Pierre BOOK XXII

In which Pierre, enshrouded in winter’s relentless grip and severed from all support, endures the grim solitude of his writing chamber amidst the ascetic company of fellow Apostles and their austere bodily regimens, while wrestling with the formidable chasms of despair and artistic creation that threaten to consume both body and soul. Bound to his plank and warmed only by cares both tender and insufficient, he confronts the bitter truth that the higher his spiritual striving, the more isolated he becomes in a world indifferent to his pains, yet unyielding in his pursuit of transcendent truth.