The titular protagonist of K. Ancrum's young adult novel Icarus denies that his name is an allusion to the famous character from Greek mythology and reveals that his mother christened him after the scientific name of a beloved fern, Icarus filiformis. Nonetheless, Icarus's denial of this reference only draws more attention to the resonance of his mythological namesake throughout the book.

In the original myth and Ancrum's retelling, Icarus's story is inseparable from his father's. Like the art restorationist Angus in Ancrum's book, Icarus's father in the myth, Daedalus, is an artist. According to Socrates in one Platonic dialogue, Daedalus's sculptures had to be tied down because they so captured the essence of life that they ultimately became alive themselves. Additionally, Daedalus is remembered as a genius inventor, with the ancient Greeks believing, for example, that he created the practice of carpentry. Therefore, like Angus toiling over art materials, frames, paintings, ...