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The Monk's Record Player: Thomas Merton, Bob Dylan, and the Perilous Summer of 1966
The story of a monk, a minstrel, and the music that brought them together
In 1965 writer-activist-monk Thomas Merton fulfilled a twenty-four-year dream and went to live as a hermit beyond the walls of his Trappist monastery. Seven months later, after a secret romance with a woman half his age, he was in danger of losing it all. Yet on the very day that his abbot uncovered the affair, Merton found solace in an unlikely place—the songs of Bob Dylan, who, as fate would have it, was experiencing his own personal and creative crises during the summer of 1966. In this striking parallel biography of two countercultural icons, Robert Hudson plumbs the depths of Dylan’s surprising influence on Merton’s life and writing, recounts each man’s interactions with the woman who linked them together—Joan Baez—and shows how each transcended his immediate troubles and went on to new heights of spiritual and artistic genius. Readers will discover here a riveting story of creativity and crisis, burnout and redemption, in the tumultuous era of 1960s America.
In 1965 writer-activist-monk Thomas Merton fulfilled a twenty-four-year dream and went to live as a hermit beyond the walls of his Trappist monastery. Seven months later, after a secret romance with a woman half his age, he was in danger of losing it all. Yet on the very day that his abbot uncovered the affair, Merton found solace in an unlikely place—the songs of Bob Dylan, who, as fate would have it, was experiencing his own personal and creative crises during the summer of 1966. In this striking parallel biography of two countercultural icons, Robert Hudson plumbs the depths of Dylan’s surprising influence on Merton’s life and writing, recounts each man’s interactions with the woman who linked them together—Joan Baez—and shows how each transcended his immediate troubles and went on to new heights of spiritual and artistic genius. Readers will discover here a riveting story of creativity and crisis, burnout and redemption, in the tumultuous era of 1960s America.
263 pages, Hardcover
Published March 14, 2018
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November 6, 2021Who would have imagined a book about Thomas Merton and Bob Dylan? They never met, but Merton was a Dylan fan, and Dylan echoes some of Merton. I had never known about Merton's love affair
May 3, 2018
So good.
February 1, 2021
The Monk’s Record Player is a biography centered on a controversial 1960’s religious figure’s obsession with a popular 1960’s musician, written by a Christian essayist who admits to his own fixation on both figures. Trust me, it reads better than it sounds.
Both Thomas Merton and Bob Dylan are iconic figures in the baby-boomer pantheon, and as a result, numerous biographies have been written about each of them. Amazon lists over a thousand for Dylan and over 300 for Merton. With this expansive literary field, it would be difficult to find something new to write about regarding either man. So author Robert Hudson does not try. Instead, he looks over familiar ground through a new lens.
The book assumes a certain familiarity with Merton and gives only a brief history of the highlights leading up to his mid-life crisis in 1966: came late to his faith; ordained as a Catholic priest in his 30’s; the choice to embrace a monastic life; his extraordinary skill in examining his faith through best-selling collections of essays, poetry and memoirs; and his views regarding the need for meditation and mysticism in worship (a controversial stand within the Catholic Church at the time.)
The crux of this book is a sometimes speculative look at Merton’s moment of doubt, which reached a peak in 1966. Merton, at the age of 51, had a burning desire to cut himself off from the world (and the church) by becoming a true hermit devoted only to God. At the same time, he had a longing to quit the priesthood altogether in order to marry a 25-year-old nurse with whom he has fallen deeply in love. Those are some pretty extreme choices.
In the midst of this difficult personal struggle, a friend introduces Merton to the records of Bob Dylan. The young musician is dealing with his own desire for change, as he moves out of the genre of folk music that has made him famous. He turns to writing wildly electrified rock music with lyrics of Beat-style poetry. Merton recognizes his own painful hope for rebirth in Dylan’s songs and begins to use them as a guide.
