Homecomings

(1956) is the story of Lewis Eliot’s life from 1938 to 1951, taking in the suicide of his first wife, his second marriage, and the birth – and near-death – of his son. It was originally published sixth in Snow’s “Strangers and Brothers” series, but Snow placed it seventh when he rearranged the sequence for the 1972 omnibus edition. Its time span, stretching from 1938 to 1951, partly overlaps with the fourth novel in the sequence,

The Light and the Dark

(1947), which covers the period 1934-43 and the sixth,

The New Men

(1954), which unfolds in the years 1939-47. As throughout the series, Eliot is the first-person narrator, but in this novel, as in

Time of Hope

(1949) and

Last Things

(1970), he is also the main protagonist.

The title of Homecomings flags up a

2560 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "Homecomings". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19408, accessed 28 March 2024.]

19408 Homecomings 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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