An Arrow's Flight
Encyclopedia
An Arrow's Flight is a novel by Mark Merlis, published in 1998
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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.
1998 in literature
The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
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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 AchillesAchilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
has left him some inheritance in Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
, 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
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
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
- PyrrhusNeoptolemusNeoptolemus was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia in Greek mythology. Achilles' mother foretold many years before Achilles' birth that there would be a great war. She saw that her only son was to die if he fought in the war...
, the protagonist. - Leucon
- OdysseusOdysseusOdysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
- PhiloctetesPhiloctetesPhiloctetes or Philocthetes according to Greek mythology, the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer, and was a participant in the Trojan War. He was the subject of at least two plays by Sophocles, one of which is named after him, and one each by both...
- CorythusCorythusCorythus is the name of six mortal men in Greek mythology*Corythus, son of Paris and Oenone. After Paris abandoned Oenone, she sent the boy, now grown, to Troy, where he fell in love with Helen, and she received him warmly. Paris, discovering this, killed him, not recognizing his own son...
- ParisParis (mythology)Paris , the son of Priam, king of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the Trojan War...
Literary signifiance
- 1998 - Lambda Literary AwardLambda Literary AwardLambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
for Gay Men's Fiction - It is a retelling of SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
's Philoctetes. It was inspired by Edmund WilsonEdmund WilsonEdmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
's essay entitled 'The Wound and the Bow'. It was also inspired by Christopher LogueChristopher LogueChristopher Logue, CBE is an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. He has also written for the theatre and cinema as well as acting in a number of films. His two screenplays are Savage Messiah and The End of Arthur's Marriage...
and Robinson JeffersRobinson JeffersJohn Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Most of Jeffers' poetry was written in classic narrative and epic form, but today he is also known for his short verse, and considered an icon of the environmental movement.-Life:Jeffers was born in...
. - It has been read as a sequel to Andrew HolleranAndrew HolleranAndrew Holleran is the pseudonym of Eric Garber , a novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is a prominent novelist of post-Stonewall gay literature. He was a member of The Violet Quill, a gay writer's group that met briefly from 1980-81. The Violet Quill included other prolific gay writers...
's Dancer from the DanceDancer from the DanceDancer from the Dance is a 1978 novel by Andrew Holleran about gay men in New York City, United States.-Plot summary:The novel revolves around two main characters: Anthony Malone, a young man from the Midwest who leaves behind his "straight" life as a lawyer to immerse himself in the gay life of...
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