Oh I have several I'd add to this list! Pa Ingalls, for loving his wife and daughters so well that home becomes wherever they are together. Matthew Cuthbert, for basically personifying unconditional love. But I think my favorite fictional father is Dr. Wallace Austin from Madeline L'Engle's Austin family universe. He is a doctor who serves both his patients and his family well, and his steady presence is so important to his family, both immediate and extended (his care for his father-in-law in A Ring of Endless Light slipped past me as a teenager but it shines through when I read it as an adult)
Thanks, Amy! I could do without Pa's insatiable wanderlust, but I agree that he has some greatly admirable qualities as a dad. Most of all, he makes Laura feel loved and secure. And of course, Matthew Cuthbert! An excellent father figure.
I've only read some of the Austin novels and stories but I was interested by the parents' approach of being quite strict with their children when they were young but then allowing them a lot of leeway as teenagers.
Hey, you asked for good fathers in literature, not necessarily good husbands 😉 (Obviously the two are intimately related but that's all the defense you'll find me offering of Charles Ingalls!)
I agree that Pa's wanderlust was almost crazy and certainly caused great hardships to his family. But then the hardships were transformed into memorable stories, weren't they?
I love the part in one of the later books when Pa is talking about moving again and Ma just flatly says, "No." If I'm remembering correctly, the narrator says it was like a thunderclap.
I think my favorite father character is probably the Father (Charlie Moody) in the Little Britches series. (Spoiler alert) He dies at the end of the first book, but his integrity and the way he teaches his son about character and what it means to be a man endure throughout the rest of the series. I don’t particularly love Pa Ingalls, but Mr. Moody incorporates some of that spirit of exploration and Western independence, with a level of care for his family and consideration for his neighbors that is inspiring. He is an example of the type of strong and quiet masculinity that runs much deeper than loud bravado.
I have heard so many people comment on the good father in this book! Seems like another widely-loved example.
I do have one hesitation: I have only read part of the first Little Britches book, so my perspective should be taken with a grain of salt, but I actually got put off by how the father fakes discipline with his son in one notable instance, deceiving his wife and involving his son in that deception.
I do wonder what fathers think of the book; maybe they see that episode differently, and there's something to it that I don't grasp. And I know that's only one little bit in the whole big story of the first novel!
I wouldn't place Vito Corleone among the bad fathers.I'd replace him with Murdstone, David C.'s stepfather.
When he was eight, my younger son told me I was "the worst father in the world." I had denied him something he wanted. My reaction was to own the title with pride given the competitive set of a few billion fathers. It became a running joke between us.
There are worse titles! It has a tendendcy to mean that A) you're setting some good limits and B) you're not soooo strict that your kid can never tell you how he feels about that!
My girls and I talked about this - Pa Ingalls, Ralph Moody's dad, Matthew Cuthbert all came to mind. From the Classics realm we also added Jean Valjean from Les Miserables.
A terrific list there. Irish literature has so many bad fathers (Christy Mahon's being an example), and Claire Keegan says she was thinking of that when writing 'Foster', where there is the most wonderful man, Mr Kinsella (both a father and not, trying to avoid a spoiler). And then her 2021 novel 'Small Things Like These' develops that in the figure of Furlong, a dedicated father who risks the harmony of his own family by becoming a father-figure to another child. He is prompted by the late knowledge that his own father never revealed his presence as a kind of act of 'grace'.
The often-seen theme of misery in Irish novels does often seems to come from the situation or personality of the father character. I will have to read "Small Things Like These," which sounds so intriguing.
I'll look forward to reading your post later today. I have not kept up with Irish fiction in the past ten years or so, but I studied it in college and kept abreast of favorite writers for some time afterwards. I think it's time for me to turn my attention in that direction again!
Julian, I just got "Foster" from the library and within two pages realized it was the the book on which the film "The Quiet Girl" was based. I am so glad to be reading the book; the film was phenomenal and I am sure the book will be even better. Thanks for the recommendation.
