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Merton's "Chant to Be Used in Processions Around a Site with Furnaces" was the lead piece published in the first issue of Ferlinghetti's Journal for the Protection of All Beings, along with Allen Ginsberg, Albert Camus, Gary Snyder, and Bertrand Russell. Merton encountered censorship difficulties in publishing both "Chant" and "Original Child Bomb", which the two discuss in this correspondence.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti was editor and publisher of City Lights Books in San Francisco that was one of the most prominent publications of the beat movement in San Francisco. He wrote poetry and plays as well as running a bookstore, City Lights, the same name as the publishing house. Merton and Ferlinghetti met in person in San Francisco on May 16, 1968. (Source: The Courage for Truth, p. 267.)
Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.
Note that items from the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley may not be reproduced without express permission of this institution.
See also Cold War Letters #7 and other letters from Merton to Ferlinghetti published in The Courage for Truth, pp. 267-273.
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.
31944
This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.
Click icons for links: ✓="Published | Library Record", ✉="Scanned" | 🗷="Scanned, Viewable Only at Merton Center"
| # | Date | From/To | First Lines | Pub ✓ | Notes |
| | y/m/d | Merton | | Scan ✉ | |
| 1. |
1961/06/30 |
TLS to Merton |
J Laughlin has very kindly let me read your ORIGINAL CHILD BOMB, and we would like to use it in our |
🗷 |
«detailed view» |
| 2. |
1961/07/04 |
HLS to Merton |
J Laughlin tells me you do not want to be identified with any group, thru the publication of your |
✉ |
«detailed view» |
| 3. |
1961/07/28 |
TLS to Merton |
Thank you for the new poem and letter. That is a very strongpoem, [sic] though I don't see what |
🗷 |
«detailed view» |
| 4. |
1961/08/02 |
TLS[x] from Merton |
Since you ask me to, I have sent the furnace poem to the censors of the Order. However, here is the |
🗷 ✓ |
«detailed view» |
| 5. |
1961/08/08 |
HLS to Merton |
Thank you for the very interesting letter. I'm afraid my query about using your pseudonym has |
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«detailed view» |
| 6. |
1961/08/11 |
TLS to Merton |
Here we are running around in our little circles in the brown world while you sit contemplating |
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«detailed view» |
| 7. |
1961/08/12 (#01) |
TALS to Merton |
I have just had a meeting with the other two editors of our JOURNAL, and it seems I have fouled up |
🗷 |
«detailed view» |
| 8. |
1961/08/12 (#02) |
TALS[x] from Merton |
Your letter requires a quick answer. Of course print the poem if it is set up. There is no |
🗷 ✓ |
«detailed view» |
| 9. |
1961/08/15 (#01) |
HLS to Merton |
Your letter just arrived saying we could use your name and your CHANT (Furnace) = so many, many |
🗷 |
«detailed view» |
| 10. |
1961/08/15 (#02) |
TALS[x] from Merton |
Your letter came this morning together with one from the Catholic Worker which confirms that they |
🗷 ✓ |
«detailed view» |
| 11. |
1961/11/22 |
HLS to Merton |
I take the occasion of being in bed with a strained back to write you a ballpoint scrawl... |
🗷 |
«detailed view» |
| 12. |
1961/12/12 (#01) |
TLS[x] from Merton |
J. forwarded your letter to me, and I am sorry to hear that you have been sick. All my friends have |
🗷 ✓ |
[Cold War Letters #7]
«detailed view» |
| 13. |
1961/12/12 (#02) |
transcript from Merton |
J. forwarded your letter to me, and I am sorry to hear that you have been sick. All my friends have |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #7 - copy from the bound mimeographed set]
«detailed view» |
| 14. |
1968/05/29 |
HPCS to Merton |
Greetings... If you have the name and address of that Evans-Wentz man - (the one with the E-W |
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«detailed view» |
| 15. |
1968/05/no? |
HPCS to Merton |
Your magazine #1 just arrived - thank you very much. It's solid. If you have any more to spare, |
|
«detailed view» |
| 16. |
1968/06/05 (#01) |
TL[c] from Merton |
The former secretary of Evans Wentz is Louis Blevins, |
🗷 ✓ |
«detailed view» |
| 17. |
1968/06/05 (#02) |
TLS[x] from Merton |
The former secretary of Evans Wentz is Louis Blevins, |
🗷 ✓ |
«detailed view» |
| 18. |
1968/10/18 |
HLS[x] from Merton |
I am suggesting to a friend of mine, a Tibetan Lama, that he might send you a manuscript he is |
🗷 ✓ |
[on the letterhead of the Oberoi Grand Hotel in Calcutta, India]
«detailed view» |
| 19. |
1973/12/11 |
TLS to Center from Phillips, Nancy |
Ferlinghetti has asked me to answer your recent letter regarding his correspondence with the late |
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«detailed view» |
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