Explorations in Fatherland

This book explores the role of fathers from a broadly psychoanalytic lens, looking at fatherhood from the evolving perspective of fathers, the rest of the family, and society as a whole. Edwards draws on her rich clinical experience spanning over 30 years to look at the issues and problems around the role of the father in clinical work with a range of patients, spanning from classical psychoanalytic thinking to fiction, myth, and iconography. These multifaceted approaches allow us to explore the complexities of fatherhood for each unit of the family and to tease out both the problems and positives associated with fathers and fatherhood. Enriched with clinical vignettes, this book shares a new outlook on how patterns of manhood or personhood evolve over time and encourages the reader to not limit paternal function to sexual or cultural binaries. At a time when the role of men in society is ever more under debate, Explorations in Fatherland offers a fascinating and multi-faceted exploration of a key role for men and offers guidance to clinicians, and anyone interested in exploring the notion of fatherhood.

Dr Judith Edwards is a retired consultant, psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapist, and internationally published author, who worked for 35 years at the Tavistock Clinic. Her latest book, Grandmotherland, was published in 2024. She is interested in making psychoanalytic ideas more accessible to wider audiences, as she said in Psychoanalysis and Other Matters (Routledge): other matters matter.

1.The Idea and Fantasy of the Father Seen Through history 2. Having a Father and Being a Father 3. Fathers and Sons 4. Fathers and Daughters 5. Do Siblings Remember Fathers Differently? 6. Handing on in Identification, and Letting Go..Chh-Ch-Ch-Changes... 7. Having 'No Father': The Absent Father and the Single Parent 8. Fatherland: The Elephant in the Room 9. Being the Father to Our Own Stories: Seeing and Being Seen 10. The Stepfather 11. Rivalry with Fathers 12. Fathers in Poetry