Your BasketThe great works of literature are liberally sprinkled with fascinating fathers – heroes and villains, role models and rubbish dads. We’ve picked our top 10 literary dads, from Shakespeare characters to Will Self’s comic creation...
1) The father in The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
It would be hard to think of a more powerful description of the father-son relationship than the harrowing story of survival told in this bleak, post-apocalyptic novel. The pair – only ever called the father and the boy – trudge through a burnt-out wilderness after an unnamed disaster has wiped out most life on Earth.
The father’s increasingly desperate attempts to keep his young son alive, while shielding him from the horror all around them, make for deeply uncomfortable reading – but his willingness to protect his boy, by any means necessary, cuts right to the heart of what it means to be a dad.
Buy The Road
2) Silas Marner in Silas Marner, by George Eliot
Set in the early 19th century, this is a classic tale of familial love and loyalty. At its heart is the eponymous hero, a weaver living in a small religious community. Silas is cast out and becomes a recluse, caring only about his work and the gold it earns him.
When his precious hoard is stolen, Silas falls into despair, but his life is transformed when he takes in a golden-haired orphan, Eppie. In due course his gold is restored and Eppie becomes the pride of both the town and Silas, whose life is transformed by his love for her.
Buy Silas Marner
3) Lear in Shakespeare’s King Lear
Lear, the elderly king of Britain, is ready to step down and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. But when his youngest daughter, Cordelia, refuses to flatter him, he disowns her in fury. Cordelia marries the King of France, leaving her older sisters, Goneril and Regan, to plot against their increasingly infirm father.
In the tragic finale, a devastated Lear realises that the daughter he shunned loved him best. Although not the perfect father, Lear is defined by his love for his daughters, however misguided and tragic that may be, making him one of literature’s great dads.
Buy King Lear
4) Harry Silver in Man and Boy, by Tony Parsons
Harry Silver has it all – a lovely wife and son and successful media career. But with his 30th birthday looming he has a midlife crisis and sleeps with a young colleague. His wife, Gina, finds out, packs her bags and whisks their son, Pat, off to her dad’s house. When she decides to leave Pat with her dad and travel to Japan, Harry ends up unemployed and stuck at home with his son.
Whatever you might feel about its author, this funny, engaging book pushes all the right dad buttons. And Harry’s journey of self-discovery as he adapts to the life of a single parent is perceptive and skilfully crafted – drawn from Parsons’ own experience of raising his son when ex-wife Julie Burchill ran off.
Buy Man and Boy
5) Dave Rudman in The Book of Dave, by Will Self
Angry, mentally unstable London cabbie Dave Rudman writes a bitter rant about women, and his ex-wife Michelle in particular – fuelled by a custody battle with Michelle.
Fast-forward 500 years and Dave’s book is found and revered by a small surviving community living on top of Hampstead Heath in the aftermath of global floods. Basing their lives on the ritualised timetables of separated parenting, the inhabitants of Ham adopt Dave’s misogynistic book as their Bible.
The narrative jumps between the present and future, with a healthy dose of black humour alongside the religious parody. A hyper-intelligent exploration of fathers' rights direct action campaigns and the nature of revealed religion.
Buy The Book of Dave
6) Pa Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, by HE Bates
When young tax inspector Cedric Charlton visits Pa Larkin about some unfiled tax returns, he finds himself adopted by the family – living in a boozy, well-fed haze as the days drift by. The Larkins live a blissful family life in the 50s English countryside, Ma and Pa Larkin and their six apple-cheeked children eating, drinking and making merry.
It’s a jolly portrait of family life, and Pa is the kind of dad we all wish we could be – warm, generous and carefree. If only it were this easy in real life.
Buy The Darling Buds of May
7) TS Garp in The World According to Garp, by John Irving
Headstrong nurse Jenny Fields wants a child but not a husband – so she impregnates herself with a little help from a dying patient. She raises Garp alone, with no further interest in men.
The growing Garp becomes interested in sex, wrestling and writing – and eventually becomes a devoted dad, enduring betrayal and tragedy along the way. Irving’s semi-autobiographical novel is witty and warm, with a rock-solid dad at its heart.
Buy The World According to Garp
8) The narrator in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M Pirsig
In this classic 70s tale the unnamed narrator takes his teenage son Chris on a 17-day motorbike journey across the US. They’re joined by friends for nine days, but apart from that it’s just dad and son cruising along the rolling back roads of America.
A road novel, philosophical treatise and father-and-son rite of passage rolled into one, it has sold millions of copies in 27 languages. Don’t be put off by the title – it’s an intriguing story, especially for dads. As the author explained, "it should in no way be associated with Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either".
Buy Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
9) Arthur in And When Did You Last See Your Father?, by Blake Morrison
Blake Morrison’s brilliant memoir is an unflinchingly honest portrayal of a son’s stormy relationship with his father. At times funny, at others unbearably sad, the author’s tribute to his overbearing, infuriating dad is essential reading for all fathers. Arthur Morrison, a no-nonsense Yorkshireman, dominates every aspect of his poetic, dreamy son’s life – dragging him off on father-son camping trips in torrential rain when all Blake wants to do is read.
Only when his father is battling cancer does Blake realise how much he loves, needs and respects him.
Buy And When Did You Last See Your Father?
10) Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Shakespeare’s last play, a love story, is bursting with magic and exotic imagery. 12 years before the action begins, Prospero, the Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda were stranded by Prospero’s brother on a remote island. Miranda had a happy, idyllic childhood, never meeting a man until a shipwreck casts young Ferdinand on to the island – who instantly falls in love with her.
A simple tale of love, revenge and lost innocence, The Tempest revolves around Prospero – a father entirely devoted to his daughter’s happiness. It’s great fun, too, even for the most Shakespeare-phobic reader.
Buy The Tempest
Author
Dan Roberts is a feature-writer and columnist with over ten years’ experience of working for The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, Daily Express and Mail on Sunday, as well as numerous national magazines. His areas of expertise include health, wellbeing, relationships, psychology and parenting. Dan also writes two monthly columns, including Diary of a Single Dad, a humorous but affectionate account of raising his ten-year-old son, Ben. The best of Dan’s work can be found on his website at www.dan-roberts.net
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