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The Celibate
The first published novel by the award-winning, bestselling and acclaimed Michael Arditti
'It is unusual to find an English first novel of such unflinching moral seriousness ... a varied and involving read' Gregory Woods, Times Literary Supplement
'An exceptional book - at its core it combines the sexual with the spiritual' Sunday Times
'An ambitious first novel, which traces the liberation of a human soul through a gradual revelation of the meaning of passion and the Passion' Candia McWilliam, Independent on Sunday
The Celibate is the story of a young man with a mind full of God, but a heart closed to love. While studying at the theological college, he is confused by his feelings for a fellow ordinand and suffers a nervous collapse at the altar. His college principal sends him on a placement to London, where he enters an unfamiliar world of outcasts, down-and-outs, rent boys and religious fundamentalists.
In increasing despair, he embarks on a journey through the world of Jack the Ripper, the devastation of the Great Plague and the mysteries of his own family. As the past and present come full circle, he finally understands the true meaning of Passion.
This is an intelligent and emotive novel, potent with atmosphere and rich in ideas and insights. It employs a unique fictional structure which integrates the contemporary and the historical, the personal and the theological, the comic and the polemic in a revelatory way. On its initial publication, it was hailed as the debut of a major literary talent.
'It is unusual to find an English first novel of such unflinching moral seriousness ... a varied and involving read' Gregory Woods, Times Literary Supplement
'An exceptional book - at its core it combines the sexual with the spiritual' Sunday Times
'An ambitious first novel, which traces the liberation of a human soul through a gradual revelation of the meaning of passion and the Passion' Candia McWilliam, Independent on Sunday
The Celibate is the story of a young man with a mind full of God, but a heart closed to love. While studying at the theological college, he is confused by his feelings for a fellow ordinand and suffers a nervous collapse at the altar. His college principal sends him on a placement to London, where he enters an unfamiliar world of outcasts, down-and-outs, rent boys and religious fundamentalists.
In increasing despair, he embarks on a journey through the world of Jack the Ripper, the devastation of the Great Plague and the mysteries of his own family. As the past and present come full circle, he finally understands the true meaning of Passion.
This is an intelligent and emotive novel, potent with atmosphere and rich in ideas and insights. It employs a unique fictional structure which integrates the contemporary and the historical, the personal and the theological, the comic and the polemic in a revelatory way. On its initial publication, it was hailed as the debut of a major literary talent.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 2, 2025
This was Michael Arditti's first novel and it attracted considerable attention and praise when it was published in 1993:
‘It takes courage to write about faith in this faithless world, particularly from a homosexual viewpoint. But in The Celibate, Michael Arditti's...anger, conviction and sharp observation hold the reader’s attention throughout.’ The Times
‘An ambitious first novel, which traces the liberation of a human soul through a gradual revelation of the meaning of passion and the Passion.’ Independent on Sunday (see my footnote *1 below as well)
‘This deeply spiritual novel… a carefully crafted, intensely analytical and deeply honest theological quest where the storyline becomes consumed in a broader faith journey.’ Catholic Herald
‘It is unusual to find an English first novel of such unflinching moral seriousness… a varied and involving read.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘I found Arditti’s heartfelt, even desperate, plea for tolerance and acceptance moving and honourable, not to mention timely.’ Literary Review
‘Arditti’s ingeniously constructed narrative unfolds as a confessional monologue delivered partly from the psychiatrist’s consulting room, and partly as the patter of a tour guide, at first to the haunts of Jack the Ripper, and later to the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, which was overrun by the plague in the 17th century. A thoughtful, intelligent book…' Sunday Telegraph
These are very high class sources of praise for any novel, never mind a first and even the middle brow publications sang its praises:
‘The Celibate is a psychological kaleidoscope of a book, an intense experience. (The) style is original and innovative, with every word carefully chosen for maximum effect. A challenging revelation.’ Sunday Express
I quote all of the above to acknowledge that my rating the book one star and describing as bad-disappointing might appear arrogant if not bordering on literary lese-majesty but I insist on my judgement because good writers and well written books can be toxic tosch and unfortunately 'The Celibate' is awful and I am going to try and explain why.
