The figure of a father and the motif of fatherhood can be found in the narratives all around the world. However, the depiction of these two notions not only differs between cultures, but also depends on the personal experience of an author incorporating them into their fiction. In his novels, Everything Is Illuminated (2002) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), Jonathan Safran Foer presents various portraits of fathers and fatherhoods. The aim of this paper is to compare and analyse four father figures presented in Foer's novels: Alexander Perchov Sr. and Alexander Perchov Jr. in Everything Is Illuminated and Thomas Schell Sr. and Thomas Schell Jr. in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

It cannot be denied that a father plays an essential role in the lives of his children. Culturally, a father is seen as the parent responsible for providing the family with financial stability (Hearn 2002: 260). He is also the one who holds the power within the family and, therefore, can execute obedience from other members of the household (261). As a result, fathers are often presented as uninvolved in the process of active fathering and seen by their children as detached and distant (ibid.).

One of the best-known scholars to tackle the role of the father and his importance on both social and psychological level was Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, the figure of the father can be described as a source of emotional ambivalence within the society. On the one hand, the father is seen as a beloved figure worth of admiration; on the other, he is also a cruel and demanding respect tyrant, feared by his children. The ambivalence in question, claims Freud, provides the foundation for all the prohibitions introduced by a given society and is acquired by its every member as a part of the father complex (182). Freud's perception of the father complex as a negative force (175) is challenged by Carl Gustav Jung, who claims that the father complex can, in fact, boost social and spiritual development of children while instilling in them respect for authority figures and willingness to obey the rules imposed by them (214).

The role of the father in the society is also discussed by Jacques Lacan, a French thinker, philosopher, and psychoanalyst. In his works, Lacan plays with the Freudian Oedipus complex which he uses as a basis for his concept of the Name-of-the-Father.