#101 - Peter Giersch

Peter Giersch's Talking of Michelangelo is a memoir and travelogue centered on a weeklong Ignatian retreat at a medieval French monastery that precipitates a deep spiritual crisis. The book uses literary references—most notably T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Michelangelo's Last Judgment—to explore themes of mortality, sin, and the four last things. Giersch writes candidly about his struggles with faith, sexuality, and the experience of mortal sin, aiming to bring readers closer to spiritual truths. The narrative blends vulnerability, literary exegesis, and personal reflection, inviting both religious and secular readers into contemplation. Published by Odysseus Books (Eric Metaxas's imprint), it is presented as readable and accessible while tackling difficult theological topics.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a seminal work of modernist literature, presented as a dramatic monologue that delves into the anxieties, hesitations, and existential crises of its protagonist. The poem is renowned for its use of stream-of-consciousness narrative, reflecting the fragmented thoughts and feelings of Prufrock as he navigates social and emotional challenges.

Four Quartets is a cycle of four poems by T.S. Eliot, each titled with a place name: 'Burnt Norton,' 'East Coker,' 'The Dry Salvages,' and 'Little Gidding. ' The poems are meditations on time, redemption, and eternity, blending Eliot's Anglo-Catholicism with mystical, philosophical, and poetic elements from various traditions. Each quartet has five sections and explores themes such as the conflict between individual mortality and the endless span of human existence, the nature of spirituality, and the relationship between the present and the past. The work is considered Eliot's masterpiece and his clearest exposition of his Christian beliefs.