Naming the Father is a collection of essays on the subject of fatherhood: its enduring power, its secret ruses, its unsettling provocations. Despite the considerable critical attention devoted to motherhood in literature-and despite the late-twentieth-century focus on patriarchy-there is surprisingly no comparable collection on fatherhood. This volume was born of the conclusion that critics of modern and contemporary literature may comprehend the father too little for presuming to have comprehended patriarchy so much. Naming the Father begins with a series of nonfiction essays that attempts to locate the missing father in the individual experiences of three scholars at various stages of their careers. The following thematically grouped sections recover and discuss fatherhood in fields ranging from Caribbean fiction to African American drama and in the work of authors as diverse as Rebecca West, Anzia Yezierska, William Burroughs, and Stephen Wright, as well as Henry James and James Joyce. A variety of critical approaches, from biographical to deconstructive, activate and engage with the cultural, national, and global implications of fatherhood for the family and for the future of literary studies. Scholars and students of contemporary literature, cultural studies, and gender studies will find this book a fascinating and invaluable collection.

Life is full of unexpected twists and turns and this has been particularly so in 2020. But the most unexpected and significant event in the history of the world actually happened over 2000 years ago when God himself became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. These Advent reflections, written by David Mathis, help us to lift our eyes to wonder of the incarnation and worship the one who came to save us and make our futures certain. Be amazed once more by the unexpected details of Jesus' unique birth and saving work with these short daily devotions and prayers, and renew your worship of our humble, generous and loving Savior.

Rhyming text depicts a father sharing with his child such things as seven words that all mean blue and the name of every kind of cloud.

What astonishing success the Name-of-the-Father has had! Everyone finds something in it. Who one's father is isn't immediately obvious, hardly being visible to the naked eye. Paternity is first and foremost determined by one's culture. As Lacan said, "The Name-of-the-Father creates the function of the father." But then where does the plural stem from? It isn't pagan, for it is found in the Bible. He who speaks from the burning bush says of Himself that He doesn't have just one Name. In other words, the Father has no proper Name. It is not a figure of speech, but rather a function. The Father has as many names as the function has props. What is its function? The religious function par excellence, that of tying things together. What things? The signifier and the signified, law and desire, thought and the body. In short, the symbolic and the imaginary. Yet if these two become tied to the real in a three-part knot, the Name-of-the-Father is no longer anything but mere semblance. On the other hand, if without it everything falls apart, it is the symptom of a failed knotting. - Jacques-Alain Miller

In this revelatory and genuinely groundbreaking study, François Furstenberg sheds new light on the genesis of American identity. Immersing us in the publishing culture of the early nineteenth century, he shows us how the words of George Washington and others of his generation became America's sacred scripture and provided the foundation for a new civic culture, one whose reconciliation with slavery unleashed consequences that haunt us still. A dazzling work of scholarship from a brilliant young historian, In the Name of the Father is a major contribution to American social history.

The author, seeking to find his grandfather's old home, follows his family history back to his great great grandfather who was born a slave and died a free man with forty acres.