My Father and Myself (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

J.R. Ackerley (Author), W. H. Auden (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: New York Review Books Classics | Publication Date: September 30, 1999

When his father died, J. R. Ackerley was shocked to discover that he had led a secret life. And after Ackerley himself died, he left a surprise of his own—this coolly considered, unsparingly honest account of his quest to find out the whole truth about the man who had always eluded him in life. But Ackerley's pursuit of his father is also an exploration of the self, making My Father and Myself a pioneering record, at once sexually explicit and emotionally charged, of life as a gay man. This witty, sorrowful, and beautiful book is a classic of twentieth-century memoir.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It makes today's memoirs look pallid. -- Emma Tennant, British Vogue

J.R. Ackerley's humor is unique; his truth is stranger--and funnier--than fiction. My Father and Myself is a cross between Dickens's David Copperfield, Rousseau's Confessions, and the new pornography. -- Donald Windham

About the Author

J.R Ackerley (1896-1967) was for many years the literary editor of the BBC magazine The Listener. A respected mentor to such younger writers as Christopher Isherwood and W.H. Auden, he was also a longtime friend and literary associate of E.M. Forster. His works include three memoirs, Hindoo Holiday, My Dog Tulip, and My Father and Myself, and a novel, We Think the World of You.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (September 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940322129
• ISBN-13: 978-0940322127
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Gay

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Father Like Son--Or Not?, September 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Father and Myself (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

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. Between the lies and the lines, the real story suggests these lives were inextricable and extensional. The book cover illustrates to perfection the essence of the tale, its metaphors are both cogent and covert. Judge this book by its cover--it is as uniquely exquisite. Five stars to the publisher for bringing this book back in five star fashion. Read the introduction last!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ackerley at his finest, May 16, 2002

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: My Father and Myself (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

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 men) and his own conflicted sex life as a gay man in early twentieth-century London. Ackerley's tone always seems extremely honest, and while the narrative never comes to any absolute conclusions about Ackerley's father you're left convinced that these omissions and gaps are meaningful in and of themselves. This is as about a fine and interesting a memoir as I can imagine.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Howling Fantods, March 6, 2001

By 

J. R. Foster (Lawrence, KS, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Father and Myself (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Ackerley, a subtle and unassuming writer, has lately been quietly adopted as a "gay" writer. The term seems to have had less meaning in Ackerley's time than in ours. "My Father and Myself" would perhaps have been, at the time it was written, a suspenseful tale; it is constructed almost as a mystery. The modern reader, alert to every faint whiff of suggested homosexuality, will have guessed the memoir's (un-)shattering conclusion well before he has reached the end. No matter: Ackerley could've written elegantly and compellingly about stock-car racing, or peeling paint; his material here--his father's past and his own youth--is of universal interest, and of particular interest to unhappy sons.