My library does not have "Small Things Like These," so I'll buy a copy soon.
You know, I was trying to think of good ones while reading this. I think Atticus Finch is maybe the best example, but as I read this I realized that so many of the dads in books I've read are... complicated at best. One of my all time favorite books is 100 Years of Solitude, and there are characters in that book whose traits are admirable — but they also tend to have some complexities that make them very interesting, but not so much someone I'd want to emulate. I'm going to have to give this some more thought!
Atticus Finch was one of the first characters who came to mind for me, as well. And now I'm thinking to myself about father characters in Leif Enger's novels; I'd really like to read and think more deeply about that.
Sometimes I think that, as a mother, I "have some complexities that make [me] very interesting, but not so much someone I'd want to emulate." That is, we have to take the good with the bad, and often the bad is a result of some formative struggle, and the good reflects an effort to overcome that. Kind of like how it's not very impressive to be brave if you aren't also afraid, you know? The best reflections of parenthood in literature may indeed be complex ones.
Yes! It's been a long time since I read it but I really loved it. I read "Virgil Wander" more recently and there are themes about fathers and sons in that one, too.
I agree with most of the bad fathers Daniel McInerny listed, in a negative view of fathers in fiction. I just finished re-reading Brideshead Revisited, and Charles' father sticks with me even a week later. What a masterpiece of enterprising malice he was! No wonder Charles was starved for love and gracious living. And in the PBS series, John Gielgud played him to perfection. The other bad father in Brideshead is of course Lord Marchmain. He was more attractive to the young people because he had wealth and glamour and lived in luxury in Venice. Still, his abandonment of his family and hatred of their well-meaning mother, besides his violations of the sexual mores of the day, are heinous. Laurence Olivier played him well too. I think McInerney is too hard on Mr. Bennett. His indolence is a common trait among the gentry, who like the Anglican clerics are not expected to do anything. I don't know what he could have done to rein in his embarrassing wife or his clueless daughter from running away with the much worse Mr. WIckham, who had already tried to lure away Mr. Darcy's innocent sister. I can't think of any other bad fathers in fiction. But I can think of one more charming one, Wemmick's Aged Parent in Great Expectations, delightfully shows the tender side of his son, who delights in indulging the old man's eccentricities.
Regarding Mr. Bennet, I have always asked myself: What might have happened over the many years in which Mrs. Bennet was bearing children in rapid-fire form (and probably miscarried or lost some not mentioned, too)? What did she suffer, and was she cared for or noticed?
She strikes me as a person who is very unpleasant, scheming, manipulative, self-centered, etc., yes, but often that is the display of someone who did not get support or attention when they were suffering over many years. If the relationship between Mr. & Mrs. Bennet is unhealthy, it is not all her doing, most likely. If Mr. Bennet has spent his life largely in his study, avoiding Mrs. Bennet and making fun of her to her elder daughters whenever possible, it's not surprising that she should have become increasingly hysterical.
I'm not blaming Mr. Bennet entirely for Mrs. Bennet's awfulness, but I do think that they two are part of a whole.
But, to be fair, it has been a long time since I have cracked open that particular book, and I don't believe I ever finished reading it (although of course I'm familiar with the endings in the various films/miniseries).
You are right. Women do get weird when they are neglected by their husbands. He was disillusioned after he married her from attraction. His reaction of withdrawal and mockery are far from noble or loving. BTW: One reason for distance between spouses has always been the decision to stop having any more children. They had four (and as you wrote maybe more who didn't live), and sleeping apart and keeping distant physically makes the gulf worse. One woman this week at our Well Read Moms meeting about Brideshead segued from our giving Mrs. Marchmain more credit than is usually given to her (so many call her monstrous) to bringing up Mrs. Bennett. She knew that her job was to find suitable husbands for her four daughters, so of course her conversation would reflect that. Everyone knew that was required. Elizabeth didn't want to be so obvious and crass about it, but she could afford to be above the fray.
Surprised you never finished it. I love it. Finished it at least twice.