Dylan’s role here is a supportive one. The attempt to see Dylan’s change in musical style as equal in weight to Merton’s questioning of his commitment to the church is a stretch. And the biographical chapters on Dylan come across as padding. The book really only held my attention when the focus was on Merton. Here is a man overwhelmed with doubt about his calling and rocked by an obsessive passion for a younger woman. This is a different Merton than the mystic of the mountains, as he is so often portrayed.
Hudson does imbue Merton’s ultimate choices and the closing chapters of his painfully short life (he died in a freak accident two years later) with a new intensity--by showing their connection to Dylan’s music. The cross-pollination of creativity, doubt, faith, and rebirth is at the core of this book, and the story shines when the author focuses on that core.
Both Thomas Merton and Bob Dylan are iconic figures in the baby-boomer pantheon, and as a result, numerous biographies have been written about each of them. Amazon lists over a thousand for Dylan and over 300 for Merton. With this expansive literary field, it would be difficult to find something new to write about regarding either man. So author Robert Hudson does not try. Instead, he looks over familiar ground through a new lens.
The book assumes a certain familiarity with Merton and gives only a brief history of the highlights leading up to his mid-life crisis in 1966: came late to his faith; ordained as a Catholic priest in his 30’s; the choice to embrace a monastic life; his extraordinary skill in examining his faith through best-selling collections of essays, poetry and memoirs; and his views regarding the need for meditation and mysticism in worship (a controversial stand within the Catholic Church at the time.)
The crux of this book is a sometimes speculative look at Merton’s moment of doubt, which reached a peak in 1966. Merton, at the age of 51, had a burning desire to cut himself off from the world (and the church) by becoming a true hermit devoted only to God. At the same time, he had a longing to quit the priesthood altogether in order to marry a 25-year-old nurse with whom he has fallen deeply in love. Those are some pretty extreme choices.
In the midst of this difficult personal struggle, a friend introduces Merton to the records of Bob Dylan. The young musician is dealing with his own desire for change, as he moves out of the genre of folk music that has made him famous. He turns to writing wildly electrified rock music with lyrics of Beat-style poetry. Merton recognizes his own painful hope for rebirth in Dylan’s songs and begins to use them as a guide.
Dylan’s role here is a supportive one. The attempt to see Dylan’s change in musical style as equal in weight to Merton’s questioning of his commitment to the church is a stretch. And the biographical chapters on Dylan come across as padding. The book really only held my attention when the focus was on Merton. Here is a man overwhelmed with doubt about his calling and rocked by an obsessive passion for a younger woman. This is a different Merton than the mystic of the mountains, as he is so often portrayed.
Hudson does imbue Merton’s ultimate choices and the closing chapters of his painfully short life (he died in a freak accident two years later) with a new intensity--by showing their connection to Dylan’s music. The cross-pollination of creativity, doubt, faith, and rebirth is at the core of this book, and the story shines when the author focuses on that core.
April 16, 2024
A Christmas present from my stepson, this book sat on the shelf for a number of years. Finally I was able to pick it up and read it. It’s a fascinating journey through 1966 with Merton and Dylan. Robert Hudson’s insights and way of inviting the reader to join him on this journey spoke to my heart. It gives a much wider exploration of Merton and his poetic and musical tastes as well as how the folk and protest musicians of the 60’s made an impact on him.
July 25, 2020
A great insight into the life of a highly unique catholic monk and the weird parallels between his life and Bob Dylan during the 60s.
April 9, 2018
Thomas Merton's fanboy attraction to Bob Dylan's seminal albums is a slender thread to hang another biography of Merton on, but hang it does, and though it illuminates Dylan's influence on Merton the influence was the urge to share and imitate. Well, any writer who likes Dylan has felt those urges.
The Monk's Record Player is a functional, and well-written precis of Thomas Merton's early life, his struggles as a hermit monk in the world, his unconsummated love affair with a young nurse, and his encounters with various luminaries of the time, including Jacques Maritain, Joan Baez, Robert Laughlin, Thich Nat Than - the list goes on, but doesn't include Dylan himself. It's a less detailed history of Dylan's early career, but useful if you know nothing about the man.
