In Love with France, At Home In Italy

  One posting ago, I said I would be rereading the “Dear Dad” letter in my book,  Letters to Men of Letters.  Now, after a Father’s Day 2021 reconsideration of that letter, I found some excerpts to quote here. I want to see what it feels like to have those words appear in this new setting—one that by dying at age 63 in 1983, my father never could have imagined. I will be quoting myself below.   *   This will be my 33rd year at Yale, where I have been happily teaching French, helping students write better papers in all subjects as college Writing Tutor, and being part of the English Department's teaching team for a unique creative writing experience called Daily Themes, which has a long, storied history of producing famous writers. I find it thrilling to have the chance to work with such talented students.    Although I am on leave this fall, I know that today is Move-In day for the new freshman. I never lose sight of how important these milestones are,...

  Readers seem to be surprised to see “Dear Dad” among my 18 Letters to Men of Letters, and many have said that it is their favorite. I think that my father would have been surprised to see himself in the company of Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, Vladimir Nabokov, Albert Camus, Gustave Flaubert, Balzac, Leonard Cohen, André Aciman and Christo, among others.    In  Letters to Men of Letters , I write to the authors I admire, both living and dead, who continue to keep me company, and I invite everyone to join me on this literary journey.  https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Men-Diane-Joy-Charney/dp/1736020617   Happy Father’s Day, Dad. In your honor, I’m going to reread my letter to you now.