Daniel Berrigan correspondence and Hanoi poems

Daniel Berrigan wrote these letters to Elizabeth Bartelme, his editor at Macmillan Company, to accompany enclosed poems, such as the Hanoi poems found in this collection, or to discuss the editing of his books.

Three of Berrigan’s letters are written in regard to Love, Love at the End. In one letter he responded to Bartelme’s suggestions for the book’s title and in another letter, he edited the parable titled "The Tools."

The letters also suggest the friendship shared by Berrigan and Bartelme. In addition to thanking her for lunches and dinner parties, Berrigan mentioned events and people in his life, including his active resistance to the war in Vietnam during the 1960s. He discussed the lack of news from his Order regarding his trip to Hanoi but says, “I wd. never leave the Order, but don’t mind being kicked out on such an issue.” In a letter dated December 8, [1967], he mentioned that he, his brother, and others were “in the midst of another big preparation for Resistence. Hope we all survive.” This may refer to the antiwar action in Catonsville, Maryland, which occurred on May 17, 1968, and resulted in his imprisonment.

The drafts of the Hanoi poems were sent to Elizabeth Bartelme for a book which was published in 1968 by Macmillan as Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with 11 Poems. However these poems were first published by Cornell United Religious Work in 1968 in the exact order and wording found in these drafts and titled Hanoi Poems. When the poems were published in Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with 11 Poems, the order was changed, the poem “Flowers” was omitted, the title of one poem was changed and a verse of one poem was deleted. The introduction found with these draft poems was not published by the Cornell group nor used in Night Flight to Hanoi. The introduction stated that the poems were: “written on the spot” during Berrigan’s trip to Hanoi from January 31 to February 18, 1968. Berrigan also wrote: “The reader may be sure that references to actual persons, living or dead, are purely intentional - indeed willful."

In addition to Berrigan’s letters and the Hanoi poems, there is one letter from The Right Reverend James A. Pike to Bartelme. The letter included a positive comment for publication regarding Consequences: Truth and ….

The final two letters in the collection were written by Daniel Berrigan to Macmillan editor, Ray Roberts, regarding the 1969 publication of Berrigan’s False Gods, False Men. In one of the letters Berrigan praised the dust jacket artwork created by Corita Kent, a contemporary artist whose artwork appeared in several of Berrigan’s books.