My Father and Myself

By C. R. Clarke

J.R. Ackerley's father was the Banana King, a successful importer of fruit and a bluff, hearty fellow -- qualities little appreciated by his refined and literary son. On his death, however, he left a letter revealing that his life of respectable prosperity was a facade. Thus began what for Ackerley was an ongoing quest to comprehend a father who remained always just beyond his reach. My Father and Myself, described by its author as an "examining and self-examining book", was published only after Ackerley's own death. It was immediately recognized as a classic account, on the order of Edmund Gosse's Father and Son, of the relationships between parent and child.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671656759
• ISBN13: 9780671656751
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Poseidon Pr
• Length: 219 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Really Enjoyable

I just completely, thoroughly and totally enjoyed this book!!! I believe the author Andrew Holleran got me interested in J.R. Ackerley, as I think he said his favorite authors were Proust and Ackerley, so I thought I'd give Ackerley a try!! Such a candid, forthright book. Ackereley is a VERY good writer. I am so interested in him I am now reading Peter Parker's biography of him, plus ordered 2 other books by Ackerley...

A true classic - and important document.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. I've only just finished reading it for the second time. I'm still in shock and awe. Such a story. Such a candid and engaging chronicle of one man's life and also the life of his father. Ackerley was a pioneer of "gay" literature. This is his masterpiece (without question). A more open and honest depiction of a gay man's sexual life (his likes and dislikes, his promiscuity,...

Ackerley at his finest

The NYRB Classics series pretty much started out with a slew of reprints of the cult writer J.R. Ackerley, including his three memoirs (this, MY DOG TULIP and HINDOO HOLIDAY) and his one novel (WE THINK THE WORLD OF YOU). This, I would say, is easily his finest work. Ackerley's masterful reconstruction of his father's mysterious lovelife (comprising two unwed households and several unexplained longterm "friendships" with wealthy...

Two Lives, One Lesson

My Father and Myself, by J.R. Ackerley, lends insight into the minds of two men, both curious and proud, both leading secret lives. The book, in reality, is two parallel stories that merge into one. Both stories attribute the same themes: upholding honor to one's family and self-worth; love; past lives; abandonment; and learning to accept truth, even if one is not prone to liking it, or respecting it. I like the way the book,...

Like Father Like Son--Or Not?

I find I'm unable to start this review without falling upon a tired cliché, but the truth does seem stranger than fiction. Cliché aside-this is a fascinating account. Ackerley's self deprecatory style masks an uncommonly contagious wit. What masquerades as a tragic story reveals ultimately as a tale of lives lived to the fullest. The lives of the father and of the son--the story suggests these two lives were worlds apart...