Thomas Merton: Hermit at the Heart of Things

Thomas Merton remains one of the most significant figures of our time, even forty years after his death. In a series of ten literary portraits, J.S. Porter offers the reader ten different ways to approach Merton:

• the contemplative activist
• the journal keeper
• the metaphor-maker
• the tone-setter
• the letter writer
• the intellectual
• the poet
• the translator
• the dreamer
• the lover

Porter includes a brief biography of Merton, a top-ten list of books by Merton and a top-ten list of books about Merton.

Thomas Merton: Hermit at the Heart of Things is a major addition to our understanding of Merton; it will intrigue those versed in Merton lore and fascinate those who may be meeting Merton for the first time in this engaging work.

J.S. Porter is a poet and reader. He is also the author of The Thomas Merton Poems (Moonstone) and Spirit Book Word: An Inquiry into Literature and Spirituality (Novalis), and a contributor to The Literary Review of Canada and The Globe and Mail.