An Arrow's Flight

An Arrow's Flight (ISBN 0-312-24288-3) is a novel by Mark Merlis, published in 1998.

Plot summary

Pyrrhus lives in the city with his housemate Leucon. He works as a waiter, then as a hustler. One day he hears his father Achilles has left him some inheritance in Troy, and he decides to claim it. On the ship, he sleeps with Corythus, a sailor. He soon learns he needs to seduce Philoctetes and get his arrow for a prophecy to come true. He grows attached to the old man, though the latter also has an affair with Paris. Finally, Philoctetes breaks the arrow and dies. Pyrrhus meets Leucon again; the latter realises he no longer has feelings for Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus leaves again.

Main characters

• Pyrrhus, the protagonist.
• Leucon
• Odysseus
• Philoctetes
• Corythus
• Paris

Literary signifiance

• 1998 - Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Fiction^[1]
• It is a retelling of Sophocles's Philoctetes.^[2] It was inspired by Edmund Wilson's essay entitled 'The Wound and the Bow'.^[2] It was also inspired by Christopher Logue and Robinson Jeffers.^[2]
• It has been read as a sequel to Andrew Holleran's Dancer from the Dance.^[3]

References