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‘I was written out of the family story. This book is my attempt to write myself, and my mother, back into it.’
'In this singular memoir, historian and biographer Jim Davidson writes about his fraught relationship with his authoritarian and controlling father, whose South African background and time in Papua New Guinea and Fiji prompted his own post-war mini-empire of dominance. A manipulative and emotionally ferocious man, he rejects his son and creates a second family, shutting Jim out and eventually disinheriting him, but never really leaving him alone.
'Traversing territory across Australia, South Africa, India, and London, this beautifully written book tells of a time of crushing conformity, sharply reminding us that some experiences can never be written out of our personal histories. ' (Publication Summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Knocked Sideways by Luck
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , July 2017;
— Review of Press Escape 2016 single work autobiography ; Light and Shadow : Memoirs of a Spy's Son 2016 single work autobiography ; A Führer for a Father : The Domestic Face of Colonialism 2017 single work autobiography 'Three writers explore the mixed inheritances that helped fuel their work' -
Remembering an Authoritarian Father
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23 September 2017; (p. 20)'The cover photograph on A Fuhrer for a Father shows Jim Davidson with his then wife Olga. They are the parents of the author, Melbourne writer and historian Jim Davidson. The acknowledgment reads: “Olga and her keeper, Melbourne Zoo, c 1942, courtesy of the author.” The designation of Davidson the father as his wife’s “keeper” in a photo taken in a zoo is no accident. It reflects precisely how Davidson the son viewed his father in life. This memoir is “an account of my father and his consequences”. He elaborates in his preface:
'Authoritarianism was the basic assumption on which my father ran his family and faced the world … Everything was firm, definite, unequivocal and hierarchical — in the household, as beyond it … This [story] … reveals a particularly aberrant instance of patriarchy, expressed in domestic violence towards wives and a persistent antagonism towards a gay son.' (Introduction)
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Not Quite the Book He Wanted : Portrait of a Colonising and Ruthless Father
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 394 2017; (p. 34-35)'When some years ago I read Jim Davidson’s outstanding biography, Lyrebird Rising (1994), I was initially concerned by what seemed to be his potentially distorting fascination with the scene-stealing Louise Hanson-Dyer. But I soon discovered I needn’t have worried. Jim Davidson is not the sort of biographer whose obsession with his subject overcomes proportion. On the contrary, his sense of humour, his alertness to the fallible, the ridiculous, and the noble reinforce rather than compete with his respect for, and absorption in, the recorded life. A style full of elegance, wit, and, when called for, irony, ranging from gentle to corrosive, constantly works sharply against any temptation to be over-impressed. In A Führer for a Father, however, this armoury is strained to its limits.' (Introduction)
-
Knocked Sideways by Luck
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , July 2017;
— Review of Press Escape 2016 single work autobiography ; Light and Shadow : Memoirs of a Spy's Son 2016 single work autobiography ; A Führer for a Father : The Domestic Face of Colonialism 2017 single work autobiography 'Three writers explore the mixed inheritances that helped fuel their work' -
Not Quite the Book He Wanted : Portrait of a Colonising and Ruthless Father
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 394 2017; (p. 34-35)'When some years ago I read Jim Davidson’s outstanding biography, Lyrebird Rising (1994), I was initially concerned by what seemed to be his potentially distorting fascination with the scene-stealing Louise Hanson-Dyer. But I soon discovered I needn’t have worried. Jim Davidson is not the sort of biographer whose obsession with his subject overcomes proportion. On the contrary, his sense of humour, his alertness to the fallible, the ridiculous, and the noble reinforce rather than compete with his respect for, and absorption in, the recorded life. A style full of elegance, wit, and, when called for, irony, ranging from gentle to corrosive, constantly works sharply against any temptation to be over-impressed. In A Führer for a Father, however, this armoury is strained to its limits.' (Introduction)
-
Remembering an Authoritarian Father
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23 September 2017; (p. 20)'The cover photograph on A Fuhrer for a Father shows Jim Davidson with his then wife Olga. They are the parents of the author, Melbourne writer and historian Jim Davidson. The acknowledgment reads: “Olga and her keeper, Melbourne Zoo, c 1942, courtesy of the author.” The designation of Davidson the father as his wife’s “keeper” in a photo taken in a zoo is no accident. It reflects precisely how Davidson the son viewed his father in life. This memoir is “an account of my father and his consequences”. He elaborates in his preface:
'Authoritarianism was the basic assumption on which my father ran his family and faced the world … Everything was firm, definite, unequivocal and hierarchical — in the household, as beyond it … This [story] … reveals a particularly aberrant instance of patriarchy, expressed in domestic violence towards wives and a persistent antagonism towards a gay son.' (Introduction)