I think I started it when too young. It's been on my mind to reread it. My husband actually really loves
But I'm currently re-reading Kristin Lavransdatter (which I did read all the way through the first time!) after all of this talk about the book lately. James Dietz and I had a really interesting discussion about Lavrans and Erlend, and Haley Baumeister has been chatting about the books, and Christy Isinger wroter about Kristin herself, and I've seen other recent mentions, too.
That must have been a really interesting discussion. I am not part of a Well-Read Mom group myself but lots of my friends are and it seems great! It's really popular here in our tiny little town (I think there are at least 4-5 local groups).
I was tied up for the past five days, but I want to add that I discovered Kristin Lavransdatter and Sigrid Undset maybe five years ago, and I love her work too.
My opinion of Mr. Bennet has changed drastically from my first read to my latest and I really dislike him as a character now. He does have authority he chooses not to exercise. He could have prevented his daughters from coming out as early as they did. He could have said "no" about Lydia going to Brighton and she wouldn't have had the opportunity to elope, but let her because he didn't want to deal with her teenage whining (why is she out, again?). The major character flaws of his younger daughters are actually pretty typical of girls with absent fathers - wildness and promiscuity for Lydia and to some extent Kitty, and even Mary with her rigid pedantic style and moralizing. They're desperate for attention and have learned to search for it where they can get it.
He doesn't even particularly like Lizzy - she's his "favorite" because she is like him in some ways, but he's still condescending and rude towards her, and ignores her good advice. People in his life exist for his amusement, and when he doesn't want to be amused, he checks out. For all that Mr. Darcy is handsome and rich and swoonworthy, I actually think this is what makes Lizzy fall in love with him - he accepts responsibility and listens to her input. He's everything her father is not.
(This isn't to let Mrs. Bennet off the hook, either, but maybe because I'm a wife myself I do find myself sympathizing with her even if I don't share her particular limitations. If I had a husband like Mr. Bennet I would probably be inclined to be a little hysterical from time to time.)
I love this quote from Sarah Vowell in "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States," writing about how Lafayette left his pregnant teenage wife for an entirely optional American adventure:
“While history might be full of exemplary fathers, recorded history is not where to find them.”
Arthur Huntingdon in Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - really bad
The father in The Road was very memorable. It's not often the father is the good one in literature vs the mother.
I just finished reading Fallen into the Pit by Ellis Peters, one of her Felse Investigation novels, and two fathers stood out on both ends of the spectrum. The police detective in this book was wonderful but not the other...
I haven't read the Peters books. My 13-year-old loves mysteries and has read tons of Agatha Christie. Would Fallen into the Pit be appropriate for someone that age, do you think?
The main protagonist is a 13 yr old boy & Peters has some good, strong male characters. It's set just after WW2 & deals with some of the trauma the young men suffered during the course of the war & their difficulty adjusting to life afterwards. So it's a bit more serious than Agatha Christie.
Peters was quite a literary writer & her descriptions can be convoluted - once you get into the story everything moves quickly but it does take a little while.
I think it would depend on your 13 yr old's interest in history & whether really descriptive writing appeals. Sorry, not a very precise answer. I've read a couple of her other Felse novels but wouldn't recommend them until about age 15 ish. (Some more mature content).
Has your 13 yr old tried any Rex Stout mysteries?
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne is one that would be good for that age, too.
What a fun read. I like the range of literary fathers written about, and the ways in which we can have both tenderness and strength as admirable virtues for fathers to possess. Another one I’d add-Silas Marner! Especially for any dads of adopted children he’s a lovely example, and shows just how much opening ourselves to self-sacrificial love for children can better us as just as we strive to better our children
Silas Marner -- what an excellent pick! I agree with what you say here. I wish Silas Marner would experience a revival; next Christmas we should start a campaign to give the book as a gift to people who love the "A Christmas Story" movie! The only reason I ever learned about the book was because it's mentioned in one of the school scenes in that movie, and that stuck in my mind as I grew up until I finally read the book a few years back.
