to expect Merton's article |
| | 1967/03/20 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Thanks for your reminder. The Speaking Out thing has been on my conscience, and I guess the only | |
| Merton does not think this project is for him and will not write the article / suggests Thomas McDonnell, a Boston writer - edited <i>Merton Reader</i> / |
| | 1967/03/20 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Thanks for your reminder. The Speaking Out thing has been on my conscience, and I guess the only | |
| [same as TL[c] from 1967/03/20 with Hunt's draft of 1967/03/27 letter on bottom of letter] |
| | 1967/03/27 | TLS | from Merton | I've written Thomas McDonnell, asking that he let me see the interview material. I'll be in touch. | |
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