The Thomas Merton Archives at St. Bonaventure University

Brown Journal.

[Typescript]

(St. Bonaventure University ms.57)

60 leaves ; 29 x 23 cm.

Typescript.

Brown (hence the name of the journal) binder with metal fasteners, containing unlined, loose-leaf notebook paper.

Notes: Contains 25 entries; 22 of which are normal dated journal entries and 3 of which are more like literary experiments. The three experimental pieces are unique items not appearing in any other source. These experimental pieces consist of 16 leaves and start off with the heading ,"More of the Journal".

18 of the normal entries are edited versions of items in the Bonaventure Journal of 1940-1941 (St. Bonaventure University ms.49). The editing style is the same that is employed by Merton to create the entries for The Secular Journal. The other 4 normal entries are unique.

While the source for most of both The Secular Journal and the Brown Journal is the Bonaventure Journal of 1940-1941, there is also a degree of independence between the three items. This is pointed out by the fact that there are 4 entries in The Secular Journal that do not appear in the other two items. The same is true of the Brown Journal, that there are 4 entries that do not appear in the other two sources.

It is also interesting to note that there are 4 entries that appear in all three sources. 2 of these entries (1/2/41 and 4/11/41) begin in the same way in all three texts, but then the rest of the entry in Secular Journal is a reworking of a different portion of the Bonaventure Journal entry than is reworked in the Brown Journal. The other 2 entries (4/10/41 and 4/18/41) appear in all three sources, but in all three the text is reworked in a different way.

Described by PJS