"New from the Hollow: The Silas Marner Gift Basket, in which you will receive 1 copy of the novel, 1 copy of the old movie, 1 copy of the Steve Martin movie, and a bag of gold chocolate coins!"
It’s so underrated! I love the fairy tale elements to it, and just the joy of a book where God’s providence is so clearly at play. And oh my goodness I love that idea. I read it for the first time in the summer, but it really does have that semi-magical/hopeful element to it that is Christmasy. I’ve never seen “A Christmas Story”-I guess I have to watch it now!
Well, I'm currently trying to talk myself out of doing a giveway of The Silas Marner Gift Basket this December. We'll see if I'm successful.
"A Christmas Story" is a kind of charming, kind of crass movie -- some love it, some not so much. My parents liked it because my dad grew up in the same time and place as the kid in the movie.
Ooh these are good! I agree with the above commenters that Silas Marner and Mr. Kinsella from "Foster" are both wonderful and tender examples of father figures.
Some others I'd recommend:
Hilary Wainwright in Marghanita Laski's heartbreaking novel "Little Boy Lost". He's not an exemplar of fatherhood but a man wrestling with rising to the occasion of fatherhood while looking for his lost son in post-WWII France. Really good!
Astrid Lindgren's fairy tale "Mio, My Son" is an exquisite if archetypal depiction of a father's love. Lindgren wrote it after her own father passed away.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Geoffrey Leigh in Dorothy Whipple's "They Were Sisters" is a truly abominable and narcissistic father. Whipple writes with such intense psychological realism. It's a painful but incredible book.
Oh, goodness, Dominika -- I want to read each one of these now. I love Astrid Lindgren but have never read that story. Thank you for the recommendations!
They're all so good and rarely discussed. Mio, My Son is very different from her works like Pippi Longstocking and The Children of Noisy Village (and I adore both those! 😄) I might be wrong, but I don't think Lindgren was a practicing Christian, however it's an extremely christological story! There was a fantastic essay a while ago about it on Plough.
I have a Quick Book Notes post in the works about lesser-known (in the U.S.) Lindgren books. I'll see if I can get a copy of "Mio" to read before I finish that post up!
I'll be on the lookout for your note! I'm planning to write a post about Mio, My Son at some point as well :) I still have quite a few of Lindgren's books to read. I'm hoping to get to The Brothers Lionheart next!
James Diet, I do not know you, but you had me at Lavrans. Kristin Lavransdatter is my heart book.
Like all the characters in Undset's book, Lavrans is complicated. I don't think he's always a good father, and sometimes Erlend actually is. But yes, more characters like Kristin's father, please world.
Oh I have several I'd add to this list! Pa Ingalls, for loving his wife and daughters so well that home becomes wherever they are together. Matthew Cuthbert, for basically personifying unconditional love. But I think my favorite fictional father is Dr. Wallace Austin from Madeline L'Engle's Austin family universe. He is a doctor who serves both his patients and his family well, and his steady presence is so important to his family, both immediate and extended (his care for his father-in-law in A Ring of Endless Light slipped past me as a teenager but it shines through when I read it as an adult)
Thanks, Amy! I could do without Pa's insatiable wanderlust, but I agree that he has some greatly admirable qualities as a dad. Most of all, he makes Laura feel loved and secure. And of course, Matthew Cuthbert! An excellent father figure.
I've only read some of the Austin novels and stories but I was interested by the parents' approach of being quite strict with their children when they were young but then allowing them a lot of leeway as teenagers.
Hey, you asked for good fathers in literature, not necessarily good husbands 😉 (Obviously the two are intimately related but that's all the defense you'll find me offering of Charles Ingalls!)
Touché!
I agree that Pa's wanderlust was almost crazy and certainly caused great hardships to his family. But then the hardships were transformed into memorable stories, weren't they?
I love the part in one of the later books when Pa is talking about moving again and Ma just flatly says, "No." If I'm remembering correctly, the narrator says it was like a thunderclap.
