The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Magner, James Edmund, Jr., 1928-

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1948-1986, bulk 1948-1968

Volume: 9 item(s); 9 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Early letters in the collection are mostly from Merton and discuss arrangements to send some of his poetry to various publications with which Magner is involved. There is an undated poem which Magner has written and sends to Merton. Also, Merton's response to this or another poem in 1968 is a critique of one of Magner's poems but also gives some personal encouragement and spiritual advice.

Biography

James Edmund Magner Jr. was a poet and professor at John Carroll University in Ohio. He grew up in New York. In his early years, he helped underprivileged children, taught boxing and worked at a newspaper before serving in the United States Infantry from 1948-1951. After suffering a wounded knee in the Korean War, he returned to the United States and spent time at monasteries in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. He was a Passionist seminarian for five years before leaving to earning a degree at the University of Pittsburgh. He continued his graduate work at Pittsburgh, earning his doctorate in 1966. He has published eight volumes of poetry. (Source: "James Magner Jr. Collection." Website of the Ohio University Library Archives and Special Collections. Accessed 3 Nov. 2005. ‹http://www.library.ohiou.edu/libinfo/depts/archives/mss/mss062.htm›.)

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Related Information and Links

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
 1948/09/09 TLS[x]from MertonThank you for your invitation to send rough copies of verses I have written for inclusion in your  Figures for an Apocalypse / A Man in the Divided Sea / drafts of poems
 1948/10/09 TLS[x]from MertonThis [is] to thank you for your gift of POETS AT WORK which I find extremely interesting.  materials at Olean / possession of Mrs. B. M. Marcus at the Olean House Hotel / notebooks in St. Bonaventure College library
 1948/no/no? HLS[x]from MertonWorksheets for poems in A Man in the Divided Sea [/] Figures for an Apocalypse  notes for the Seven Storey Mountain / sending pamphlet "Cistercian Contemplatives"
 1954/10/11 TLS[x]from MertonI can hardly believe two months have gone by since your letter of August. In any case I have been  sending worksheets of a poem Sports Without Blood / Dylan Thomas' death / "Fern Hill" / Jay Laughlin
 1955/10/25 TLS[x]from MertonHere are some more worksheets I dug up when cleaning out the files. I thought I would send them   
 1968/07/01 TALS[x]from MertonFound your note yesterday, I don't know how long it had been there or if you are still here. Sorry  [the original of this letter seems now to be at the Ohio University Library] letter of encouragement / spiritual direction / advice on poem / view of Christ's message and the Pope's / conscience matter
 1986/11/13 TALSto Center from Magner, James EdmundAt James Laughlin's suggestion, I send to you a letter of Thomas Merton's (written, as I remember,  details the donation and disposition of accompanying letter, dated July 1, which Magner remembers as being from 1968
 undated/no/no TLS[x]from MertonThanks for asking me to contribute to GLASS HILL. Unfortunately my last dregs of verse have just   
 undated/no/no TALSto MertonThere, along the road of fruited world,  [revised poem by Magner sent to Merton / could be one mentioned in 1968/07/01 letter]
        

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