No doubt, and it is documented, Merton thought very highly of Dylan's output. He hoped Dylan might put at least one of his own poems to music but couldn't get through the labyrinthine operation protecting Dylan's time. Merton wrote Cables to the Ace under Dylan's influence (especially, it seems, of his liner notes,) but later came to think of it as purposely obscure - though it remains one of his most popular books. (I've always thought Merton's poetry obscure at best, and though I own his collected poetry ((a tome if there ever was one)) I'm not able to appreciate much of it. I also own most of Dylan's output, and, well, fan/fanatic - you know?) Merton eventually collaborated with John Jacob Niles, though he was ultimately disappointed by their art song qualities, and thought of them as hymns that would never be sung.
I hate to fault author Robert Hudson, but I was lured in by the idea of a much deeper connection between the two poets, and when he chose to suppose Merton's reactions to Dylan's work that came out after the monk's untimely death, he lost a lot of credibility. Telling us what Merton would have probably thought is an unwise biographical move.
The record player was a hard won addition to Merton's hermitage - even before running water - without which Bob Dylan might have been missed.
The Monk's Record Player is a functional, and well-written precis of Thomas Merton's early life, his struggles as a hermit monk in the world, his unconsummated love affair with a young nurse, and his encounters with various luminaries of the time, including Jacques Maritain, Joan Baez, Robert Laughlin, Thich Nat Than - the list goes on, but doesn't include Dylan himself. It's a less detailed history of Dylan's early career, but useful if you know nothing about the man.
No doubt, and it is documented, Merton thought very highly of Dylan's output. He hoped Dylan might put at least one of his own poems to music but couldn't get through the labyrinthine operation protecting Dylan's time. Merton wrote Cables to the Ace under Dylan's influence (especially, it seems, of his liner notes,) but later came to think of it as purposely obscure - though it remains one of his most popular books. (I've always thought Merton's poetry obscure at best, and though I own his collected poetry ((a tome if there ever was one)) I'm not able to appreciate much of it. I also own most of Dylan's output, and, well, fan/fanatic - you know?) Merton eventually collaborated with John Jacob Niles, though he was ultimately disappointed by their art song qualities, and thought of them as hymns that would never be sung.
I hate to fault author Robert Hudson, but I was lured in by the idea of a much deeper connection between the two poets, and when he chose to suppose Merton's reactions to Dylan's work that came out after the monk's untimely death, he lost a lot of credibility. Telling us what Merton would have probably thought is an unwise biographical move.
The record player was a hard won addition to Merton's hermitage - even before running water - without which Bob Dylan might have been missed.
March 9, 2020
The story of a monk, a minstrel, and the music that brought them together
My initial interest in this book was the monk, Thomas Merton, which was the result of a visit to the Trappist monastery hermitage in Snowmass, Colorado when I was a student at Western State University in Gunnison. I was impressed by the contemplative lifestyle and asked one of my professors why someone would join such a group, “Read Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain, Professor Fay said, “as he describes his growing restlessness in search of peace and faith, which would lead him at age twenty-six to take vows of one of the most demanding Catholic Orders.”
And as I describe in my book, Different Latitudes, “I went on to read many of Merton’s books, some of which descry his attempts to find a balance between this contemplative lifestyle and the desire and need to express himself as an author—a balance I would often struggle with myself, although I was never really cut out for that level of isolation.”
As a Boomer, I was also interested in the period of our history where music was so creative and reflected the challenges and polemic of our time. I used lyrics from the Rock music to express the transition in my own life and one memorable nine-hour drive from Crested Butte, Colorado to Oklahoma City to deliver some furniture to a professor I was working with, “a grueling nine-hour drive back was made easier listening to “Many a Mile to Freedom,” by Traffic and a few of my other favorites by Dave Mason, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan and Blind Faith. As much as I enjoyed this music’s incredible mix of blues and jazz the lyrics reflected the anxieties and issues of the decade: the Vietnam War, racial tensions, inflation and unemployment and environmental calamity, as well as the battle over women’s equality.” I was never a big fan of Bob Dylan until he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”—not bad…
The book when writer-activist-monk Thomas Merton fulfilled a twenty-four-year dream and went to live as a hermit beyond the walls of his Trappist monastery. Seven months later, after a secret romance with a woman half his age, he was in danger of losing it all. Yet, on the very day that his abbot uncovered the affair, Merton found solace in an unlikely place—the songs of Bob Dylan, who, as fate would have it, was experiencing his own personal and creative crises during the summer of 1966.