It is essential to remember when this novel was published, 1993, and there was no way a 'literary' novel combining the search for religious meaning and a cri de coeur denunciation of Thatcherite materialism and the nightmare of AIDS was not going to be embraced and loved. Remember:
Queen Elizabeth II supposedly let it be known she found Thatcher's policies "uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive" in 1986
Diana Princess of Wales kissed her first AIDS patient in 1987
and Thatcher ceased to be PM in 1990
so by 1993 everyone, even those who had been her staunchest supporters - indeed maybe them most of all, was ready for a real feel good novel repudiating Thatcher and all that 1980s stood for. It was also time for the UK to produce its own 'AIDS' novel to rival the Americans. Of course England's great 'AIDS' novel had already been published, 'A Matter of Life and Sex' by Oscar Moore, but Arditti's was the one the publishers backed - it combined, religion, Jack-the-Ripper, AIDS and a cavalcade of cliched characters as hadn't been seen since Noel Coward's 'Cavalcade'. It was also Dickensian - not in the sense of a Dickens novel but in the feel good ending way of ersatz West End musicals made out of Dickens' novels.
But here we are over thirty years later and AIDS has for young people become another 'historical' event like the great plague of 1666. It is not a metaphor or challenge it is what it always was, a disease, and once effective treatments became available for those in places like the UK and USA it is amazing how quickly concern for others and unity as community disappeared.
The truth is that 'The Celibate' as an 'AIDS' novel is worse then journalism or reportage. They don't claim to be anything special but literature, that is supposed to be for the ages. Unfortunately most AIDS writing fails miserably as literature, never mind as history's first draft, and is doomed to be forgotten. 'The Celibate', and in particularly 'Part Two: 1665 and 1989-90 Priests and Plagues' is not simply excerable but embarrassing.
Which brings us to 'Part One: 1888 and 1998 Prostitutes and Pornography' which is were the novel begins and the battle between flesh and god, or flesh and belief, begins and why The Times said 'It takes courage to write about faith in this faithless world' and The Catholic World to call it ‘This deeply spiritual novel… a carefully crafted, intensely analytical and deeply honest theological quest where the storyline becomes consumed in a broader faith journey.’
Of course it is nothing of the sort. It is unusual in the late 20th century, never mind the first quarter of the 21st century for a serious author to write about faith as Arditti has and continues to do but that doesn't mean Arditti doesn't compare to Evelyn Waugh, even in his turgid post WWII 'Catholic' nonsense phase, and he is certainly not a new or another Graham Greene (with whom he is often compared). You have only to read Greene's 'Heart of the Matter' to find in Scobie a character not simply tragic but tragic in the grandeur of the moral impasse he finds himself in. Greene's readers were not always Catholic, but they knew morality, they knew faith, they had principals, they believed in these things even while they failed to follow or live up to them.
Michael Arditti's unnamed narrator in 'The Celibate' has the spiritual depth of a puddle. Even his theology is muddled when not bordering on the heretical, the idea the Christ's humanity did not include sex would have amazed Renaissance artists and theologians (see 'The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion' by Leo Steinberg).
I was going to say more but let me be honest, Arditti is writing about a candidate for the Anglican priesthood - he is an Anglo-Catholic. I have no intention of explaining what that all means, if it means nothing you will have to do a lot of googling. But let me admit that as an Irish Catholic I have never met a minister of either the Church of England or Ireland who I could take seriously as spiritual persons. They could be very nice people but I did not believe in them as men who prayed (back then they only were men). Arditti's tormented Anglo-Catholic ordinand is not a man working through a spiritual crisis. It is not faith and certainly not prayer that helps or saves him but psychiatry because the age of faith is well and truly not only dead but forgotten. While Scobie in 'the Heart of the Matter' is damned for taken communion in state of mortal sin Arditti's ordinand barely bothers to debate with himself, never mind anyone else, who, how or what he has sex with. The path from celibate virgin to incontinent gay BDSM slave is much less then slip between the cup and the lip.
