Author EDMOND GOSSE
Publisher OXFORD WORLD CLASSICS
ISBN 0-199539111
This is autobiography from the Victorian era. It makes for interesting, period writing
and the vocabulary and general literal quality is rich, some regard it as one of the best
books written in the late nineteenth century. The subtitle is “A study in two
temperaments” which only goes a little way to describing its contents. It covers the
boyhood years of a man who went on to become a writer in his own right. His father
was one of the most famous botanists and naturalists of his time, a contemporary of
Darwin and a man who was a devout Christian from the group of believers known as
the “Plymouth Brethren.” The memory of Edmond must have been formidable, he is
able to recall to mind so much detail of his childhood years, it is fascinating to see the
way a rather legalistic though loving father seeks to conform his son to what he
regards as the true Christian faith and the way the son at first accepts the mould and
then begins slowly to think for himself and reject his earlier faith. All this takes place
whilst Edmond continues to love and honor his father. There is no nasty
rebelliousness evident at all. For those who desire to enter into an age gone by, local
church life as it pertained in an English country setting and Christian family life this
book has much to commend it. Perhaps some parents, reading this, will be instructed
about how not to be with their children. The Gosses home smacked of a repressive
religiousness yet an evident sincerity as well. Gosse senior, the father, loves but his
love is somewhat misdirected and overbearing. Those who come from a Plymouth
Brethren background will find this book will cause a bit of a chuckle in the midst of
its seriousness. To speak of the bondage and abuse caused by religious
fundamentalism is overstating the issues raised in this instructive life story but its
lessons are salutary. It is far from racy and will demand a slow steady advance
through its pages but it will be helpfully memorable as its lessons are pondered on.
