Less Is Lost

Arthur drives alone through the South. The Last Word Theatre Troupe is touring the South with a performance of one of Arthur’s short stories. The troupe leader, Dorothy, invites Arthur to meet them in Louisiana, where the troupe is based. Arthur passes through Texas. In Louisiana, people start noticing that he looks and speaks differently than them, asking if he’s from Europe. Arthur intuits that questions about where he's from or how he speaks is a subconscious way of wondering if Arthur is gay. Arthur shaves his face to a handlebar moustache and buys clothes that he believes make him blend with the rural culture so no one will suspect he’s gay or from somewhere else.

Arthur needs to read several books for the Prize committee, but he can’t get into any of them, nor is he writing his own work. He’s been carefully observing the world around him.

When he reaches Louisiana, Dorothy is thrilled that he’s in a van because the troupe needs help transporting their set. She introduces him to her husband Vlad and the rest of the troupe: mostly women, one man. Thomas, an actor, asks Arthur what it was like growing up gay in Delaware and feeling that he wasn’t meant to be loved. Arthur is stunned that Thomas understands his story so well and that he correctly interpreted it as a fictionalization of Arthur’s own experiences.

Arthur helps the troupe drive the set to their first tour destination: Natchez. Arthur watches out for his father in the audience, but Lawrence in not in attendance. Arthur is happy to discover that the stage adaptation of his short story is a musical. In the story, a child version of Arthur—Archie—waits for his father to attend his recital, but ultimately accepts that his father will never come.

Dorothy takes Arthur to a bar, where the women all dance the same moves. Watching them, he is reminded of his mother dancing with him as a child in their kitchen.

On the phone, Rebecca tells Arthur that she’s inherited their grandmother’s shaky hands. She tells him that she’s been feeling terrified since the divorce, and the fear manifests in her hands. Arthur is moved because he also feels acute terror at many things—big and small.

As Arthur travels with the troupe, he thinks about the history of the region and historical figures long gone. He keeps meeting people who ask him where in Europe he’s from.

In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Arthur’s father again does not show up at the performance. Thomas invites Arthur to a party but Arthur declines, as feels lonely and awkward around him. Arthur goes alone to a bar where he feels safe, “[n]ot in spite of but because he is so out of place” (143). The people in the bar are delighted by Dolly. One of the men asks Arthur what it’s like to be gay, revealing that Arthur’s disguise is not working.

Arthur attends the Prize committee meeting after missing the last few. They debate a novel with a gay love story; Finley declares it’s not a good example of how to write about queer life. Arthur’s agent calls and books him on a lecture tour of the East Coast, starting in Delaware. Arthur calls Freddy with the good news: After the lecture tour, he’ll have enough money to pay off the debt on the shack. Freddy is going to an island off the coast of Maine for a new writing project, so he’ll be out of touch with Arthur. Arthur worries that Freddy will leave him.

At the next venue for the theater troupe, Arthur’s father again is not in attendance. Arthur feels foolish for expecting anything different from the man who left him long ago.

Arthur takes a tour of a Southern plantation. At the troupe’s performance, Dorothy hosts a Q&A with Arthur. An audience member asks him for his life philosophy and Arthur responds, “Know no no” (45).

Arthur’s father is in attendance. Meeting again after decades, Arthur is surprised that he isn’t angry at Lawrence, nor is he particularly happy to see him. Lawrence Less now lives with his girlfriend Wanda. They invite him to stay the night with them. Lawrence tells Arthur that he’s dying of stage four cancer. Arthur realizes that he “could almost have it both ways—you could forgive this Larry… forgive him and let him die forgiven. And still never forgive the one who left” (168).

The troupe hosts a party for Arthur, where he receives his money. They want him to take a picture with the benefactor, implying that his father was not the financier of the show. Arthur doesn’t have a chance to meet them. Instead, he receives an urgent message from Mandern who has sent someone to bring Dolly back to Palm Springs. Arthur drives off in the rain without saying goodbye to Dorothy or to Thomas, who has been trying to sleep with him.

Arthur drives to the entrance of the island his father lives on, but he’s not allowed to enter with the van, nor can he park the van in two nearby RV parks. His father drives out to say goodbye. They both know it’s the last time they’ll see each other. Lawrence tells Arthur it’s time for forgiveness and when Arthur agrees, Lawrence tells him he forgives him.

Arthur finds another park for his van but is warned that Hurricane Herman is coming in quickly. Arthur takes cover in his van as the hurricane whisks away the suit he had drying outside and the theater’s sets of his childhood home. Arthur thinks it fitting that he might die in this hurricane. When the eye of the hurricane arrives, Arthur opens the van to look up into the sky.