I think I've said enough - this might have been a not dreadful book in 1993, though have my doubts, but now it is not only dreadful, it is risible.
*1 The full review from The Independent newspaper at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en... is well worth reading in full.
‘It takes courage to write about faith in this faithless world, particularly from a homosexual viewpoint. But in The Celibate, Michael Arditti's...anger, conviction and sharp observation hold the reader’s attention throughout.’ The Times
‘An ambitious first novel, which traces the liberation of a human soul through a gradual revelation of the meaning of passion and the Passion.’ Independent on Sunday (see my footnote *1 below as well)
‘This deeply spiritual novel… a carefully crafted, intensely analytical and deeply honest theological quest where the storyline becomes consumed in a broader faith journey.’ Catholic Herald
‘It is unusual to find an English first novel of such unflinching moral seriousness… a varied and involving read.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘I found Arditti’s heartfelt, even desperate, plea for tolerance and acceptance moving and honourable, not to mention timely.’ Literary Review
‘Arditti’s ingeniously constructed narrative unfolds as a confessional monologue delivered partly from the psychiatrist’s consulting room, and partly as the patter of a tour guide, at first to the haunts of Jack the Ripper, and later to the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, which was overrun by the plague in the 17th century. A thoughtful, intelligent book…' Sunday Telegraph
These are very high class sources of praise for any novel, never mind a first and even the middle brow publications sang its praises:
‘The Celibate is a psychological kaleidoscope of a book, an intense experience. (The) style is original and innovative, with every word carefully chosen for maximum effect. A challenging revelation.’ Sunday Express
I quote all of the above to acknowledge that my rating the book one star and describing as bad-disappointing might appear arrogant if not bordering on literary lese-majesty but I insist on my judgement because good writers and well written books can be toxic tosch and unfortunately 'The Celibate' is awful and I am going to try and explain why.
It is essential to remember when this novel was published, 1993, and there was no way a 'literary' novel combining the search for religious meaning and a cri de coeur denunciation of Thatcherite materialism and the nightmare of AIDS was not going to be embraced and loved. Remember:
Queen Elizabeth II supposedly let it be known she found Thatcher's policies "uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive" in 1986
Diana Princess of Wales kissed her first AIDS patient in 1987
and Thatcher ceased to be PM in 1990
so by 1993 everyone, even those who had been her staunchest supporters - indeed maybe them most of all, was ready for a real feel good novel repudiating Thatcher and all that 1980s stood for. It was also time for the UK to produce its own 'AIDS' novel to rival the Americans. Of course England's great 'AIDS' novel had already been published, 'A Matter of Life and Sex' by Oscar Moore, but Arditti's was the one the publishers backed - it combined, religion, Jack-the-Ripper, AIDS and a cavalcade of cliched characters as hadn't been seen since Noel Coward's 'Cavalcade'. It was also Dickensian - not in the sense of a Dickens novel but in the feel good ending way of ersatz West End musicals made out of Dickens' novels.
But here we are over thirty years later and AIDS has for young people become another 'historical' event like the great plague of 1666. It is not a metaphor or challenge it is what it always was, a disease, and once effective treatments became available for those in places like the UK and USA it is amazing how quickly concern for others and unity as community disappeared.
The truth is that 'The Celibate' as an 'AIDS' novel is worse then journalism or reportage. They don't claim to be anything special but literature, that is supposed to be for the ages. Unfortunately most AIDS writing fails miserably as literature, never mind as history's first draft, and is doomed to be forgotten. 'The Celibate', and in particularly 'Part Two: 1665 and 1989-90 Priests and Plagues' is not simply excerable but embarrassing.
Which brings us to 'Part One: 1888 and 1998 Prostitutes and Pornography' which is were the novel begins and the battle between flesh and god, or flesh and belief, begins and why The Times said 'It takes courage to write about faith in this faithless world' and The Catholic World to call it ‘This deeply spiritual novel… a carefully crafted, intensely analytical and deeply honest theological quest where the storyline becomes consumed in a broader faith journey.’
