| Series | Date | Type | To/From | First Lines | Pub | Full Text | Notes |
| | 1966/09/01 (#01) | TLS | to Merton | By a circumlocution which I find to be most fortunate from my point of view, a letter of yours | |
| letter from last March from Merton to John Appleton (former Senior Editor of the <u>Saturday Evening Post</u>) / mentioning accompanying form letter giving an invitation to contribute to "Speaking Out" section of the publication |
| | 1966/09/01 (#02) | TL | to Merton | This is an invitation to contribute to Speaking Out - the Post's voice of dissent against popular, | |
| recent contributors - Ogden Nash; Philip Wylie; William F. Buckley, Jr.; Dr. Seuss; Russell Baker; J. B. Priestley; Arnold Toynbee; Martin Luther King / subjects presented by each prior author / dissent is the theme, "not preachment, or editorializing" |
| | 1966/09/10 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter inviting me to contribute something to the "speaking out" column in the | |
| Merton's limitations in commenting on current events - does not read papers, listen to radio or watch TV / philosophical article instead / possible themes - "'myth' of protest" and feasibility of it; and Merton's vocation and whether it is right to "leave the world" / question of monasticism in a largely Protestant country |
| | 1966/09/10 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter inviting me to contribute something to the "speaking out" column in the | |
| Merton's limitations in commenting on current events - does not read papers, listen to radio or watch TV / philosophical article instead / possible themes - "'myth' of protest" and feasibility of it; and Merton's vocation and whether it is right to "leave the world" / question of monasticism in a largely Protestant country |
| | 1966/09/21 | TLS | to Merton | Your letter has been read, studied, discussed. In the meantime a copy of another letter you wrote | |
| W. H. Ferry (Ping Ferry) / likes Merton's option of writing on the monastic vocation and whether it is ethical to "leave the world" / terms of agreement and payment for article / asking an article by Merton on the "love of God" for a special year-end issue |
| | 1966/09/24 | HLS[x] | from Merton | Please excuse scrawl -- I am not near a typewriter and I want to answer your letter today. I have | |
| notes for article on "Love and Need" - "marketing psychology in the love of man and woman" |
| | 1966/10/06 | TLS | to Merton | My colleague Congdon is right--the Speaking Out project must survive and prevail whatever peripheral | |
| W. H. Ferry (Ping Ferry) |
| | 1966/12/02 | TLS | to Merton | Two questions. When can I expect to see a manuscript? And since we customarily run photographs of | |
| photos of Speaking Out authors included with article - photograph of Merton |
| | 1966/12/09 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | In reply to your kind letter of the 2nd with its two questions: I have been thinking the whole | |
| Merton dropping the article on monasticism for "Speaking Out" / already stated his ideas on monasticism long ago / will "inspir[e] a few stifled yawns" in Hunt's readers / question very confused among monks and Merton hasn't included himself in recent discussion / too much trouble to have someone get photo |
| | 1966/12/09 (#02) | TLS[x] | from Merton | In reply to your kind letter of the 2nd with its two questions: I have been thinking the whole | |
| Merton dropping the article on monasticism for "Speaking Out" / already stated his ideas on monasticism long ago / will "inspir[e] a few stifled yawns" in Hunt's readers / question very confused among monks and Merton hasn't included himself in recent discussion / too much trouble to have someone get photo |
| | 1966/12/13 | TLS | to Merton | It seems I have done everything wrong. There was never any suggestion that you had to write the | |
| Merton can write on any subject, but the one mentioned is still interesting / lack of photo not a problem / wants to hear "ideas from the backwoods" as he often hears the same message from the "frontwoodsmen" |
| | 1966/12/18 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Thanks for your letter of the 13th. All right, I am still open to all kinds of suggestions and even | |
| new idea for article - "Speaking Out for the Inside" - awareness of interior life blocked by externals and fragmented by superficial notions of the self - more than unconscious - what Tillich called "ground of our being" - it is "God" / communion with same unknown in others / William James / Zen / LSD |
| | 1966/12/18 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Thanks for your letter of the 13th. All right, I am still open to all kinds of suggestions and even | |
| [Xerox of Merton's 1966/12/18 letter enclosed with Hunt's 1966/12/27 letter] |
| | 1966/12/27 | TLS | to Merton | I am enclosing a xerox of your letter of December 18 in case you don't have a carbon | |
| asking for Merton to write on himself and monastic life - provide point of reference for readers to make article more accessible to the general public |
| | 1967/01/11 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter of Dec. 27th. All right, I will go ahead with the idea and will take | |
| hoping to sent Hunt a copy of article by March |
| | 1967/01/11 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter of Dec. 27th. All right, I will go ahead with the idea and will take | |
| [same as Merton's 1967/01/11 letter but with signature and draft of reply Hunt sends on 1967/02/03] |
| | 1967/02/03 | TLS | to Merton | I report belatedly, but I did get your letter, and look forward to seeing a manuscript. Methinks | |
| hearing talk of "getting away from the world", and people who do it, in cafés and "booze parlors" with a tone of "waspish, fascinated resentment" |
| | 1967/03/16 | TLS | to Merton | A reminder: We look forward to seeing that Speaking Out manuscript. Would you let me know roughly | |
| wanting to know when to expect Merton's article |
| | 1967/03/20 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | Thanks for your reminder. The Speaking Out thing has been on my conscience, and I guess the only | |
| Merton does not think this project is for him and will not write the article / suggests Thomas McDonnell, a Boston writer - edited <i>Merton Reader</i> / |
| | 1967/03/20 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | Thanks for your reminder. The Speaking Out thing has been on my conscience, and I guess the only | |
| [same as TL[c] from 1967/03/20 with Hunt's draft of 1967/03/27 letter on bottom of letter] |
| | 1967/03/27 | TLS | from Merton | I've written Thomas McDonnell, asking that he let me see the interview material. I'll be in touch. | |
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