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In the description of Jacques Kohn in the beginning of Isaac Bashevis Singer's "A Friend of Kafka", he's described as wearing this:

Although he still dressed in the style of a dandy, his clothes were shabby. He wore a monocle in his left eye, a high old-fashioned collar (known as "father-murderer"), patent-leather shoes, and a derby. He had been nicknamed 'the lord' by the cynics in the Warsaw Yiddish writers' club that we both frequented.

Googling "father-murderer" gets me some very disturbing results and not much about the collar known as the "Vatermörder", but apparently it is a high, stiff collar that sometimes killed the people wearing it.

So... why is Kohn wearing this sometimes-deadly collar? What do his clothing choices tell us about the character?

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  • Could you provide a link to a good online copy of the text?
    – bobble
    Jul 17, 2021 at 20:53
  • @bobble - I don't think I can, unfortunately. I'm not seeing any good candidates on a search, and I read it in a physical copy.
    – Mithical ♦
    Jul 18, 2021 at 7:23
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    "collar that sometimes killed the people wearing it". I think that sort of claim should be taken with more than just a pinch of salt. In fact, I would suggest an entire salt lake.
    – Tsundoku
    Jul 18, 2021 at 22:40
  • @bobble: The context: "Jacques Kohn was a sick and broken man. Although he still dressed in the style of a dandy, his clothes were shabby. He wore a monocle in his left eye, a high old-fashioned collar (known as "father-murderer"), patent-leather shoes, and a derby. He had been nicknamed 'the lord' by the cynics in the Warsaw Yiddish writers' club that we both frequented. Although he stooped more and more, he worked stubbornly at keeping his shoulders back. What was left of his once yellow hair he combed to form a bridge over his bare skull."
    – Peter Shor
    Jul 19, 2021 at 18:17

1 Answer 1

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A "Vatermörder" is a special type of collar which was popular in the 19th century (it found its widest distribution from 1810 - 1850). It is a stiff, high stand-up collar of a man's shirt that is open at the front. The loosely upward protruding pointed ends reach over the chin.

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The origin of the name is unclear. The folk etymology assumes that the collar was called parasite (= "blackhead") in France, because food residues easily stuck to the long, upwardly directed corners; in Germany, this designation was then confused with the similar-sounding parricide (= "patricide").

According to another assumption, the name derives from a son returning home from a foreign country who, upon returning, quickly kissed his father, poked him in the eye with such a collar, thus causing his death.

The second theory is pure nonsense. For Germans the word "Vatermörder" has no associations with killing a father, it is nothing else than a collar.

Therefore Kohn did not wear a sometimes-deadly collar. His clothing choices do not tell us anything about his character - except perhaps that he had a preference for vintage apparel.

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