SIN THE AGES OF
Uli Lenart meets prize-winning novelist MICHAEL ARDITTI to ind out more about his latest novel
PHOTOGRAPHY: MARKUS BIDAUX
INTERVIEW
Of Men and Angels is your 10th novel. What inspired you to write it?
I have two basic strands to my work: sexuality and spirituality. I wanted to go to the fundamental myth that defines us all in the Western world: the story of Sodom [and Gomorrah]. I wanted to make a suggestion of how that legend came to be and how it ended up with a homophobic edge.
Could you refresh our minds about the biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and why there are conflicting opinions about its interpretation?
In the Bible, God decides to destroy the city of Sodom because it is wicked, and Abraham says to him: “Please do this, but if there are 10 good men you’ll save it.” So God sends his angels — who are obviously very beautiful, as angels are — to the city and they are taken in by Lot, who is Abraham’s nephew.