Less Is Lost

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Background

Cultural Context: The Landscape of Modern America

Greer’s novel celebrates America’s diversity while pointing out the ways in which living in the U.S. has become a culturally isolated experience. Arthur Less is an American but is out of place everywhere except his shack in San Francisco. This is indicative of the ethos in which Americans identify with their city or state rather than embrace an identity of a shared America. Arthur has many preconceived notions of what the rest of America has in store for him, which parallels the divisions in American culture.

Greer attempts to balance the publishing world’s elitist New York City setting with the beauty and complexity of other regions in the U.S. As Arthur discovers the country, the reader is invited on their own tour of the cultural colloquialisms of the Southwest, Southeast, and the North. Arthur fears that, as a gay man, he will be unwelcome in many Southern states. He is surprised to find that, though people do ask veiled questions about his sexuality, he is viewed with welcome or indifference.

Greer’s novel explores the beauty of the American landscape. The desert is sparse but filled with symbolism, and the Navajo nation has a surprising blend of beauty and unexpected hailstorms. In the South, Arthur tours a former plantation and learns more about the history of slavery, a history that still permeates American identity. In the South, Arthur is also initiated into Southern customs, such as the dance that all the women participate in, which echoes Arthur’s mother’s former identity with the South, and when Dorothy teaches him that married women are referred to as “Ms.”

These disparate American communities are brought together under the same Super Beaver Moon, where the moon is enormous, highlighting that as different as Americans are, they are bonded by their life under the cosmos. In Delaware, Greer highlights the beauty of the beaches that someone from Delaware might find ugly. This emphasizes that people are more likely to be unaware of the beauty of hometowns that carry emotional baggage. The sense that American history is multi-layered, tied to the land, and often misunderstood is a thread that connects the sections of the novel together.

Cultural Context: The Publishing Industry

In Less Is Lost, Greer pokes fun at the publishing industry that he is a part of. There is a certain absurdity to the prize committee Arthur is on the jury for, which echoes Greer’s own surprise that his first novel about Arthur, Less, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The meetings for the committee feature comedic conversations about how intellectuals and the literary community view literature. For example, one of the novels up for the prize is judged to be unworthy because it doesn’t capture how the head of committee believes gay life should be written about. Arbitrary rules and opinions inform these meetings, emphasizing how important decisions that change literary culture are made by people who are flawed and strange. Arthur’s literary agent is a voice on the phone, a secondary character who is important because he propels the plot forward while emphasizing his lack of knowledge of what Arthur is up to.

Arthur’s confusion about the other Arthur Less highlights the disparities between white and Black authors in the publishing world. The white Arthur Less receives money that rightfully belongs to the Black Arthur Less, underscoring how the publishing industry ignores writers of color. Arthur the protagonist is an artist whose craft and identity as a writer is in constant tension with his anxiety about the publishing industry.

Literary Context: The Hero’s Journey

In the first part of the novel, Greer references Homer’s The Odyssey, which parallels Arthur and Freddy’s journeys. The Odyssey is in the tradition of the hero’s journey: The hero leaves home and must undergo a quest in order to return a different and better version of themselves. In a hero’s journey, the protagonist is imperfect but admirable, and a host of secondary characters help them along. Arthur Less is a comedic take on this hero. He leaves home, the shack, so that he can adventure across America and become a better Arthur, one who is capable of saving his home and his relationship with Freddy. Characters like H.H.H. Mandern, Dorothy, Lawrence, Rebecca, and others help Arthur along the way.

In the hero’s journey, the hero is typically inspired by a godlike entity, such as in The Odyssey, where the Greek goddess Athena helps Odysseus. In Less Is Lost, Freddy Pelu’s positive affirmation and promise of love and devotion inspires Arthur, transcending Arthur’s worldly anxiety.