Father and Son (book)

Father and Son (book)

"Father and Son" (1907) is a memoir by poet and critic Edmund Gosse, which he subtitled "a study of two temperaments." The book describes Edmund's early years in an exceptionally devout Plymouth Brethren home. His mother, who died early and painfully of breast cancer, was a writer of Christian tracts. His father, Philip Henry Gosse, was an influential, though largely self-taught, invertebrate zoologist and student of marine biology who, after his wife's death, took Edmund to live in Devon. The book focuses on the father's response to the new evolutionary theories, especially those of his scientific colleague Charles Darwin, and Edmund's gradual rejection of both his father and his father's fundamentalist religion.

As Michael Newton, Lecturer in English, University College London, has written, the book is "a brilliant, and often comic, record of the small diplomacies of home: those indirections, omissions, insincerities, and secrecies that underlie family relationships." " [B] rilliantly written, and full of gentle wit," the book is "an unmatched social document, preserving for us whole the experience of childhood in a Protestant sect in the Victorian period....Above all, it is one of our best accounts of adolescence, particularly for those who endured...a religious upbringing." [Edmund Gosse, "Father and Son", ed. Michael Newton (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), x-xi.]

Although Edmund Gosse prefaces the book with the claim that the incidents described are sober reality, ["At the present hour, when fiction takes forms so ingenious and so specious, it is perhaps necessary to say that the following narrative, in all its parts, and so far as the punctilious attention of the writer has been able to keep it so, is scrupulously true. "Preface"] a modern biography of Philip Henry Gosse by Ann Thwaite [Ann Thwaite, "Glimpses of the Wonderful: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse, 1810-1888" (London: Faber and Faber, 2002).] reveals the latter not to have been a repressive tyrant who cruelly scrutinized the state of his son's soul but a gentle and thoughtful person of "delicacy and inner warmth," much unlike his son's portrait. Biographer and critic, D. J. Taylor described the latter as "horribly partial" and noted that "the supposedly sequestered, melancholic pattern of [Edmund] Gosse's London and Devonshire childhood is repeatedly proved to have contained great affection, friends, fun and even light reading." [ [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,799588,00.html Review of Thwaite] by D. J. Taylor in The Guardian]

Editions

"Source: Library of Congress"
*New York, C. Scribner’s sons, 1907
*London, W. Heinemann, 1907
*New York, Oxford University Press [1934]
*London : Heinemann, 1958
*Boston, Houghton Mifflin, [1965, c1907]
*London, Heinemann Educational, 1970, ISBN 0-435-13350-0
*London ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1974, ISBN 0-19-255401-8
*Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-284066-5

In popular culture

"Father and Son" partially inspired Oscar and Lucinda, a novel by Peter Carey, that won the 1988 Booker Prize, and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award.

The book was the inspiration for Dennis Potter's 1976 television drama "Where Adam Stood", starring Alan Badel as Philip Gosse.

References

External links

*gutenberg|no=2540|name=Father and Son: a study of two temperaments


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Father and Son — may refer to: *Father and Son (song), a 1970 song written and originally performed by British singer Cat Stevens *Father and Son (book), a memoir by Edmund Gosse *Fathers and Sons, a 1862 novel by Ivan Turgenev *Fathers and Sons (short story), a… …   Wikipedia

  • Book of Tobias —     Tobias     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Tobias     We shall first enumerate the various Biblical persons and then treat the book of this name.     I. PERSONS     A. Tobias (II Par., xvii, 8). Heb. tobyyahu Yahweh is good ; Sept. Tobias, one …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Dombey and Son —   …   Wikipedia

  • Steptoe and Son — infobox television show name = Steptoe and Son caption = Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell as the leading characters. © BBC format = Sitcom runtime = 30– 45 minutes creator = Alan Simpson Ray Galton starring = Harry H. Corbett Wilfrid… …   Wikipedia

  • The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star — Infobox Simpsons episode episode name = The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star episode no = 356 prod code = GABF09 airdate = May 15, 2005 writer = Matt Warburton director = Michael Polcino blackboard = None couch gag = The Simpsons are… …   Wikipedia

  • Genetics and the Book of Mormon — The Book of Mormon, one of the four books of scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (see Standard Works ), is an account of a three groups of people. Two of these groups originated from Israel. There is generally no support… …   Wikipedia

  • Professor Supermind and Son — was a comic book feature that appeared in issues 60 71 of Dell Comics Popular Comics publication. Professor Warren (Supermind) used his energy machine to give his son, Dan, superhuman powers, including super strength, invulnerability, and the… …   Wikipedia

  • Book of Mormon — This article is about the religious book. For the Broadway musical, see The Book of Mormon (musical). For other uses, see Book of Mormon (disambiguation). Part of a series on …   Wikipedia

  • Book of generations — The Book of generations is an hypothesized text that the modern documentary hypothesis claims was used by the redactor of the torah to connect up parts of the priestly source and the JE source. The text is no longer extant, but in the hypothesis …   Wikipedia

  • Book of Abraham — For other meanings of this name, see Book of Abraham (disambiguation). A portion of the papyri considered by some to be source of the Book of Abraham. The difference between Egyptologists translation and Joseph Smith s interpretations have caused …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”