| Author Quoted | William Faulkner |
| Title Quoted | Wild Palms |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1966/12/22 |
| Imprint | [S.l.] : [s.n.]. 1939I |
| Quotation | Rinzai and another tremendous bout with Faulkner [The Wild Palms] - this time the convict and the woman and the river. Another fantastic myth, the void, the great power of evil, the alone man, the woman, their relationship, the ark - paradise - hell of snakes where the child is born - the primitive lake-dwelling huts of the cajun - the insensate return. As if the Flood with all its evil lifted humanity to a supreme level of stark, lonely meaning - nameless. The convict, the woman, the child is only a bundle, yet alive, and the boat. Marvelous passages on the River as the Void, from which comes inexhaustible, malignant power. And the frail but indestructible identity of man. And the silent presence of woman. A rending and shattering legend about everything. |
| 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. 173-74 |
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| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
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