Father and Son

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This article is about the book by Edmund Gosse. For the song by Cat Stevens, see Father and Son (song).

Father and Son (1907) is an autobiography by poet, author, and critic Edmund Gosse, also intended to be a biography of his father, the zoologist Philip Henry Gosse. The book tells of the upbringing of Edmund Gosse, which was extreme in a religious way. His parents did not allow their son to read fiction books, which caused Edmund to discover books and poems of a fictional nature much later in his childhood. Edmund's mother died of breast cancer when he was very young, followed by a move to a rural town far from London.

A great change in the lives of Edmund and many other Britons occurred when Charles Darwin published his paper "The Origin of Species". As a result, Philip Gosse published a paper of his own claiming that the fossils were a test from God and that God had hidden the fossils in stone himself so that they would be found. Gosse's paper was ridiculed, which caused Philip to stay more concentrated on the most important thing in his life: faith. Philip Gosse was part of the Plymouth Brethren and organized all of their meetings locally. Edmund was as active as his father, being "saved" through baptism at the age of ten.

Edmund did not socialize with other children until he was introduced to them by his new stepmother. His father had kept him homeschooled for a long time, and their spare time was spent sitting quietly in a room drawing or by Philip telling his son scary bed-time stories.

It was not until Edmund discovered poetry and historical books that his faith started failing. When introduced to the outside world, he found that there were other opportunities and interesting beliefs. One of the books that inspired him the most was a book with pictures of Greek statues in it. His faith was damaged even more when one of the girls from the Plymouth Brethren had gone to the Great Exhibition and smashed statues of Greek gods there with her umbrella, and getting praise from her community for it.

Edmund went to boarding school where he spent his time in solitude. After school, Edmund moved away from his father, who sent him countless letters where he discussed faith and that Edmund had to keep on being an active part in the Brethren. Edmund had now lost his faith completely, and finally told his father, who was crushed.

The book is the rather tragic tale of a son who rejects his father's faith, but there are humorous moments throughout the narrative which are delightful and interesting. In addition to Father and Son being about two generations of Victorians, the book also reflects different issues of the Victorian age like the rising doubt in faith and the extremities of the different Christian communities. It is also easy to put Edmund Gosse's life in perspective when one reads about Darwin's effect on an individual and how the Great Exhibition was experienced by a religious extremist.