The first line of Father and Son describes the book's subject on an epic scale:

In these terms, the narrative depicts a personal struggle between two individuals that is representative of a larger struggle between belief systems and even historical periods. This is the author's overall scheme, but in the preface a somewhat different picture of the book's intention is introduced. Between the lines of his declaration that this is a ‘scrupulously true’ record of religious and educational conditions of a bygone era and ‘a study of the development of moral and intellectual ideas’ during childhood, the preface implies that this is also to be the autobiography of an author. The contemporary ‘ingenious’ and ‘specious’ forms of fiction are remarked upon, demonstrating an awareness of genre perimeters, while readers’ expectations are acknowledged in the declaration of truthfulness that at first glance nods towards the autobiographical pact. Criticism of other ‘sentimental’ works of autobiography serves to differentiate the intentions of the author, generating a tone that suggests the succeeding narrative is in fact the work of a knowledgeable, self-reflexive writer.

However, Gosse stands apart from the other three authors examined in this book, for Father and Son is not a multivolume discussion of art and its author is not a typical creative artist figure. Gosse can better be described as a man of letters, and as such his autobiography reads as a work about reading and its transformative power during the early years, or apprenticeship period, of his life. A number of critics do refer to Father and Son in passing as a type of Künstlerroman, but their analysis fails to pinpoint the ways in which Gosse applies aspects of this form to his synthesised genre of biography and autobiography. The mature author uses his childhood perspective to inextricably weave his autobiography into a biography of his father, creating a unique vehicle for the narrative of his progression towards a literary life that is shown to depend upon and arise out of the relationship between father and son.