Of course it is nothing of the sort. It is unusual in the late 20th century, never mind the first quarter of the 21st century for a serious author to write about faith as Arditti has and continues to do but that doesn't mean Arditti doesn't compare to Evelyn Waugh, even in his turgid post WWII 'Catholic' nonsense phase, and he is certainly not a new or another Graham Greene (with whom he is often compared). You have only to read Greene's 'Heart of the Matter' to find in Scobie a character not simply tragic but tragic in the grandeur of the moral impasse he finds himself in. Greene's readers were not always Catholic, but they knew morality, they knew faith, they had principals, they believed in these things even while they failed to follow or live up to them.
Michael Arditti's unnamed narrator in 'The Celibate' has the spiritual depth of a puddle. Even his theology is muddled when not bordering on the heretical, the idea the Christ's humanity did not include sex would have amazed Renaissance artists and theologians (see 'The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion' by Leo Steinberg).
I was going to say more but let me be honest, Arditti is writing about a candidate for the Anglican priesthood - he is an Anglo-Catholic. I have no intention of explaining what that all means, if it means nothing you will have to do a lot of googling. But let me admit that as an Irish Catholic I have never met a minister of either the Church of England or Ireland who I could take seriously as spiritual persons. They could be very nice people but I did not believe in them as men who prayed (back then they only were men). Arditti's tormented Anglo-Catholic ordinand is not a man working through a spiritual crisis. It is not faith and certainly not prayer that helps or saves him but psychiatry because the age of faith is well and truly not only dead but forgotten. While Scobie in 'the Heart of the Matter' is damned for taken communion in state of mortal sin Arditti's ordinand barely bothers to debate with himself, never mind anyone else, who, how or what he has sex with. The path from celibate virgin to incontinent gay BDSM slave is much less then slip between the cup and the lip.
I think I've said enough - this might have been a not dreadful book in 1993, though have my doubts, but now it is not only dreadful, it is risible.
*1 The full review from The Independent newspaper at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en... is well worth reading in full.
February 29, 2012
Opening up this novel, I was taken aback by the very unique and albeit unorthodox writing style and presentation of dialogue. It took me a while to get a feel for this book and the character portrayals, but I am so extremely glad I did stick with it to the end. Searching diligently through the rather slow and seemingly unrelated guide scenes, the main storyline carries weight and power I hadn't experienced before. The depth of the spiritual and parallelled sexual journey the nameless protagonist experiences are endless in their bravery. The back-and-forth debates between, first, the validity and sincerity of God, and, second, His ultimate purpose for man are invigorating to say the least, though they are very trying over and over again for the main character. The pessimism of the narrator's nature is overwhelmed by his innate nature of love. As honest as it is heart-breaking, The Celibate relays sexuality with full force, accompanied by the intense losses against AIDS in 1980s London and the penultimate victory over doubts about God, faith, family, and love.
June 21, 2021
At points, I thought that this was genius, but other times it felt like drivel. So, 3 stars because I did actually enjoy getting to the end to read the ending. Affluent, ultra-religious, gay, conflicted- so many themes to work with, but then each chapter begins with a tour guide dialog. It is clever, but a bit hard to read at times.
August 11, 2024
Arditti has a unique writing style, as the narrator tells his story by speaking to his therapist. It's a heavy, emotional read, with an uplifting ending. I found this book to be fascinating.
November 29, 2021
I can see why this book has had such positive and negative reviews. It's style and it's topics were very much of its time the peak of the AIDS epidemic and then juxtapsosing the second half of the book with the b ubonic plague. I found it a very sincere and moving experience
September 8, 2008
I wanted to like this book so much more. I wanted it to have the same poetry and effect as Neil Bartlett’s Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall. I was not overwhelmed; I was not even whelmed; I was under-whelmed.
The Celibate is the story of a novice priest who suffers a nervous breakdown at the altar one Sunday. In fact, he is dealing with a subjugated sexuality and the advances of another, more radically gay, novice priest. The church, fearing for the unnamed young man’s sanity, sends him to a psychiatrist – thus begins chapter after chapter of first-person stories to an unseen and silent doctor. Get it; it’s like a Catholic confession – 300-some odd-pages worth….