In this striking parallel biography of two counter-cultural icons, Robert Hudson plumbs the depths of Dylan’s surprising influence on Merton’s life and writing, recounts each man’s interactions with the woman who linked them together—Joan Baez—and shows how each transcended his immediate troubles and went on to new heights of spiritual and artistic genius. The story takes various, interesting twists and the reader will discover what the publishers correctly call, “a riveting story of creativity and crisis, burnout and redemption, in the tumultuous era of 1960s America.”
The chronological structure of the book is reflected in its chapter titles: Prologue: Sunday, March 6, 1966 -- Part one. Utopian hermit monk (April 1941 to August 1965) -- A new man -- Manuscript accepted -- The call to solitude -- This little house -- Dylan interlude no. 1: Bringing it all back home -- Part two. She speaks like silence (March to July 1966) -- The invented backbone -- Silver dagger -- The absurd man -- The soundtrack -- Dylan interlude no. 2: I do believe I've had enough -- Part three. The lonesome sparrow sings (July 1966 to October 1968) -- Sort of a Bob Dylan thing -- The American Villon -- A new consciousness -- Prophetic voices -- Dylan interlude no. 3: Join the monk -- Ascension -- Epilogue.
David Dalton, the founding editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, writes an insightful foreword….”It was a culture mired in hypocrisy, greed, and corruption on an industrial scale. Things were bad, very bad. The world’s far worse off now than it was in 1966, the difference being that back then we at least thought we could do something about it. In this wasteland, Merton saw his antipoetry as performing a prophetic and cathartic function using phantasmagoric transmutation, perversion and verbal contortion…”
He goes on to say, “The basic idea of The Monk’s Record Player is to throw two eccentric characters possessed of genius in the same life raft, along with himself. So now you have three men in the drunken boat. It’s a sort of Mad Hatter’s tea party, except instead of riddles, nonsense, poetry, and a dormouse, Hudson’s book mulls over a wide range of ideas, theories, and philosophies and he obviously doesn’t have any qualms about putting them all into the mix…”
The author is a recognized Bob Dylan scholar, a member of the International Thomas Merton Society, and a veteran editor who has worked with a number of best-selling authors. He is the author of The Christian Writer's Manual of Style: 4th Edition--a volume that has become a standard reference in Christian publishing. His first volume of poetry, Kiss the Earth When You Pray, was published in 2016. His articles and poetry have appeared in Christianity Today, The Other Side, The Mennonite, The Seneca Review, Mars Hill Review, and other magazines and journals.
Product details
• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans (March 14, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802875203
• ISBN-13: 978-0802875204
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Customer Reviews: 4.9 out of 5 stars 27 customer reviews
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
o #2599 in Religious Leader Biographies
o #415 in Christian Institutions & Organizations (Books)
My initial interest in this book was the monk, Thomas Merton, which was the result of a visit to the Trappist monastery hermitage in Snowmass, Colorado when I was a student at Western State University in Gunnison. I was impressed by the contemplative lifestyle and asked one of my professors why someone would join such a group, “Read Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain, Professor Fay said, “as he describes his growing restlessness in search of peace and faith, which would lead him at age twenty-six to take vows of one of the most demanding Catholic Orders.”
And as I describe in my book, Different Latitudes, “I went on to read many of Merton’s books, some of which descry his attempts to find a balance between this contemplative lifestyle and the desire and need to express himself as an author—a balance I would often struggle with myself, although I was never really cut out for that level of isolation.”
