Nicole Morello
Sodome et Gomorrhe

Unique book
82 cm x 58 cm x 4,5 cm
White silk paper 19g/m², free from chlorine and acid, each sheet 78 x 100 cm
91 booklets, each with 4 folded sheets
364 pages (46 as front end-paper, 295 written and numbered, 23 as off end-paper)
Non rigid covers made of hand-stitched cloth without glue, toile de Jouy from the collection ‘le prince jardinier’, création Olivier Thevenon, Paris

Marcel Proust’s unabridged French text “Sodome et Gomorrhe” (nrf Gallimard edition) is written in reverse as a mirror of the left hand from right to left.

Using a ballpoint pen each sheet is written only on one side.

In “Sodome et Gomorrhe”, Marcel Proust portrays different types of men belonging to a marginal group of the society, the “inverts” (homosexuals) and describes with great thoroughness their strategic ways to adapt and survive in the society.

Reading “Sodome et Gomorrhe” I could not help thinking of another marginal group, the left handers, which I belong to, and spontaneously began to write Marcel Proust’s text from right to left as” mirror writing”. ’ It is a natural way of writing, exactly as I did as a child when I first learned to put pen to paper. The more I wrote the more I felt excited about the process of conveying my thoughts and feelings which gave me an exhilarating sense of freedom of expression.

Putting to paper the translation of ‘Sodome et Gomorrhe’ as a mirror writing task taking eight months to complete from June 2011 until January 2012 was not only an enjoyable endeavor, but it was immeasurably rewarding. I felt an extraordinary release as if I freed the words of Proust’s work through my hand, from my body and ultimately my mind.