Robert Waldron (2)

When The Seven Story Mountain was first published, Merton was hailed as a new, contemporary spiritual voice and became one of the most popular and successful writers and commentators on modern religion and spirituality. But although Merton wrote over forty books on the importance of reflection and prayer in our inner lives, until now we have known very little about Merton's own 'way of prayer'. The distinguished Merton scholar Robert Waldron's new book is the first to fully explore the inner life of perhaps the best-known writer on prayer of the twentieth century. - from the publisher… (mere)

I quit reading at p.22. I bought this book; I love Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems. This is published by Paulist Press, whom I respect, but somehow this book beat all the odds and is just not worth my time. After a preface (with an admittedly interesting premise that Hopkins' poems of anguish were generated by a lack of touching and a rigorous suppression of his (homo)sexual nature), the author also has a foreword. A preface AND an introduction, written by the author himself? This seems to be the new style.

The opening sentence of the first chapter almost halted me; it should have.
"Summer again! If we can call this rainy, cold season summer. It's time for me to write another 'Walking With' book.I'm excited because Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) is one of my favorite poets."… (mere)