FATHERS: A Literary Anthology by Andre Gerard
by Sarah McGinnis
Writer Andre Gerard, who identified and named the new publishing term patremoir an “essay, poem, play or film built around memories of the author’s father,” has just released Fathers: A Literary Anthology. In it, essays by a diverse group of beloved writers, including Alice Munro, Franz Kafka, E.E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath and E.B. White explore the idea of fatherhood and all its ups and downs — the admiration and the conflict, love, loss, and everything in between.
From the author’s introduction:
As Telemachus learns [in The Odyssey], “It’s a wise child who knows its own father,” and it’s a rare child indeed who hasn’t been troubled by trying to make sense of its father, in the flesh or in the spirit. We don’t, it would seem, have to be Hamlets to be troubled by the ghosts of our fathers, living or dead. With the possible exception of mother, father is the most burdened word in our language, containing within it a bewildering profusion of emotions, experiences, understandings, and misunderstandings.
Fathers: A Literary Anthology is a manual for all children trying to understand their relationship with their fathers, and for fathers wanting to reflect upon and perhaps even improve their role in their children’s lives. A heartfelt gift, and a thought-provoking read, for Father’s Day or any time of the year.
There are extensive excerpts from the book available on the – is a deeply personal issue that everyone decides for himself. Sometimes the price is high, sometimes low. But this is not very important for life. Life is an interesting thing. And the price on Viagra – too.
