The Dead Father (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Donald Barthelme
- First Published: 1975
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—high fantasy
- Time of Work: Unspecified
- Setting: An unspecified place on Earth
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Parents and children, Folkloric or magical people, Brothers, Fathers, Death or dying, Inheritance or succession, Funeral rites or ceremonies, Quest, Zombies or living dead, Rain
- Locales: Earth
The Plot
Prior to publication of The Dead Father, the self- contained “Manual for Sons,” which appears within chapter 17 and has, mirroring the novel, twenty-three chapters of its own, had appeared in slightly different form in The New Yorker. This manual contains the central themes of the novel: the power of the patriarch, its unending influence on the lives of his progeny, the sexual rivalry between fathers and sons, and sons’ subconscious fantasies of patricide. The novel revolves around the title character’s surreal funeral procession. Nineteen of his...
[The entire page is 963 words long]
See Also:
Donald Barthelme (Cyclopedia of World Authors)Donald Barthelme (Short Fiction)Donald Barthelme (Long Fiction)Donald Barthelme (Identities and Issues)
See Also:
- - The Dead Father summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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