I don't remember that, but good for her.
I think my favorite father character is probably the Father (Charlie Moody) in the Little Britches series. (Spoiler alert) He dies at the end of the first book, but his integrity and the way he teaches his son about character and what it means to be a man endure throughout the rest of the series. I don’t particularly love Pa Ingalls, but Mr. Moody incorporates some of that spirit of exploration and Western independence, with a level of care for his family and consideration for his neighbors that is inspiring. He is an example of the type of strong and quiet masculinity that runs much deeper than loud bravado.
I have heard so many people comment on the good father in this book! Seems like another widely-loved example.
I do have one hesitation: I have only read part of the first Little Britches book, so my perspective should be taken with a grain of salt, but I actually got put off by how the father fakes discipline with his son in one notable instance, deceiving his wife and involving his son in that deception.
I do wonder what fathers think of the book; maybe they see that episode differently, and there's something to it that I don't grasp. And I know that's only one little bit in the whole big story of the first novel!
I wouldn't place Vito Corleone among the bad fathers.I'd replace him with Murdstone, David C.'s stepfather.
When he was eight, my younger son told me I was "the worst father in the world." I had denied him something he wanted. My reaction was to own the title with pride given the competitive set of a few billion fathers. It became a running joke between us.
There are worse titles! It has a tendendcy to mean that A) you're setting some good limits and B) you're not soooo strict that your kid can never tell you how he feels about that!
My girls and I talked about this - Pa Ingalls, Ralph Moody's dad, Matthew Cuthbert all came to mind. From the Classics realm we also added Jean Valjean from Les Miserables.
Jean Valjean! How interesting! Indeed.
Jean Valjean came to my mind as well. Not sure why yet—maybe just vibes, haha.
Maybe because fatherhood is part of his redemption? It's so powerful.
True, good point!!
A terrific list there. Irish literature has so many bad fathers (Christy Mahon's being an example), and Claire Keegan says she was thinking of that when writing 'Foster', where there is the most wonderful man, Mr Kinsella (both a father and not, trying to avoid a spoiler). And then her 2021 novel 'Small Things Like These' develops that in the figure of Furlong, a dedicated father who risks the harmony of his own family by becoming a father-figure to another child. He is prompted by the late knowledge that his own father never revealed his presence as a kind of act of 'grace'.
The often-seen theme of misery in Irish novels does often seems to come from the situation or personality of the father character. I will have to read "Small Things Like These," which sounds so intriguing.
A really fine novel. The film of it featuring Cillian Murphy has been well-received and is due for general release before long.
My first thoughts on the book - https://www.juliangirdham.com/blog/claire-keegans-small-things-like-these
I'll look forward to reading your post later today. I have not kept up with Irish fiction in the past ten years or so, but I studied it in college and kept abreast of favorite writers for some time afterwards. I think it's time for me to turn my attention in that direction again!
Irish writing is really in a golden phase right now.
Julian, I just got "Foster" from the library and within two pages realized it was the the book on which the film "The Quiet Girl" was based. I am so glad to be reading the book; the film was phenomenal and I am sure the book will be even better. Thanks for the recommendation.
My library does not have "Small Things Like These," so I'll buy a copy soon.
It is indeed ... the film quite recent, and the modifications were subtle and sensitive. For when you've finished: https://www.juliangirdham.com/blog/an-cailn-ciin-the-quiet-girl
This post warmed my English major heart.
I'd be interested to hear which fathers in literature you'd choose, Jim!
You know, I was trying to think of good ones while reading this. I think Atticus Finch is maybe the best example, but as I read this I realized that so many of the dads in books I've read are... complicated at best. One of my all time favorite books is 100 Years of Solitude, and there are characters in that book whose traits are admirable — but they also tend to have some complexities that make them very interesting, but not so much someone I'd want to emulate. I'm going to have to give this some more thought!
I like that idea, about 100 Years of Solitude.
