death of the father, n.Definitions

The Death of the father's parting gift is a half a century of childhood.

Death of the father is a mistaken notion in that, were it true, it would deprive literature of many of its pleasures. If there is no longer a father, there would be no reason to tell stories, as every narrative leads back to oedipus and storytelling is always a way of searching for one's origin, speaking one's conflicts with the law, entering into the dialectic of tenderness and hatred.

The Death of the father is the end of one's childhood — Some fathers, when they go, make one's childhood a gift of as much as a half century.