| Author Quoted | Mikhail Zoshchenko |
| Title Quoted | Russia Laughs |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1957/05/29 |
| Imprint | [S.l.] : [s.n.]. 1935 |
| Quotation | Good writing and good art are coming to mean much in the salvation of Russia. It is sad that the cultural contacts that were beginning so suddenly ended.... If at least they can read Dostoevsky"¦and fill their lungs with fresh air. I knew the Reds would eventually declare Zoschenko the "scum of Literature." His Russia Laughs was a phenomenally good book. I do not even have to try to find out what may have happened to Kataev. [Note 12: It is unclear if Merton refers to Ivan Kataev (born 1902) or Valentin Kataev (born 1897)"”both literary figures.] He probably went, with the others, in the Great Purge. |
| Quotation Source | A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk's True Life. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 3, 1952-1960.; Edited by Lawrence S. Cunningham. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1996, p. 95 |
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| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
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