Fathers and Daughters: In Their Own Words

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Chronicle Books, 1994 - Photography - 131 pages
By turns adoring, alienating, challenging, and cherished, the relationship between a father and daughter is always a complex and compelling one. In Fathers and Daughters, photographer Mariana Cook explores this eternal relationship as never before - through a stunning collection of photographs and deeply moving texts written by the fathers and daughters themselves. Representing many cultures and social groups, perspectives and experiences, over fifty fathers and daughters reveal in their writings, and in Mariana Cook's exceptional photographs, the unique yet universal connection between fathers and daughters - an inexorable bond, from the very first hospital cry of "It's a girl", through the anguish of adolescent rebellion, to the final, mature friendship forged by time and travail. Among them, there are fathers who dote on their darling daughters, fathers who are trying to bridge the gap that seems to stand between them and their teenage daughters, and fathers of grown women who have become allies, friends, confidants. There are very young daughters who adore their daddies, daughters whose fathers seem distant, daughters separated from their fathers by divorce, and daughters whose views and ambitions are so different from those of their fathers that their honest and ultimately loving devotion is even more touching. Sometimes plainspoken, sometimes poetic, and always emerging directly from the heart, their words remind us that no matter how it is expressed, there is always a surfeit of love; what is left unsaid is illuminated in the intimacy and poignancy of Mariana Cook's exquisite portraits. With an introduction by William Styron, and an afterword by the photographer, Fathers andDaughters is much more than a glimpse into the lives of a few individuals, it is a powerful documentary and an inspirational tribute to fathers and daughters everywhere.

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About the author (1994)

William Clark Styron was born in Newport News, Virginia on June 11, 1925. He attended Duke University and took courses at the New School for Social Research in New York City, which started him on his writing career. He was a Marine lieutenant during World War II and while serving during the Korean War, was recalled from active duty because of faulty eyesight. After leaving the service, he helped start a magazine called the Paris Review and remained as an advisory editor. His first novel, Lie Down in Darkness, was published in 1951. His other books include The Long March and Set This House on Fire. He won several awards including the Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and the American Book Award for Sophie's Choice, which was made into a movie in 1982. His short story, A Tidewater Morning, was the basis for the movie Shadrach, which Styron wrote the screenplay for with his daughter. He also wrote several nonfiction books including The Quiet Dust and Other Writings and Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness. He died on November 1, 2006 at the age of 81.

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