ISBN MY FATHER AND MYSELF

MY FATHER AND MYSELF

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.


About author(s)
J. R. Ackerley was born in Herne Hill, Kent, in 1896 and educated at Rossall School and Magdalene College, Cambridge. In 1922 he met E.M. Forster and the two developed a close friendship. It was through Forster’s influence that Ackerley left for India in 1923 to work as Private Secretary to the Marharajah of Chhokrapur, which resulted in Hindoo Holiday. He also worked as an assistant producer for the BBC and later as literary editor of the Listener.