As a Boomer, I was also interested in the period of our history where music was so creative and reflected the challenges and polemic of our time. I used lyrics from the Rock music to express the transition in my own life and one memorable nine-hour drive from Crested Butte, Colorado to Oklahoma City to deliver some furniture to a professor I was working with, “a grueling nine-hour drive back was made easier listening to “Many a Mile to Freedom,” by Traffic and a few of my other favorites by Dave Mason, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan and Blind Faith. As much as I enjoyed this music’s incredible mix of blues and jazz the lyrics reflected the anxieties and issues of the decade: the Vietnam War, racial tensions, inflation and unemployment and environmental calamity, as well as the battle over women’s equality.” I was never a big fan of Bob Dylan until he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”—not bad…
The book when writer-activist-monk Thomas Merton fulfilled a twenty-four-year dream and went to live as a hermit beyond the walls of his Trappist monastery. Seven months later, after a secret romance with a woman half his age, he was in danger of losing it all. Yet, on the very day that his abbot uncovered the affair, Merton found solace in an unlikely place—the songs of Bob Dylan, who, as fate would have it, was experiencing his own personal and creative crises during the summer of 1966.
In this striking parallel biography of two counter-cultural icons, Robert Hudson plumbs the depths of Dylan’s surprising influence on Merton’s life and writing, recounts each man’s interactions with the woman who linked them together—Joan Baez—and shows how each transcended his immediate troubles and went on to new heights of spiritual and artistic genius. The story takes various, interesting twists and the reader will discover what the publishers correctly call, “a riveting story of creativity and crisis, burnout and redemption, in the tumultuous era of 1960s America.”
The chronological structure of the book is reflected in its chapter titles: Prologue: Sunday, March 6, 1966 -- Part one. Utopian hermit monk (April 1941 to August 1965) -- A new man -- Manuscript accepted -- The call to solitude -- This little house -- Dylan interlude no. 1: Bringing it all back home -- Part two. She speaks like silence (March to July 1966) -- The invented backbone -- Silver dagger -- The absurd man -- The soundtrack -- Dylan interlude no. 2: I do believe I've had enough -- Part three. The lonesome sparrow sings (July 1966 to October 1968) -- Sort of a Bob Dylan thing -- The American Villon -- A new consciousness -- Prophetic voices -- Dylan interlude no. 3: Join the monk -- Ascension -- Epilogue.
David Dalton, the founding editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, writes an insightful foreword….”It was a culture mired in hypocrisy, greed, and corruption on an industrial scale. Things were bad, very bad. The world’s far worse off now than it was in 1966, the difference being that back then we at least thought we could do something about it. In this wasteland, Merton saw his antipoetry as performing a prophetic and cathartic function using phantasmagoric transmutation, perversion and verbal contortion…”
He goes on to say, “The basic idea of The Monk’s Record Player is to throw two eccentric characters possessed of genius in the same life raft, along with himself. So now you have three men in the drunken boat. It’s a sort of Mad Hatter’s tea party, except instead of riddles, nonsense, poetry, and a dormouse, Hudson’s book mulls over a wide range of ideas, theories, and philosophies and he obviously doesn’t have any qualms about putting them all into the mix…”
The author is a recognized Bob Dylan scholar, a member of the International Thomas Merton Society, and a veteran editor who has worked with a number of best-selling authors. He is the author of The Christian Writer's Manual of Style: 4th Edition--a volume that has become a standard reference in Christian publishing. His first volume of poetry, Kiss the Earth When You Pray, was published in 2016. His articles and poetry have appeared in Christianity Today, The Other Side, The Mennonite, The Seneca Review, Mars Hill Review, and other magazines and journals.
Product details
• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans (March 14, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802875203
• ISBN-13: 978-0802875204
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Customer Reviews: 4.9 out of 5 stars 27 customer reviews
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
o #2599 in Religious Leader Biographies
o #415 in Christian Institutions & Organizations (Books)
October 1, 2021
Read this book in an evening in which I learned some unusual things. Did you know that Thomas Merton often stayed in a hermitage (a little cabin, really) near the abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky that had electricity? And running water? He often went there to look at deer in the woods through binoculars. He ALSO played for Jacques Maritain, then 83 and the premier Catholic philosopher of the 20th century, two songs by Bob Dylan on a borrowed phonograph--"The Gates of Eden" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." What a moment that must have been. Wish I knew what Maritain was thinking.
