fathers in fiction

[frank]

Im writing a piece on representations of father(hood) in novels and poetry; I'd like a few more examples of novels/poems featuring a father who either drinks a lot or likes to BBQ a lot (or both). Preferably examples from canonical lit. , American and Other.
Thanks!

[mono]

The first poem that comes to mind, fitting your ideals:

My Papa's Waltz

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.

Theodore Roethke

[metaxy99]

ya mono. me too. that is an awesome poem.

how about mary karr's dad in liar's club? that's not exactly canonical, but it won awards, didn't it?

oh, american or other? well, that changes the water on the beans, doesn't it.

[metaxy99]

noone else on this yet?
ok, well excuse the double post then.

wanted to add karamozov. you'd probably find a bunch more in russian lit.
i can't recall who was a father exactly, but there's no shortage of drinkers.

also, it might be neat to treat noah drunk in his tent in genesis.

[Jay]

One of my fave poems :)

Dylan Thomas: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[Avalive]

Papa, you too have a son


When love turns into the color of your lips
Your smile silence your words, Papa
Can you hear my unsaid prayers?
I played too much, Papa, I lied too much
I was gone too much, Papa, I grew up too much
I now want to hear your preach
I again want to be a new child of yours
Do you ever cry, Papa, dose a man cry
How much tears you shed for my girlish crys?
I changed too much, Papa, I lost too much
I was strengthen too much, Papa, I won too much
I now want to hear your songs
I again want to be a daughter of yours
But Papa, you too have a son
Papa, You've always got a son




[ I miss my father deeply. He never had a son. I was a girl fresh out of womb. But I am beautiful for him as girl. I play chess with him as a boy. But he still wants a son? ]

[mono]

metaxy99's addition of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov reminded me of another novel that may fit your criteria, frank - David James Duncan's The Brothers K.

[metaxy99]

frank, you never told us who you were working with.
it would be interesting.

oh well, as long as we're riffing, how about dostoevsky himself in jm coetzee's master of st petersburg
that was a really moving representation of fatherhood. maybe my favorite of all time.

maybe we can just repurpose this thread to address the question (just in time for father's day)

who are your favorite fathers in literature?

[mono]

who are your favorite fathers in literature?
A father in literature who first comes to mind: Atticus in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.

[Scheherazade]

featuring a father who either drinks a lot or likes to BBQ Bob Ewell from To Kill A Mockingbird.