Actually, it’s not necessarily a bad idea. The execution just sucks. The monologues are long and self-indigent and boring. The priest gets wrapped up in homeless gays and hustlers, one who in an act of self-protection commits murder and is not assisted at all by the priest. Feeling guilty and searching for forgiveness, the priest falls for another hustler and ends up being peed upon by the hustler and his unknown boyfriend as a form of repudiation and absolution. This leads to an attempted suicide and then to an affair with an AIDS worker who is also a radical queer. On top of leaving the priesthood, the priest helps with a man dying of AIDS, the priest also refuses to bottom for his ACT OUT lover, and then he slowly wakes up to his social and sexual freedom. …yay…
Oh, and he was once Jewish, but by himself and with a message from Jesus, became a Catholic. Oh, and he was born rich. Oh, and for a while he led street tours on Jack the Ripper, and later he led tours on the Plague (these two themes have something to do with the priest’s own struggle. I get it - the plaque/AIDS connection is obvious. Less obvious, repressed sexuality – like the priest’s – is also an aspect in serial killers’ lives. However, I found it hard to believe that this specific priest ever had a chance of becoming a madman. This seems added for drama).
Are you getting a picture of the ridiculously self-indulgent plot and drama and happenstance all over this book?
On top of that, the young priest elucidates every story, loading it with Christian imagery as if he were being graded on an essay in seminary. The author also loves getting a little scatological and gross with sex, as if this priest would have no problem whatsoever describing being peed on or having butt sex for the first time to his unresponsive doctor. Also, his narration is delivered with a snobby, self-important intellectualism that made me want to punch him in the trachea.
God should punish him for such dreck.
The Celibate is the story of a novice priest who suffers a nervous breakdown at the altar one Sunday. In fact, he is dealing with a subjugated sexuality and the advances of another, more radically gay, novice priest. The church, fearing for the unnamed young man’s sanity, sends him to a psychiatrist – thus begins chapter after chapter of first-person stories to an unseen and silent doctor. Get it; it’s like a Catholic confession – 300-some odd-pages worth….
Actually, it’s not necessarily a bad idea. The execution just sucks. The monologues are long and self-indigent and boring. The priest gets wrapped up in homeless gays and hustlers, one who in an act of self-protection commits murder and is not assisted at all by the priest. Feeling guilty and searching for forgiveness, the priest falls for another hustler and ends up being peed upon by the hustler and his unknown boyfriend as a form of repudiation and absolution. This leads to an attempted suicide and then to an affair with an AIDS worker who is also a radical queer. On top of leaving the priesthood, the priest helps with a man dying of AIDS, the priest also refuses to bottom for his ACT OUT lover, and then he slowly wakes up to his social and sexual freedom. …yay…
Oh, and he was once Jewish, but by himself and with a message from Jesus, became a Catholic. Oh, and he was born rich. Oh, and for a while he led street tours on Jack the Ripper, and later he led tours on the Plague (these two themes have something to do with the priest’s own struggle. I get it - the plaque/AIDS connection is obvious. Less obvious, repressed sexuality – like the priest’s – is also an aspect in serial killers’ lives. However, I found it hard to believe that this specific priest ever had a chance of becoming a madman. This seems added for drama).
Are you getting a picture of the ridiculously self-indulgent plot and drama and happenstance all over this book?
On top of that, the young priest elucidates every story, loading it with Christian imagery as if he were being graded on an essay in seminary. The author also loves getting a little scatological and gross with sex, as if this priest would have no problem whatsoever describing being peed on or having butt sex for the first time to his unresponsive doctor. Also, his narration is delivered with a snobby, self-important intellectualism that made me want to punch him in the trachea.
God should punish him for such dreck.
