Surgam

The Philolexian Foundation

In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII

The Philolexian Society of Columbia University

Thomas Merton

Columbia College, Class of 1938

The Seven Storey Mountain sold 600,000 copies in its first year; fifty books in twenty-seven years.

From Notable Alumni · Foundation editorial

The Seven Storey Mountain sold 600,000 copies in its first year; fifty books in twenty-seven years. Thomas Merton (CC 1938) entered Columbia a young aesthete and left a Catholic; entered the Abbey of Gethsemani three years later and stayed for the next twenty-seven, producing (under monastic vows of silence) fifty books, a number of which became unaccountably best-selling. The Seven Storey Mountain sold six hundred thousand copies in its first year. He died accidentally in 1968, electrocuted by a faulty fan in Bangkok; the resulting posthumous Philolexian career has been long and well-tended.

Vital

Full name
Thomas Merton

Columbia & the Society

Columbia
Class of 1938 (Columbia College)

Works (108)

  1. 1944 Thirty Poems · New Directions
  2. 1946 A Man in the Divided Sea · New Directions
  3. 1948 Exile Ends in Glory · Life of Trappistine Mother M. Berchmans
  4. 1948 The Seven Storey Mountain · Autobiography
  5. 1948 What Are These Wounds? · Life of St. Lutgarde of Aywières
  6. 1949 Seeds of Contemplation · Spiritual essays
  7. 1949 The Tears of the Blind Lions · New Directions
  8. 1949 The Waters of Siloe · History of the Trappist order in America
  9. 1951 The Ascent to Truth · On St. John of the Cross and contemplative knowledge
  10. 1953 Bread in the Wilderness · Meditations on the Psalms
  11. 1953 The Sign of Jonas · Journals
  12. 1954 The Last of the Fathers · On St. Bernard of Clairvaux, with the encyclical Doctor Mellifluus
  13. 1955 No Man Is an Island · Meditations on the spiritual life
  14. 1956 Praying the Psalms · Short essay
  15. 1956 Silence in Heaven: A Book of the Monastic Life · Text by Merton with 90 photographs of monastic life
  16. 1956 The Living Bread · On the Eucharist
  17. 1957 The Silent Life · On contemplative monasticism, reworked from material cut from Silence in Heaven
  18. 1957 The Strange Islands · New Directions
  19. 1958 Thoughts in Solitude · Farrar, Straus & Cudahy
  20. 1959 Selected Poems · New Directions
  21. 1959 The Secular Journal of Thomas Merton · Pre-monastic journal, 1939–41
  22. 1960 Disputed Questions · Essays
  23. 1960 Spiritual Direction and Meditation · Liturgical Press
  24. 1960 The Wisdom of the Desert · Translated sayings of the Desert Fathers, with Merton's introduction
  25. 1961 The Behavior of Titans · Essays
  26. 1961 The New Man · Farrar, Straus & Cudahy
  27. 1962 Clement of Alexandria: Selections from the Protreptikos · Essay and translation, hand-printed limited edition of 750 copies
  28. 1962 New Seeds of Contemplation · Spiritual essays
  29. 1963 Emblems of a Season of Fury · New Directions
  30. 1963 Life and Holiness · Herder & Herder
  31. 1964 Seeds of Destruction · Essays on race and social justice
  32. 1965 Gandhi on Non-Violence · Selections from Gandhi's writings, with Merton's introduction
  33. 1965 Seasons of Celebration · Essays on liturgy and feasts
  34. 1965 The Way of Chuang Tzu · Free verse renderings of the Taoist philosopher
  35. 1966 Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander · Essays
  36. 1966 Gethsemani: A Life of Praise · Text by Merton with abbey photographs
  37. 1966 Raids on the Unspeakable · Essays and prose poems
  38. 1967 Mystics and Zen Masters · Essays comparing Christian and Zen contemplatives
  39. 1968 Cables to the Ace · New Directions
  40. 1968 Faith and Violence · University of Notre Dame Press
  41. 1968 Zen and the Birds of Appetite · Essays including his exchange with D.T. Suzuki
  42. 1969 My Argument with the Gestapo · Autobiographical novel written 1941
  43. 1969 The Climate of Monastic Prayer · Cistercian Publications
  44. 1969 The Geography of Lograire · New Directions
  45. 1971 Contemplation in a World of Action · Essays on monastic renewal
  46. 1973 The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton · Journal of his final 1968 Asia trip, ending in his death
  47. 1974 Cistercian Life · Abbey of Gethsemani
  48. 1975 He Is Risen · Meditations on the Resurrection
  49. 1976 Ishi Means Man · Essays on Native Americans
  50. 1977 The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton · New Directions
  51. 1977 The Monastic Journey · Ed. Patrick Hart
  52. 1978 A Catch of Anti-Letters · Playful correspondence with Robert Lax, 1962–67
  53. 1978 What Is Contemplation · Essay written 1948, first published 1950
  54. 1979 Love and Living · Essays
  55. 1980 The Nonviolent Alternative · Revised, expanded ed. of 1971's Thomas Merton on Peace
  56. 1981 Day of a Stranger · Short prose meditation on solitude at the hermitage
