<i>Father and Son</i> by Edmund Gosse

Back almost a year ago when Slate.com had its series of articles about memoirs, this book was mentioned as a first in its genre: the "tell all" memoir . First, this is a tell all by Victorian standards. So, don't go reading it expecting to find tales of lurid sexual affairs or the exposure of wrists or ankles. It is a tell all more in the terms of feelings and relationships---equally as repressed as sex during that time period.

Second, despite being a "significant" book in the history of literature, it is very good.

Gosse recounts his youth. Since much of his youth was spent only with his father---his mother died of cancer when he was six---it is mostly about his relationship with his father and his relationship with religion. His mother and father were strict Plymouth style Puritans. His father often preached the good word, but he would often be found in his study working on his day job as a naturalist.

In one very interesting part of the book Gosse describes the difficulty his father went through when first encountering the ideas of Charles Darwin. Since his father was, at very least, observant about nature (he drew, painted and cataloged it for many books), Gosse describes (and imagines) his father's final decision to promote a creationist style view as very difficult. Once, though, the decision was made, his father never looked back, even going so far as to write a book about God's role in geological formations, despite geology being far outside his ken.

Another dramatic part of the book is Gosse's baptism. Part of the Puritan belief is that one can only be baptized once one is an adult. Gosse's father convinced his congregation that his son was so advanced in spirit that they must baptize him despite him only being around ten years old. Gosse, at this point, was very enthusiastic about his religion---even to the point of smugness---despite not believing in the same idea of god that his father saw. This belief goes back to a much younger time: Gosse tested the idea of a vengeful god by putting another god before him. One afternoon, around the age of five, while his parents were out, Gosse said his usual daily prayer to a chair---replace all the "Oh Lords" with "Oh Chair" (a very comical scene). Since nothing horrible happened, he concluded that the vengeful god of his father's mind was not the correct understanding of god.

This difference of interpretation widens then contracts throughout Gosse's boyhood. By the end, though, Gosse has moved to London to study and finds his father's intense interest in his son's soul stifling. Their relationship breaks a part.

The story of Gosse's young life and relationship with his parents is wonderfully told. He describes his younger days without raging sentimentality. He is sober when describing his mother's illness and death, but still brings out some of the small charms that occur during such life-changing events (Gosse at age six reading his mother poetry). The writing is clear, witty and engaging. Well recommended.

9/10