The god of impertinence

by Sten Nadolny

The naked, charcoal-colored man with red hair who steals the flag from the police station in Greece on a sunny Spring day obviously isn't ordinary; indeed, it could be said - and it would be true - that he is, well, extraordinary. He is none other than Hermes, god of stolen kisses, insolence, erotic freedom, turmoil, sleep, thievery, and messenger to the gods. Hermes is looking for adventure and love, preferably the physical kind. He has been liberated to enchant, to save the world from the corruption of crass cynicism and to resurrect virtues of mischief, curiosity, imagination, and daring...and to fall in love. Unsurprisingly, Hermes' new world seems very, very weird to him - after all, he was kept in chains in a volcanic crater for 2,187 years. Meanwhile, Zeus has been disempowered and escapes to America - where he plays rounds of golf in Missouri - after his wife, Hera, discovers haute couture. Hephaestus, that degenerate, neurotic god of volcanoes, is now "the chief." He has advan