  57. 1981 Introductions East and West: The Foreign Prefaces of Thomas Merton · Greensboro: Unicorn Press, 1981
  58. 1981 The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton · Ed. Patrick Hart
  59. 1982 Woods, Shore, Desert: A Notebook, May 1968 · Museum of New Mexico Press
  60. 1984 Merton: By Those Who Knew Him Best · New York: Harper & Row, 1984
  61. 1985 Eighteen Poems · Love poems for “M.,” written 1966
  62. 1985 The Hidden Ground of Love · Letters, vol. 1 of 5: religious experience & social concerns
  63. 1986 Opening the Bible · Liturgical Press
  64. 1988 A Vow of Conversation: Journals 1964–1965 · Farrar, Straus & Giroux
  65. 1988 Encounter: Thomas Merton & D.T. Suzuki · Correspondence with the Zen scholar
  66. 1988 Thomas Merton in Alaska · Conferences, journals & letters from his 1968 Alaska trip
  67. 1989 Honorable Reader: Reflections on My Work · Collected prefaces to foreign editions of his books, expanding 1981's Introductions East and West
  68. 1989 Monks Pond: Thomas Merton's Little Magazine · Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1989
  69. 1989 The Road to Joy · Letters, vol. 2 of 5: to new & old friends
  70. 1990 The School of Charity · Letters, vol. 3 of 5: religious renewal & spiritual direction
  71. 1992 The Springs of Contemplation · 1967–68 retreat talks to contemplative sisters
  72. 1992 Thomas Merton: Spiritual Master: The Essential Writings · Paulist Press, 1992
  73. 1993 The Courage for Truth · Letters, vol. 4 of 5: to writers
  74. 1994 Witness to Freedom · Letters, vol. 5 of 5: in times of crisis
  75. 1995 At Home in the World · Correspondence with Rosemary Radford Ruether, 1966–68
  76. 1995 Passion for Peace: The Social Essays · Anthology of peace and nonviolence writings, 1961–68
  77. 1995 Run to the Mountain · Journals of Thomas Merton, vol. 1 of 7 (1939–1941)
  78. 1996 A Search for Solitude · Journals, vol. 3 of 7 (1952–1960)
  79. 1996 Entering the Silence · Journals, vol. 2 of 7 (1941–1952)
  80. 1996 Turning Toward the World · Journals, vol. 4 of 7 (1960–1963)
  81. 1997 Dancing in the Water of Life · Journals, vol. 5 of 7 (1963–1965)
  82. 1997 Learning to Love · Journals, vol. 6 of 7 (1966–1967)
  83. 1997 Striving Towards Being · Correspondence with Czeslaw Milosz
  84. 1997 Thomas Merton and James Laughlin: Selected Letters · Correspondence with his New Directions publisher
  85. 1998 The Other Side of the Mountain · Journals, vol. 7 of 7 (1967–1968), ending with his death
  86. 1999 The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals · One-volume abridgment of the 7-vol. Journals
  87. 2000 When Prophecy Still Had a Voice · Complete Merton–Lax correspondence (346 letters)
  88. 2001 Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings · Prayers drawn from his journals, with his artwork
  89. 2002 Survival or Prophecy? · Correspondence with Jean Leclercq
  90. 2003 Seeking Paradise: The Spirit of the Shakers · Orbis Books
  91. 2003 The Inner Experience · Notes on contemplation, from an unpublished 1959 manuscript
  92. 2003 When the Trees Say Nothing: Thoughts on Nature · Notre Dame: Sorin, 2003
  93. 2005 Cassian and the Fathers · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 1 of 9
  94. 2005 In the Dark Before Dawn: New Selected Poems · Ed. Lynn R. Szabo
  95. 2006 Cold War Letters · 111 letters from 1961–62 on nuclear war & pacifism
  96. 2006 Pre-Benedictine Monasticism · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 2 of 9
  97. 2008 An Introduction to Christian Mysticism · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 3 of 9
  98. 2008 Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters · One-volume selection across his correspondence
  99. 2009 Compassionate Fire · Correspondence with Catherine de Hueck Doherty
  100. 2009 The Rule of Saint Benedict · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 4 of 9
  101. 2010 Monastic Observances · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 5 of 9
  102. 2012 The Life of the Vows · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 6 of 9
  103. 2014 The Letters of Thomas Merton and Victor and Carolyn Hammer · “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam”
  104. 2015 Charter, Customs, and Constitutions of the Cistercians · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 7 of 9
  105. 2015 The Letters of Robert Giroux and Thomas Merton · Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2015
  106. 2016 The Cistercian Fathers and Their Monastic Theology · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 8 of 9, on St. Bernard
  107. 2017 From the Monastery to the World · Complete correspondence with Ernesto Cardenal, 1959–68, tr. Jessie Sandoval
  108. 2019 Medieval Cistercian History · Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, vol. 9 of 9