This book covers more of Merton's life than Dylan's. And although Merton did enter a record store and buy a copy of "John Wesley Harding," learned of Dylan's motorcycle accident, and wrote some poetry in the style of the liner notes on "Bringing It All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited," it's clear that Thomas Merton was more captivated by a young nurse he fell in love with, as well as matters of the spirit for which his voluminous writing (he insisted his journals be published 25 years after his death) give ample evidence. "Aces of Cables," the Dylanesque volume of poetry he wrote in the year he had first heard Dylan's music, is not, I'm told, Merton's finest work. For that, go to the "Asian Journal" or "Conjectures of an Innocent Bystander" or the granddaddy of them all, "The Seven Storey Mountain."
Nonetheless, for admirers of Merton, this book will present some known facts--that the FBI started a file on him in 1958--and some unknown facts, such as that he was really turned on by "Blonde on Blonde," an album that forms the last of the Holy Trinity of Dylan's 1965-66 years, the other two albums mentioned above being the others. Whether it is worth the read, I leave it to you to decide. I put down Stephen Mitchell's Introduction to "Gilgamesh" to read this and I don't think I wasted the three hours spent reading it. I just saw it in a subject search of Bob Dylan at my library and HAD to investigate. I really should be reading other work by, rather than about, Merton, who will go down as one of the great spiritual syncretists of the 20th century. And as a man with normal, relatable appetites as well
This book covers more of Merton's life than Dylan's. And although Merton did enter a record store and buy a copy of "John Wesley Harding," learned of Dylan's motorcycle accident, and wrote some poetry in the style of the liner notes on "Bringing It All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited," it's clear that Thomas Merton was more captivated by a young nurse he fell in love with, as well as matters of the spirit for which his voluminous writing (he insisted his journals be published 25 years after his death) give ample evidence. "Aces of Cables," the Dylanesque volume of poetry he wrote in the year he had first heard Dylan's music, is not, I'm told, Merton's finest work. For that, go to the "Asian Journal" or "Conjectures of an Innocent Bystander" or the granddaddy of them all, "The Seven Storey Mountain."
Nonetheless, for admirers of Merton, this book will present some known facts--that the FBI started a file on him in 1958--and some unknown facts, such as that he was really turned on by "Blonde on Blonde," an album that forms the last of the Holy Trinity of Dylan's 1965-66 years, the other two albums mentioned above being the others. Whether it is worth the read, I leave it to you to decide. I put down Stephen Mitchell's Introduction to "Gilgamesh" to read this and I don't think I wasted the three hours spent reading it. I just saw it in a subject search of Bob Dylan at my library and HAD to investigate. I really should be reading other work by, rather than about, Merton, who will go down as one of the great spiritual syncretists of the 20th century. And as a man with normal, relatable appetites as well
February 15, 2018
The Monk's Record Player looks at the influence Bob Dylan's (a singer-songwriter) music had on Thomas Merton's (a Trappist monk) life and writings.
WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Fans of Bob Dylan might want to stay away from this as I believe there isn't enough Dylan's material to entice them. However, there is a lot of juice on Merton, hence, admirers of his work will likely love this book.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
One the main flaws of spiritual biographies of any kind is the tendencies to cover up the subject's flaws. Here, Merton's flaws is mirrored with Dylan's and we see similarities with both men as well and differences in the way they struggled to rise see beyond the clouds of troubles that surrounds them. As someone who strives to live to my highest spiritual ideals, it was comforting to see a stalwart like Merton struggle with mundane matters that trouble most of us.
Read more at: http://www.ysstephen.com/2018/02/monk...
Many thanks to Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company for review copy.
WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Fans of Bob Dylan might want to stay away from this as I believe there isn't enough Dylan's material to entice them. However, there is a lot of juice on Merton, hence, admirers of his work will likely love this book.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
One the main flaws of spiritual biographies of any kind is the tendencies to cover up the subject's flaws. Here, Merton's flaws is mirrored with Dylan's and we see similarities with both men as well and differences in the way they struggled to rise see beyond the clouds of troubles that surrounds them. As someone who strives to live to my highest spiritual ideals, it was comforting to see a stalwart like Merton struggle with mundane matters that trouble most of us.
Read more at: http://www.ysstephen.com/2018/02/monk...
Many thanks to Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company for review copy.
May 15, 2018
He writes clearly and engagingly despite the wide-ranging yarn the book lays out. However, Hudson's premise, that Dylan and Merton were closely linked, still seems a bit of a stretch. The connections are a bit touch and go. Merton was definitely influenced by Dylan, but to what degree remains a bit uncertain to me. Merton's influence on Dylan seems particularly spurious. However, Hudson's treatment of this subject did explore two points that I see rarely thoroughly and non-sensationally documented in Merton biographies. I did appreciate Hudson's descriptions of Merton's tryst with "M." The frustrations and challenges Merton faced and his very human responses to them were touchingly poignant and made me admire him all the more. Hudson also clearly demonstrates the role cultural icons of the day had on Merton, despite him being for all intents and purposes, a modern hermit.
April 9, 2018
The promo from Eerdmans had me at Merton and Dylan in one book. Thomas Merton is one of the spiritual giants of the 20th Century. Mystical, practical, sinner, saint, and lots of things in-between. His personal wrestling with life and God's calling turned into wondrous insights and intriguing possibilities. Hudson looks closely at one period of Merton's life in his last several years prior to his tragic accidental death. During that period he had an emotional love affair that turned his world upside down. During those same years Bob Dylan was making musical and protest history. Merton was obsessed with Dylan's music and the interplay may have produced more than we will ever know. Hudson does a good job in bringing the two side-by-side. A significant time in the mid-60s is well told.
August 18, 2020
Super interesting book, drawing in parallels in the lives of two people who seem to have nothing in common-- Catholic writer and monk Thomas Merton and Bob Dylan. Hudson focuses heavily on Hudson-- Dylan's own trials are kind of a side story-- but that works pretty well. Merton stumbles in his discipline after he falls in love, and he regains his spiritual footing in no small part due to Dylan's music. This is not at all hard to imagine, but it makes for an excellent story. Frankly, Hudson made me want to learn more about Merton-- and to dust off my copy of Bringing It All Back Home. Both sound pretty good to me. Recommended.
August 1, 2018
A Fascinating Tandem Biography
This is quite simply a tour de force. Hudson manages to expose the poetic confluence between two very different men who never met, but whose writings are reflective of the restless world of the 60's. This is a deep and loving look at the tormented spiritual journey of Merton's final years, revealed in his writings and relationships, showing how influential were the songs and persona of Dylan, the rebel troubadour. Dylan, however, remains a bit more of an enigma.
This is quite simply a tour de force. Hudson manages to expose the poetic confluence between two very different men who never met, but whose writings are reflective of the restless world of the 60's. This is a deep and loving look at the tormented spiritual journey of Merton's final years, revealed in his writings and relationships, showing how influential were the songs and persona of Dylan, the rebel troubadour. Dylan, however, remains a bit more of an enigma.
June 7, 2022
This book might better have been called, "Another Side of Thomas Merton"? The story is really about the monk and Bob Dylan is mostly an incidental character; Margie Smith is at least as important to the story as Dylan.
That said, it is an excellent look at the life of Thomas Merton that is based on his journals. It makes him more human but also more saintly.
As a side, it reminded me of the days when music wasn't something you listened to in your car while driving, but something to which you devoted your complete attention.
From the Forward to this book I learned that never again will I deliberately read anything written by David Dalton! Based on the Forward, I suspect he cares about neither Thomas Merton nor Bob Dylan, but only about David Dalton.
