Homecomings is the sixth in the Strangers and Brothers series and sequel to Time of Hope. This complete story in its own right follows Lewis Eliot's life through World War II. After his first wife's death his work at the Ministry assumes a larger role. It is not until his second marriage that Eliot is able to commit himself emotionally.
Homecomings
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C.P. Snow was born in Leicester, on 15 October 1905. He was educated from age 11 at Alderman Newton's School for boys where he excelled in most subjects, enjoying a reputation for an astounding memory. In 1923 he gained an external scholarship in science at London University, whilst working as a laboratory assistant at Newton's to gain the necessary practical experience, because Leicester University, as it was to become, had no chemistry or physics departments at that time. Having achieved a first class degree, followed by a Master of Science he won a studentship in 1928 which he used to research at the famous Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Snow went on to become a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1930 where he also served as a tutor, but his position became increasingly titular as he branched into other areas of activity. In 1934, he began to publish scientific articles in Nature, and then The Spectator before becoming editor of the journal Discovery in 1937. However, he was also writing fiction during this period and in 1940 'Strangers and Brothers' was published. This was the first of eleven novels in the series and was later renamed 'George Passant' when 'Strangers and Brothers' was used to denote the series itself. Discovery became a casualty of the war, closing in 1940. However, by this time Snow was already involved with the Royal Society, who had organised a group to specifically use British scientific talent operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour. He served as the Ministry's technical director from 1940 to 1944. After the war, Snow became a civil service commissioner responsible for recruiting scientists to work for the government. He also returned to writing, continuing the Strangers and Brothers series of novels. 'The Light and the Dark' was published in 1947, followed by 'Time of Hope' in 1949, and perhaps the most famous and popular of them all, 'The Masters', in 1951. He planned to finish the cycle within five years, but the final novel 'Last Things' wasn't published until 1970. He married the novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson in 1950 and they had one son, Philip, in 1952. Snow was knighted in 1957 and became a life peer in 1964, taking the title Baron Snow of the City Leicester. He also joined Harold Wilson's first government as Parliamentary Secretary to the new Minister of Technology. When the department ceased to exist in 1966 he became a vociferous back-bencher in the House of Lords. After finishing th
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riven by angst,
By
This review is from: Homecomings (Strangers and Brothers) (Paperback)
C.P. Snow is something of a latter-day Trollope. The series is quasi-autobiographical. The author's training was as a physicist. Obiviously his twin interests of politics and psychology have been poured into his STRANGERS AND BROTHERS series.When this book opens it is 1938 and the narrator, Lewis Eliot, is married to Sheila Knight, a person who cannot love. Sheila knows that Lewis has sacrificed the idea of having children and part of his career for her betterment. Lewis cannot accept that in regard to his marriage to Sheila he has become his own prisoner. He is a legal advisor to Paul Lufkin, a tycoon. Sheila is prepared to do a good turn for a sixty year old man, a has-been. She is ready to set him up in publishing. Beautiful and hag-ridden, she has business acumen. Lewis encourages her to support the said Robinson in his plans. Later he learns that Sheila is wrongly rumored to prefer women to her husband. Robinson , it seems, has started the rumor. Additional hurtful gossip is brought to Lewis's attention. Sheila confronts Robinson with spreading slander. At a dinner Lewis is asked if he knows Austin Davidson, an art connoisseur and a member of one of the notable academic dynasties. He discovers that his wife writes in secret in the manner of Emily Dickinson and Emily Bronte. She hides her work from him but shows her work to Robinson who gives it praise. Sadly his use of her work is that it serves as an opportunity to spread a yet more hurtful rumor, that she has backed Robinson in order to get published. In her misery, Lewis tries to speak with Sheila of other people's lives also riven with angst. This is to no avail since, in the end, she destroys her creative work. Suicide is accomplished when, in the black-out, Lewis is away from home attending yet another formal dinner. Lewis had tensed for signs of strain and had felt resentment at the distraction of Sheila's moods. This blended with the pity and protective love he felt for Sheila. In 1941, two years later, Lewis runs into Margaret Davidson. Five years later she becomes his second wife and the mother of his son, Charles. Thus, C.P. Snow sets up his characters with problems detailing on man's journey through life in a highly interesting milieu. The point of the exercise is to show the social circumstances from which individuals emerge to play intellectual and emotional roles. The actors engage in jobs in government, academia, law and medicine, and business. Novels in the series continue to seem fresh and pertinent to tasks and events Americans may now confront and/or consider. As time passes, the reader appreciates more than ever the cleverness C.P. Snow uses to array his characters with historical and novelist-made attributes, recognizable in hind-sight. For example, Sheila resembles Vivian Eliot, the first wife of the poet. Austin Davidson, the father of Lewis's second wife, Margaret, calls to mind Anthony Blunt, art connoisseur to Her Majesty, the Queen. (This book came out in America in 1956. It was disclosed in the 1990's that Anthony Blunt along with Kim Philby and others had functioned as a Communist spy. He was stripped of his knighthood.) Finally, Lewis Eliot, running true to course, works at a ministry during WW II. He has been described by his mentor, George Passant, as a preposterously unselfish friend. Against his better judgment he gives evidence on a friend's behalf, not minding the collateral damage, if any.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
no title,
By
This review is from: Homecomings (Strangers and Brothers) (Paperback)
I dunno, this series seems to be losing steam, but I can't quite put my finger on it. This one was definitely better than "The New Men", but not nearly as riveting as "Time of Hope", "The Light and the Dark", or "The Masters". I get the feeling that Snow has distanced himself more, is being rather more detached and objective. He had to bring his son near death for him to see into his nature and come to finally understand his core being. Wasn't there some other way? How autobiographical is this series? I would love to know. Still good, however, and definitely worth the read.
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