The Family Reunion Summary and Reviews

The Family Reunion
by T. S. Eliot

The Family Reunion
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Book Summary Information

Author: T. S. Eliot
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1964-03-18
ISBN: 0156301571
Number of pages: 132
Publisher: Mariner Books
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780156301572
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of The Family Reunion

Book Review: Brilliant writing, problematic drama
Summary: 4 Stars

T. S. Eliot's second play is loosely based on Aeschylus' "Eumenides," though set in modern times. The integration of classical elements is only partly successful: the Greek chorus of meddlesome relatives is oddly effective, but the several appearances of the Furies are forced and strange (as Eliot himself came to conclude). Furthermore, the play is awfully talky -- lots of setup without much payoff in dramatic action.

But what talk it is! "The Family Reunion" was written in the interregnum between the first and second of "Four Quartets," and the play develops and amplifies many of the same themes as the poems. We return to the "Alice in Wonderland" rose garden of "Burnt Norton" (the first Quartet) -- "I only looked through the little door / When the sun was shining on the rose-garden: / And heard in the distance tiny voices" -- while looking forward to key passages from later poems: "Or the distant waterfall in the forest, / Inaccessible, half-heard. / And I hear your voice as in the silence / Between two storms ...."

Though "The Family Reunion" may be justly criticized for its dramatic problems and weak conclusion, the writing is vintage Eliot and will prove both enjoyable and enlightening for devotees of his poetry.

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