On Fathers and Other Figures

Peter Fitzpatrick’s life and work encourages reflection on the enduring myth of the father, including as it appears in contemporary debates about the place of canonical figures on university syllabi. I suggest that a simple call for the destruction of father figures misses one of the key insights offered by Fitzpatrick: the story of the father is the ur-myth of modernity. As we criticise the legacies of fathers, whether in the canon or otherwise, we miss this revelation and, inadvertently re-circulate monumental stories of patriarchal and colonial origins.