Primary sources

The Columbia Daily Spectator

1940-02-13 Philolexian Spons Contest Literary Aspirants Urged to Enter; Freshman Competition Inaugurated judge of open contest
Philolexian Spons Contest Literary Aspirants Urged to Enter; Freshman Competition Inaugurated With a financial bait in the offing, the Columbian Philolexian Society announced yesterday a sweeping literary contest to arouse any dormant creative ability in the minds of those potentially promising collegiate authors from '4O to '43. At the end of the literary rainbow for the Freshman tyro lies a prize of twenty dollars, which is supplied, like all the other annual Philolexian contest prizes, by a fund held "in perpetuum". This "most promising Freshman" will be chosen by reason of the excellence of his manuscript of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which has been submitted before the deadline of March 4, 1940. Sophomores, Junior's and Seniors are also welcome to compete in the Philolexian short story contests and the Redbook or Boar's Head contests, mindful, of course, of their Freshman…

Columbia Daily Spectator, 1940-02-13 →

1936-04-22 Balloting Starts Today For Spring Elections; Large Turnout Foreseen 5 Student Board Posts, 2 on King's Crown To Be Filled Party Is Dissolved '37 Independent House Group Abolished co-formed political party
Balloting Starts Today For Spring Elections; Large Turnout Foreseen 5 Student Board Posts, 2 on King's Crown To Be Filled Party Is Dissolved '37 Independent House Group Abolished By JOSEPH W. ROBERTS One of the largest opening-day turnouts in recent political history is anticipated today when the Spring balloting gets under way in John Jay and Hamilton Halls. Five Student Board positions and two posts on King's Crown Advisory Board are to be filled, in addition to the offices of all four classes. Voting will continue until Friday. This year's campaign has been marked by a general breakdown of party lines. The initial event in tUVs trend was the dissolution of tli'e Independent Party, which folded up after the defeat of its candidate in the February Student Board election. In Fraternity circles the same general reaction was fell. At the nom.'iating caucus, one house, Delia Phi,…

Columbia Daily Spectator, 1936-04-22 →

Columbia College Today & other articles

Columbia Magazine — "Teacher and Trappist" by Thomas Vinciguerra (2010)
Merton was still much on de Bary's mind. Both had been relatively big men on campus, having been members, for instance, of Philolexian, the venerable Columbia literary society.

Article explicitly identifies both Thomas Merton (CC 1938) and Wm. Theodore de Bary (CC 1941) as members of the Philolexian Society.

Columbia Magazine — "Teacher and Trappist" by Thomas Vinciguerra (2010) →

The member's own writing

Primary-source writing Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 1 (HarperSanFrancisco, 1995)
One night Melville Cane (or Cain) came to Columbia to read some of his poems to Philolexian in a little social room in Hartley. He sat in a chair and read his appalling stuff for a while, and appealed to us for comments on this pleasant light trash, and I guess I remarked on the way he kept talking about spiders in his poems. I didn't even say it was effective although it was giving me the creeps. I don't know whether spiders was the image or not. Something like it. Maybe rats. Anyway he finally folded up the last triumphant morsel from the New Yorker and looked around the room with a sort of feeble expression of challenge you might expect from, say, Irwin Edman, and then asked if anybody in the room liked Auden, Spender and Day-Lewis. And I who had just been reading some Lewis said Yes, I liked them.

Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 1 (HarperSanFrancisco, 1995), p. 144 →

The Foundation's research archive

PHILOS, AS RECALLED BY MR. & MRS. WALTER SCHAAP AND CHARLES ROBERTSON

blue tick and red dagger; annotated 'TOLEDANO REMEMBERS DEFINITELY' · Confidence: CERTAIN

External references

Community-maintained record

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