| Author Quoted | Albert Camus |
| Title Quoted | etranger : roman |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1966/10/14 |
| Imprint | Paris : Gallimard. [1957] |
| Quotation | The letter preface to an American school edition, L'Etranger (preface of Camus himself) has things to say on truth and silence which have deep monastic implications. I must refuse all declarations and affirmations of what I do not fully and actually know, experience, believe myself. Not making statements that are expected of me, simply because they are expected, whether by the monastery (or monastic life) or by the peace movement, or by various literary orthodoxies and anti-orthodoxies or routine rebellions. If I renounce all that, there will be precious little left to say. But above all (as Maritain and I agreed) to steer clear of the futilities of "Post-Conciliar" theological wrangling and image making. |
| Quotation Source | Learning to love: exploring solitude and freedom. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 6, 1966-1967.; Edited by Christine M. Bochen. / [San Francisco] : HarperCollins. 1997, p. 149-50 |
| Letter to | |
| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
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