Ο ήρωάς μου ο Αχιλλέας

Vincent Delecroix erects a temple to the son of Thetis, shedding light on the mystery of life and revealing the stages of creation of the hero's unique identity. This small literary temple is not just another work created in honor of the hero who inspired Dante, Shakespeare, Kleist, Goethe, Gracián, or even Ingres and Rubens. Delecroix does not wish to add his name to a long list of artists inspired by Achilles. What he attempts to do is to trace the many faces attributed to Homer's hero throughout his twenty-eight centuries of existence.

The author has an unexpected intimacy with the king of the Myrmidons, discerning all the hidden aspects of his personality. Beyond the hero's rage, beyond his wrath against Agamemnon, beyond the first warrior of Troy, he also sees the child who, disguised as a woman, hid among Lycomedes' daughters, who chose lovers regardless of gender, and who ultimately did not escape his mortal nature. He sees the hero who died from Paris's arrow – the arrow that found his only vulnerable spot, his heel. The universal anguish of mortality and humanity's pursuit of legacy run through the entire book.

Achilles runs towards his death "... so fast that he strides across the world and bursts in, armed like a lobster, into the dwelling of the dead, pushing aside even the gods. Achilles hurries to die, runs towards immortality, and has no time. The choice for a short, fiery, and glorious life, instead of a long and insignificant existence, threw him into the race, creating the swift-footed Achilles..." Unlike Odysseus, however, Achilles does not for a moment consider his return home – hence his tragedy, which is also our tragedy.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]