Atticus Finch was one of the first characters who came to mind for me, as well. And now I'm thinking to myself about father characters in Leif Enger's novels; I'd really like to read and think more deeply about that.
Sometimes I think that, as a mother, I "have some complexities that make [me] very interesting, but not so much someone I'd want to emulate." That is, we have to take the good with the bad, and often the bad is a result of some formative struggle, and the good reflects an effort to overcome that. Kind of like how it's not very impressive to be brave if you aren't also afraid, you know? The best reflections of parenthood in literature may indeed be complex ones.
Ooooh, I can't remember his name but the father in Peace Like A River is . . . complex, as I remember him. Beautifully written though.
Yes! It's been a long time since I read it but I really loved it. I read "Virgil Wander" more recently and there are themes about fathers and sons in that one, too.
I agree with most of the bad fathers Daniel McInerny listed, in a negative view of fathers in fiction. I just finished re-reading Brideshead Revisited, and Charles' father sticks with me even a week later. What a masterpiece of enterprising malice he was! No wonder Charles was starved for love and gracious living. And in the PBS series, John Gielgud played him to perfection. The other bad father in Brideshead is of course Lord Marchmain. He was more attractive to the young people because he had wealth and glamour and lived in luxury in Venice. Still, his abandonment of his family and hatred of their well-meaning mother, besides his violations of the sexual mores of the day, are heinous. Laurence Olivier played him well too. I think McInerney is too hard on Mr. Bennett. His indolence is a common trait among the gentry, who like the Anglican clerics are not expected to do anything. I don't know what he could have done to rein in his embarrassing wife or his clueless daughter from running away with the much worse Mr. WIckham, who had already tried to lure away Mr. Darcy's innocent sister. I can't think of any other bad fathers in fiction. But I can think of one more charming one, Wemmick's Aged Parent in Great Expectations, delightfully shows the tender side of his son, who delights in indulging the old man's eccentricities.
Thanks, Roseanne!
Regarding Mr. Bennet, I have always asked myself: What might have happened over the many years in which Mrs. Bennet was bearing children in rapid-fire form (and probably miscarried or lost some not mentioned, too)? What did she suffer, and was she cared for or noticed?
She strikes me as a person who is very unpleasant, scheming, manipulative, self-centered, etc., yes, but often that is the display of someone who did not get support or attention when they were suffering over many years. If the relationship between Mr. & Mrs. Bennet is unhealthy, it is not all her doing, most likely. If Mr. Bennet has spent his life largely in his study, avoiding Mrs. Bennet and making fun of her to her elder daughters whenever possible, it's not surprising that she should have become increasingly hysterical.
I'm not blaming Mr. Bennet entirely for Mrs. Bennet's awfulness, but I do think that they two are part of a whole.
But, to be fair, it has been a long time since I have cracked open that particular book, and I don't believe I ever finished reading it (although of course I'm familiar with the endings in the various films/miniseries).
You are right. Women do get weird when they are neglected by their husbands. He was disillusioned after he married her from attraction. His reaction of withdrawal and mockery are far from noble or loving. BTW: One reason for distance between spouses has always been the decision to stop having any more children. They had four (and as you wrote maybe more who didn't live), and sleeping apart and keeping distant physically makes the gulf worse. One woman this week at our Well Read Moms meeting about Brideshead segued from our giving Mrs. Marchmain more credit than is usually given to her (so many call her monstrous) to bringing up Mrs. Bennett. She knew that her job was to find suitable husbands for her four daughters, so of course her conversation would reflect that. Everyone knew that was required. Elizabeth didn't want to be so obvious and crass about it, but she could afford to be above the fray.
Surprised you never finished it. I love it. Finished it at least twice.
I think I started it when too young. It's been on my mind to reread it. My husband actually really loves
But I'm currently re-reading Kristin Lavransdatter (which I did read all the way through the first time!) after all of this talk about the book lately. James Dietz and I had a really interesting discussion about Lavrans and Erlend, and Haley Baumeister has been chatting about the books, and Christy Isinger wroter about Kristin herself, and I've seen other recent mentions, too.
