Fiction. A survivor of Europe's 20th-century nightmares now teaches art at a regional college where, under a relentless sun and beside a swimming pool, the narrator of THE MERMAID AT THE AMERICANA ARMS MOTEL recalls a lifetime of frustrated pursuits as an artist in the company of that century's most celebrated painters. To his fury and despair, he becomes entangled in a conflict he is certain will compromise the integrity of his art. Although he is determined to resist, his resistance has its price.