Posted by andyb on November 28, 2007 at 16:27:01 from 194.80.183.1 user beardbiter.
In Reply to: Re: AR Mention in Times of London posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on November 28, 2007 at 09:56:06:
On the whole I'd agree with that, Andrew but I'm not sure about
"Both fathers do indeed lay down a programme for action by their sons; Dick expressly writes to his father for advice and instruction"
IIRMC Dick, or perhaps Dot, writes to her mother and asks, as an aside if she would consult their father about Picts. This is hardly an instruction on a programme laid down by Prof C.
Even in SW the 'programme' is more a matter of John being determined to follow through a programme drawn up by the Swallows with their father at Alma Cottage.
The 'Voice of the Father' sounds very patriarchal to me, a bit like God talking to Abraham but you (Andrew) make a good point about absent fathers in the age of empire. Often, it seems, they were off doing Important and Exciting Things and so the VoF was authoritative even when it was not authoritarian. Hard luck on all fathers with boring jobs and mothers with no paid jobs at all.