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.