That must have been a really interesting discussion. I am not part of a Well-Read Mom group myself but lots of my friends are and it seems great! It's really popular here in our tiny little town (I think there are at least 4-5 local groups).
I was tied up for the past five days, but I want to add that I discovered Kristin Lavransdatter and Sigrid Undset maybe five years ago, and I love her work too.
I love her book "Ida Elisabeth." Have you read that one?
No, I haven't. What do you love about it?
My opinion of Mr. Bennet has changed drastically from my first read to my latest and I really dislike him as a character now. He does have authority he chooses not to exercise. He could have prevented his daughters from coming out as early as they did. He could have said "no" about Lydia going to Brighton and she wouldn't have had the opportunity to elope, but let her because he didn't want to deal with her teenage whining (why is she out, again?). The major character flaws of his younger daughters are actually pretty typical of girls with absent fathers - wildness and promiscuity for Lydia and to some extent Kitty, and even Mary with her rigid pedantic style and moralizing. They're desperate for attention and have learned to search for it where they can get it.
He doesn't even particularly like Lizzy - she's his "favorite" because she is like him in some ways, but he's still condescending and rude towards her, and ignores her good advice. People in his life exist for his amusement, and when he doesn't want to be amused, he checks out. For all that Mr. Darcy is handsome and rich and swoonworthy, I actually think this is what makes Lizzy fall in love with him - he accepts responsibility and listens to her input. He's everything her father is not.
(This isn't to let Mrs. Bennet off the hook, either, but maybe because I'm a wife myself I do find myself sympathizing with her even if I don't share her particular limitations. If I had a husband like Mr. Bennet I would probably be inclined to be a little hysterical from time to time.)
Just so -- Dan calls him "otiose" above. He could have acted, should have acted, but he did not.
I think that’s the right reading of Mr. Bennet as well. While he is amusing, he’s also weak and fundamentally selfish, and his family suffers for it.
I love this quote from Sarah Vowell in "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States," writing about how Lafayette left his pregnant teenage wife for an entirely optional American adventure:
“While history might be full of exemplary fathers, recorded history is not where to find them.”
LOL
HA!
Bella Wilder's father, Reginald Wilfer, in 'Our Mutual Friend' is an underrated good father figure, as is Caleb Garth in 'Middlemarch'.
Oh, Dickens -- full of both good and bad fathers! Now you've got me running down a rabbit hole of naming them off in my head.
I'm in the middle of Middlemarch at the moment!
I was coming here to say Caleb Garth :)
Enjoyed reading this article, thanks!
Arthur Huntingdon in Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - really bad
The father in The Road was very memorable. It's not often the father is the good one in literature vs the mother.
I just finished reading Fallen into the Pit by Ellis Peters, one of her Felse Investigation novels, and two fathers stood out on both ends of the spectrum. The police detective in this book was wonderful but not the other...
I haven't read the Peters books. My 13-year-old loves mysteries and has read tons of Agatha Christie. Would Fallen into the Pit be appropriate for someone that age, do you think?
The main protagonist is a 13 yr old boy & Peters has some good, strong male characters. It's set just after WW2 & deals with some of the trauma the young men suffered during the course of the war & their difficulty adjusting to life afterwards. So it's a bit more serious than Agatha Christie.
Peters was quite a literary writer & her descriptions can be convoluted - once you get into the story everything moves quickly but it does take a little while.
I think it would depend on your 13 yr old's interest in history & whether really descriptive writing appeals. Sorry, not a very precise answer. I've read a couple of her other Felse novels but wouldn't recommend them until about age 15 ish. (Some more mature content).
Has your 13 yr old tried any Rex Stout mysteries?
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne is one that would be good for that age, too.
Thanks, Carol. This is helpful. Maybe I should read the Peters book myself and see.
I will suggest Rex Stout and the Milne book to her!
