Wound and the Bow: Seven Studies in Literature

One of the subjects of these seven essays, which have their center on the theme of ' the wound and the bow', Ernest Hemingway spoke after his famous First World One wounding, about 'being stronger at the broken places'. The major idea and myth around which this group of essays center is the myth of Philocetes, the Wound and the Bow. The final essay of this work explicates and retells the myth. Philocetes has been charged with Heracles with the task of lighting his funeral - pyre. For this he is rewarded with Heracles, great weapon, a bow. On the way to wage the war against Troy the Greek stop in a small island. Philocetes approaches the local shrine to worship and his given a terrible bite by a snake. The wound does not heal, rather festers. And it gives off a terrible smell. The fellow- warriors of Philocetes abandon him to his terrible suffering, and to the additional suffering of loneliness. Years pass. The Greeks are not able to triumph over the Trojans. They capture one of the Trojan soothsayers who tells them that they will never triumph unless they use the arms of Heracles. Odysseus returns to the island where Philocetes has been abandoned. Wilson in retelling the story focuses on the version of Sophocles, and not on parallel ones of Aeschylus and Euripedes. In this version Heracles son at the behest of Odysseus attempts to persuade Philocetes to give over the weapon. The young man is honest and does not wish to engage in the ruse and deceptions suggested by Odysseus. Essentially Odysseus instructs him to be deceitful for this one time, so that they can be more honest later on. But the young man refuses, and in so doing provides his loyalty to Philocetes, his understanding of his suffering. As a result they venture with the bow to Troy where the Greeks at last have their victory. For Wilson the heart of this book is in the theme that those who go through some extraordinary suffering may be granted with it extraordinary powers of creation. He illustrates the theme in reading the works of Dickens, Kipling, Joyce, Wharton, and Hemingway. Wilson was a critic of enormous erudition who could sweep through and bring together learning from diverse worlds. He was a pioneer in his own seeing of the value of the great turn- of- the century literary creators . A master man- of - letters this book of essays remains one of his best works.

Dickens was Dostoyevsky's master. Shaw and Chesterton saw Dickens as a very great writer. His grandfather had been a butler and his grandmother a housekeeper. When Charles's father went to Marshalsea Prison when he was twelve his life changed. His whole nature was penetrated by grief and humiliation. Wilson's theory is that the literary work is compensation for the wound. In the middle of his career Dickens experienced a mounting dislike for the top layers of middle class society. Dickens invented a new literary genre, the novel of the social group. In LITTLE DORRIT the fable was presented through imprisoning states of mind. Dickens was emotionally unstable, almost as unstable as Dostoyevsky. The wound of Kipling also occurred in his childhood when his parents left him in the care of a heartless aunt while they returned to India. The trauma is recounted by Kipling in BAA, BAA BLACK SHEEP. Kipling's sister termed the place the 'house of desolation'. Kipling's work was shot through with hate. Kipling's failure of nerve may be explained by the fact that he lacked faith in the artist's vocation. Some stories show Kipling's morbid permanent sense of injury. Inescapable illness dominates the later Kipling. The theme of Casanova's Memoirs is the many things life may hold. Edith Wharton's later work dulled the reputation of her earlier work. Kipling, Dickens, Wharton were all maladjusted. Edith Wharton writes of the conflict between the individual and the social group. Mrs. Wharton was always aware of the pit of misery, the wastefulness of the plutocracy. Wilson believes that Mrs. Wharton's genius was triggered by an exceptional emotional strain. Hemingway possessed an exceptional mimetic gift. He mastered a precise and clear style. The actual title of the collection of essays is derived from Wilson's essay on Sophocles's play, PHILOCTETES. There is the conception that superior strength is inseparable from disability.