An Arrow's Flight

An Arrow’s Flight is a joyous and eccentric tour-de-force by the author of American Studies and Man About Town. The siege of Troy has dragged on for ten years, with no end in sight, when an oracle supplies the Greeks with the recipe for victory. All they need is Pyrrhus, son of the fallen Achilles. But Pyrrhus has been putting his godlike form to profitable use as a go-go dancer in the big city. Why should he leave the party, give up his hard-bought freedom, just because some voice in a jar says he must strap on a suit of hand-me-down armor? Still, he has always known destiny had plans for him, some more glittering future than life as a used-up hustler on a park bench somewhere. So he sails for Troy, hoping to transform himself into the bronzed immortal history requires. Instead, on an unscheduled detour, he stumbles through his first lessons on how to be a man. Magically blending ancient headlines and modern myth, Merlis creates a fabulous new world where legendary heroes declare their endowments in the personal ads and any panhandler just might be a divinity in disguise. Comical, moving, startling in its audacity and range, An Arrow’s Flight is a profound meditation on gay identity, straight power, and human liberation. -- Lambda Literary Award, Gay Men’s Fiction, 1998 A boldly conceived narrative of uncommon artistry…Merlis’s insight into human nature and his ability to find and articulate grace in the ordinary process of human exchange is remarkable. Among the many books written about AIDS and the gay experience, Merlis’s novel is a stunning standout. – Publishers Weekly (starred review) Equal parts Iliad and City of Night…Merlis transforms the gimmick into a miraculously wacky, droll, and sometimes tragic story. – Village Voice Top-of-the-line gay fiction, compulsively readable and very, very sexy. – The Advocate Dazzles with its originality, its willingness to take astonishing risks, its triumphant conjuration of a world at once sternly archaic and bracingly contemporary…This is a beautiful, haunting work by one of America's finest novelists. – Paul Russell

Mark Merlis, who debuted in 1995 with the marvelous American Studies, has once again worked magic, producing a book that is as momentous as it is mysteriously moving. Set during the Trojan War, An Arrow's Flight recounts the story of Achilles's son Pyrrhus, prophesied to be the soldier who conquered Troy. But Merlis's tale departs from the standard versions of the story: here, Pyrrhus is a go-go boy and hustler who lives in the demiworld of the gay ghetto and bears a closer resemblance to characters from John Rechy's City of Night than anybody in Edith Hamilton's Mythology. In its opening pages, An Arrow's Flight seems to be little more than a clever postmodern gag, but Merlis knows exactly what he is doing, and the novel quickly becomes a unique, emotionally overwhelming masterpiece. Merlis's historical and sexual sleights of hand end up thrilling and shocking by locating us somewhere between myth and history, between fiction and fable. The very themes and ideas of An Arrow's Flight shimmer and shift before our eyes: war, male friendship, Troy, AIDS, sexual identity, and Vietnam are all explored and elucidated. By the end, the novel resonates with beauty, intelligence, and empathy. --Michael Bronski