That said, it is an excellent look at the life of Thomas Merton that is based on his journals. It makes him more human but also more saintly.
As a side, it reminded me of the days when music wasn't something you listened to in your car while driving, but something to which you devoted your complete attention.
From the Forward to this book I learned that never again will I deliberately read anything written by David Dalton! Based on the Forward, I suspect he cares about neither Thomas Merton nor Bob Dylan, but only about David Dalton.
August 21, 2018
This book definitely challenges conventional thinking about monastic life. Merton's life is a constant tension between withdrawing from and absorbing the culture and world around him, a search for solitude and rubbing elbows with celebrities, writing about and working for peace and justice... Merton eventually arrives where you'll find most Catholic thought takes you: the either/or gives way to the both/and. Plus there's a steamy love story. What's not to like?!
October 26, 2019
This is a good, scholarly look at two men living parallel lives in the mid-1960s. It made me want to read more Merton and listen to more Dylan.
Since I bought the book I may re-read it, listening to the songs and poetry of both men as I can find them on the interwebes. There also songs by Joan Baez and John Coltrane I want to listen to.
The well-documented bibliography has a discography! (p.233)
Since I bought the book I may re-read it, listening to the songs and poetry of both men as I can find them on the interwebes. There also songs by Joan Baez and John Coltrane I want to listen to.
The well-documented bibliography has a discography! (p.233)
November 9, 2017
I found this book inventive from the title on. Once I read the synopsis and the title, I was curious. As a literary enthusiast and dabbler into Merton's work, I continued. Author Robert Hudson made this a worthwhile read, with a voice all its own. I look forward to reading more from this author.
June 15, 2021
A Worthy Study
Well researched and well told bio of Thomas Merton. The author uses Morton’s interest in Bob Dylan as an accessible entry point to lure in the reader who might be unfamiliar with Merton, I was one of those lured in and I’m glad I was. I now have a perspective of Thomas Merton that I didn’t have before. Well done.
Well researched and well told bio of Thomas Merton. The author uses Morton’s interest in Bob Dylan as an accessible entry point to lure in the reader who might be unfamiliar with Merton, I was one of those lured in and I’m glad I was. I now have a perspective of Thomas Merton that I didn’t have before. Well done.
November 21, 2023
Found this book at a Trappist monastery bookstore and as a child of the sixties, fan of Bob Dylan, and reader of Thomas Merton couldn’t resist bringing it home. The book wasn’t quite the spiritual work I was expecting, however it was both interesting and entertaining. A major flaw in the book was the author failing to really highlighting the age-power imbalance in Merton’s affair.
June 30, 2018
My advice is to skip the first 2 parts of this book and get into the story written by Mr. Hudson but even that isn't compelling enough for me to want to suggest this book. Part of a church book club which is why I read it.
August 5, 2018
I found this to be an interesting read. It gave me a deeper look at two individuals of who I have a very peripheral knowledge. Their connection is very much a one sided appreciation/fascination on Merton’s side, but still an interesting look at the influence Dylan and current events had on Merton.
March 11, 2018
will review soon
April 9, 2018
Review soon on the Englewood Review of Books (Englewoodreview.org).
August 27, 2018
A book to be read, marked, learned and inwardly digested. The connections are at times subtle and yet profound.
October 17, 2019
Great read about someone that I knew very little.
November 1, 2019
The writing is good enough but the tenuous thread (if that) between Dylan and Merton do not a book make.
What I did like was learning a little about Merton.
What I did like was learning a little about Merton.
August 17, 2020
Not worth the read.
July 10, 2022
So grateful I read this book. It completed my picture of Merton, and the man he was. Thank you Robert Hudson.
December 4, 2017
Both Bob Dylan and Thomas Merton are very interesting people. Poetry, spirituality and zeitgeist all mixed together. The book is a fascinating travel and really interesting.
I really loved it and it met all my expectations.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
I really loved it and it met all my expectations.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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September 30, 2018Recommended for aficionados of Merton and/or Dylan. Readers with only passing familiarity of either may not find the book sufficiently engaging to become a fan.
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