What a fun read. I like the range of literary fathers written about, and the ways in which we can have both tenderness and strength as admirable virtues for fathers to possess. Another one I’d add-Silas Marner! Especially for any dads of adopted children he’s a lovely example, and shows just how much opening ourselves to self-sacrificial love for children can better us as just as we strive to better our children
Silas Marner -- what an excellent pick! I agree with what you say here. I wish Silas Marner would experience a revival; next Christmas we should start a campaign to give the book as a gift to people who love the "A Christmas Story" movie! The only reason I ever learned about the book was because it's mentioned in one of the school scenes in that movie, and that stuck in my mind as I grew up until I finally read the book a few years back.
"New from the Hollow: The Silas Marner Gift Basket, in which you will receive 1 copy of the novel, 1 copy of the old movie, 1 copy of the Steve Martin movie, and a bag of gold chocolate coins!"
It’s so underrated! I love the fairy tale elements to it, and just the joy of a book where God’s providence is so clearly at play. And oh my goodness I love that idea. I read it for the first time in the summer, but it really does have that semi-magical/hopeful element to it that is Christmasy. I’ve never seen “A Christmas Story”-I guess I have to watch it now!
Well, I'm currently trying to talk myself out of doing a giveway of The Silas Marner Gift Basket this December. We'll see if I'm successful.
"A Christmas Story" is a kind of charming, kind of crass movie -- some love it, some not so much. My parents liked it because my dad grew up in the same time and place as the kid in the movie.
That's who came to mind for me too besides Atticus Finch. In both cases, neither of these men are macho alphas, yet they are distinctly masculine.
Masculine, not macho. Yes!
Ah Lavrans! What a great father figure in literature!
Ooh these are good! I agree with the above commenters that Silas Marner and Mr. Kinsella from "Foster" are both wonderful and tender examples of father figures.
Some others I'd recommend:
Hilary Wainwright in Marghanita Laski's heartbreaking novel "Little Boy Lost". He's not an exemplar of fatherhood but a man wrestling with rising to the occasion of fatherhood while looking for his lost son in post-WWII France. Really good!
Astrid Lindgren's fairy tale "Mio, My Son" is an exquisite if archetypal depiction of a father's love. Lindgren wrote it after her own father passed away.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Geoffrey Leigh in Dorothy Whipple's "They Were Sisters" is a truly abominable and narcissistic father. Whipple writes with such intense psychological realism. It's a painful but incredible book.
Oh, goodness, Dominika -- I want to read each one of these now. I love Astrid Lindgren but have never read that story. Thank you for the recommendations!
They're all so good and rarely discussed. Mio, My Son is very different from her works like Pippi Longstocking and The Children of Noisy Village (and I adore both those! 😄) I might be wrong, but I don't think Lindgren was a practicing Christian, however it's an extremely christological story! There was a fantastic essay a while ago about it on Plough.
I have a Quick Book Notes post in the works about lesser-known (in the U.S.) Lindgren books. I'll see if I can get a copy of "Mio" to read before I finish that post up!
I'll be on the lookout for your note! I'm planning to write a post about Mio, My Son at some point as well :) I still have quite a few of Lindgren's books to read. I'm hoping to get to The Brothers Lionheart next!
Next on our list is Karlsson on the Roof! I'll look forward to reading your post on Mio (feel free to tag me so I don't miss it!).
James Diet, I do not know you, but you had me at Lavrans. Kristin Lavransdatter is my heart book.
Like all the characters in Undset's book, Lavrans is complicated. I don't think he's always a good father, and sometimes Erlend actually is. But yes, more characters like Kristin's father, please world.
Reuven's Father in The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a favorite of mine. That book is partly a juxtaposition of 2 fathers of 2 friends.
It has been a long time since I have read that. Maybe I shoudl revisit it!
The book title "Brothers K" reminded me of the actual "Brothers Karamazov," which has a fantastically bad father figure: Fyodor Karamazov!
I agree with the commenter who named Caleb Garth as one of the best!
Great thoughts, Catie!