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"I was reading this book called The Infinity of Little Hours, which is about the last order of Carthusian monks before the order was changed in the sixties, and one of the monks wrote a letter home to his family and he was bitching about Thomas Merton. I was like, 'Of course other monks had opinions!' It did not occur to me, but of course this huge, famous monk in the sixties — other monks are going to be like, 'Well, he needs to spend more time monkin’, and less time writing his famous books.'
"And [the monk] was like, 'I’ve never thought too much about Thomas Merton, I think he needs to decide if he wants to be a celebrity or a monk.' And it’s just so charming. I loved so much this little moment of monkish bitchery."
Read our full interview with Toast editor Mallory Ortberg here.
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