Poet to Teacher                                       19

and Manuscript Library, including letters written to him by Merton
from 1939to 1968, the year of Merton'sdeath. These letters afford
aglimpseofsomeof the many aspects of this unique man and artist.

When the student Merton began his correspondence with Van
Doren, he was very much the insecure, unpublished writer. His
early letters are full of energy, wit, and expectations. Strongly influ¬
enced by James Joyce, Merton writes to Van Doren in 19 39
(addressing him as Mr. Van Doren) informing him that he has just
finished writing a dialogue—"this Joyceish thing"—dealing with
myths and the difference between idolatry and an. Van Doren
clearly enjoyed Merton's sense of humor, and wrote a reply in the
style of Finnegans Wake. A delighted Merton responded in kind:
"Surprised Mr. ffin Dornian, and daylighted for your brief lettuce
right in these .stole of James' Joys."

However, beneath the playful exterior which Merton tried to
present there was a troubled young man and frustrated artist, deeply
concerned with his writing and how to get it published. Although
he enjoyed Merton's playful and inventive language. Van Doren dis¬
couraged its use in the novels Merton was writing for publication.
In August of 19 3 9 Merton tells Van Doren that he has just finished a
novel, "... 160,000 words. Weighs five and a half pounds." The
novel was the product of work done while staying at the cottage in
Olean, New York, where Merton, Robert Lax, and Edward Rice
spent the summers of 19 39 and 1940. As is usual with Merton's
fiction, the novel was strongly autobiographical, covering the years
1929-1939. With a sense of expectation, Merton tells Van Doren
that Farrar & Rinehart are considering it, and that he has taken his
teacher's advice and stayed away from the "private language of
Lax's and my Jester [the Columbia humor magazine which he and
Lax edited in 19 3 61." Merton sent the manuscript to Farrar & Rine¬
hart because he saw a photograph of Farrar and "he looked as if he
had a sense of humor." Listing the rejections of that summer—
Harper's Bazaar, James Laughlin, John Crowe Ran.som—Merton
adds in exasperation, "I think it's about time somebody took some-