Introduction

Abstract

This is a book about fathers. When I said to friends or colleagues that I am writing a book about fathers, they immediately assumed that I was writing about masculinity and fatherhood at its peak, about strength or providing. The dominant model of fatherhood kicked in immediately, the moment I uttered the word ‘father’. And indeed, we, fathers, are under constant pressure to be role models, providers and the ever-positive ‘father figures’ — a set of discourses which castigates us for not caring, not spending the time, not being there, but which demands we be like Jean-Luc Picard, who both had the time to save the galaxy and still be able occasionally to speak to Wesley Crusher, providing him with golden advice and intellectual nurturing.KeywordsMental IllnessDiscourse AnalysisDominant DiscourseIdentity ConstructionAbsent FatherThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.