December 9, 2008
This is truly a bildungsroman. What started out as a terribly unsympathetic main character grew into a real person, who lived, breathed, loved. Although I can understand how the religious analogy would probably irk some, I found it to be very interesting and astute most of the time. If anything I have a stronger appreciation for those who are able to reconcile their faith and their sexuality, something I have a hard time with. I know that there have been other reviews of this book accusing it of being heavy-handed and didactic, and I would concur to some degree. However, since the novel is told from a limited first person point of view, it could be argued that the allegedly over zealous religious metaphor and whatnot is simply a character flaw. Furthermore, as the novel progresses the annoying nature of the character improves, and he becomes less of a prick. He truly grows up over the course of the novel, and learns the true meaning of selflessness and love in God.
The whole plague/Jack the Ripper metaphor was interesting, in my opinion, but I can understand how the main character sees the Jack the Ripper in every man and woman. I suppose it could be confusing though.
The whole plague/Jack the Ripper metaphor was interesting, in my opinion, but I can understand how the main character sees the Jack the Ripper in every man and woman. I suppose it could be confusing though.
December 26, 2015
I read this as a third book in a (completely unplanned) trilogy which covered pretty much the history of gay men in London in the ate 20th century. Started with henshawe's "Emperor Waltz", which has as one thread the opening of the Big Gay Bookshop ... one of the characters reads The Swimming Pool Library and because I've never read it but it's a book I believe everyone should read, I did. And I learnt a lot about love and sex and vanity and race ... and then by chance I saw this when I returned Swimming Pool Library I saw this and it looked interesting. It's a fascinating book, sometimes too intense and thoughtful, but very thought provoking, presenting so many of the arguments, positions and stories of gay men in the church, HIV, as well as Jack the Ripper and Eyam. A reviewor a blurb cannot make sense because the tale is complex, but engaging.
June 24, 2015
I didn't like this book at all.
In fact I got so tired of the endless drivel spouted by The Celibate himself that I skipped the last few pages as I couldn't endure his tedious self-absorption any longer.
So I'll never found out 'whodunit' and frankly, I don't care.
When I began reading this book I gave a weary sigh: "Another book about a wealthy, gay intellectual", I thought.
Please tell me: are there any books out there about the lives of working-class gay men? We've had Antony Burgess, Evelyn Waugh, Alan Hollinghurst, Edmund White and many more I can't be bothered to remember now. All those floppy haired individuals,lounging about worrying about their souls as the trust fund cash comes rolling in. Poor things. Go away!!!
In fact I got so tired of the endless drivel spouted by The Celibate himself that I skipped the last few pages as I couldn't endure his tedious self-absorption any longer.
So I'll never found out 'whodunit' and frankly, I don't care.
When I began reading this book I gave a weary sigh: "Another book about a wealthy, gay intellectual", I thought.
Please tell me: are there any books out there about the lives of working-class gay men? We've had Antony Burgess, Evelyn Waugh, Alan Hollinghurst, Edmund White and many more I can't be bothered to remember now. All those floppy haired individuals,lounging about worrying about their souls as the trust fund cash comes rolling in. Poor things. Go away!!!
May 6, 2016
This book is told by a young, trainee priest, who has a breakdown after falling for another trainee, Jonathan, on his course. He is sent to work in London and has to deal with addicts, the homeless and rent boys. The story is told by him as he talks to his therapist, interspersed with the spiel he uses when he subsequently works as a guide for "Jack the Ripper" tours for tourists. Subsequent to his sadistic relationship with one of the rent boys, he opts for extreme pornography, at which point I gave up. Skipping to he end, I find he does achieve a relationship with Jonathan, but I couldn't bear to read how they finally got together.
May 17, 2014
This rating was a difficult decision. While I was very close to giving up on this book in the beginning, it actually came around somewhat. I do love when a story comes full circle. Nevertheless, it is a difficult book to read, both for the content and the writing, and I must admit that it was a bit too much for me. I wanted to like it, and I think it deserves all the readers who did like it, but I couldn't connect with it to the point that I kept questioning parts of it and couldn't look past that.
June 8, 2013
What hooked me into this book was the story-telling - the whole thing is in first person, and it's a very powerful narrative trick as the tale itself weaves between historical points and 'present day' snapshots. The protagonist is flawed and real, and I found myself rooting for his happiness, or at least his safety, as the book went on. Not a happy book, by any means, but lyrical and evocative and very well crafted.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews