El miedo mítico y la redención cristiana en el teatro en verso de T. S. Eliot: The Family Reunion

Con The Family Reunion (1939), Eliot ensaya por primera vez el método mítico de su poesía en el teatro en verso, más concretamente en un escenario burgués. De este modo, el miedo y la angustia del siglo XX se escenifican con el telón de fondo de Las Euménides de Esquilo, la historia intemporal de expiación que se relata en la trilogía La Orestíada. Este artículo se centra en el moderno Orestes de Eliot, Harry, quien, al igual que los personajes de la poesía temprana del autor (Sweeney, Prufrock o Gerontion) se enfrenta a la desesperación de un modo que Eliot irá afinando en sucesivas obras. Asimismo, subraya el papel principal de The Family Reunion como punto de inflexión en la producción dramática de Eliot, por cuanto la obra aborda novedosamente el malestar contemporáneo, relacionándolo con un relato cristiano de pecado, expiación y sacrificio. Por último, el artículo explora las semejanzas entre el teatro en verso de Eliot y la poesía de los Cuatro cuartetos, escritos durante los mismos años que su producción para la escena y, en gran medida, bajo idénticos parámetros.

Man of the Theatre: Stage Performances of T. S. Eliot’s Work in Spain (1949–2016)

T. S. Eliot’s presence in Spanish theatres has taken various forms. His verse drama enjoyed a relative popularity in the late 1940s and in the 1950s: Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party were staged by student and amateur groups, “chamber” companies and even a national theatre. Reviews were ambivalent, most of them finding fault with the plays’ poetic density as an impediment for performance. Although, as a conservative Anglo-Catholic, Eliot was a priori an unproblematic author for the Francoist establishment and its censorship, critics loyal to Spanish National Catholicism were uncomfortable with the tragic fatalism of The Family Reunion, or with the non-judgemental treatment of adultery in The Cocktail Party. When Eliot’s plays were losing their appeal from the late 1950s onwards, only Murder in the Cathedral was occasionally performed in Spain. More recently, intermedial transpositions and dramatizations of Eliot’s poetry have consolidated his image as a great influential poet whose drama is a rarity.

The Essence of the Upanishad in T. S. Eliot's Poems and Plays

This paper attempts to explore the essence of the principal Upanishads of the Hindu philosophy in T. S. Eliot’s selected seminal poems and plays. The principal Upanishads are the Ishavasya, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chhandogya, Brihadaranyaka and Shvetashvatara. The famous poems are “Ash-Wednesday” and Four Quartets, and the famous plays are Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party under scrutiny in this paper. The essence of the principal eleven Upanishads is that Brahman is source of all creations including the human beings, who get results according to their karma and are born again and again until they get moksha (liberation) through the self-realization of Brahman; therefore, our goal should be to attain moksha or Brahman, only through which we can experience perpetual peace and unbound bliss. Likewise, Eliot suggests that we should attempt to go back to our “Home” (Brahman, also a symbol of peace and bliss), for which we must attempt several times until we become qualified through the non-dual knowledge of “the still point” (Brahman) and its self-realization along with the spiritual practices of renunciation and asceticism. The practice of unattached action done without the hope of its fruit (nishkam karma) and unselfish devotion (Bhakti) are secondary paths to attain liberation. Since the path of spiritual knowledge can make us realize Brahman immediately, Eliot prefers this path of knowledge to the progressive or indirect paths of action and devotion. Thus, his texts reflect the essence of the Upanishads. The significance of this paper within the context of existing scholarship lies in its introduction to the new knowledge that Eliot’s poems and plays could be extensively interpreted by finding the essence of the Upanishads in his texts. Practically, the knowledge of the essence of the Upanishads can help us know the mystery of life and death, and Atman and Brahman, and get liberation from all kinds of suffering and misery, and the cycle of life and death as well before death.

Silence Is Not (Always) Golden: A Criticism of the ECJ’s Approach towards Integration Conditions for Family Reunification

Over the past 20 years, integration duties imposed on third-country nationals have spread and become more rigid in EU Member States. They increasingly restrict the conditions for obtaining residence permits as well as the benefit of social rights. These integration conditions take on singular forms and raise particular issues in relation to the Association Agreement concluded between the European Union and Turkey, in particular with regard to so-called ‘standstill clauses’. The present article begins from the A v. Udlændinge-og Integrationsministeriet case and criticises the Court’s silence about the elephant in the room on the issue of integration conditions towards third-country nationals: racial and/or ethnic discrimination. The case is about an integration condition imposed by the Danish Government as a prerequisite for a ‘family reunion’ residence permit for the spouse of a Turkish worker: the spouses must prove that they have a stronger link with Denmark than with Turkey. The solution adopted by the Court of Justice in striking down this integration condition is not surprising. However, its reasoning suggests more tolerance – or even laxity – about the way the concept of integration is used by the Member States. This situation is problematic insofar as these integration conditions, the very principle of which is questionable per se, conceal increasingly discriminatory and exclusionary measures which the Court is reluctant to denounce, as opposed to the European Court of Human Rights.

Covid-19 in familial cluster: ultrashort incubation period could be an early indication of Brazilian Variant of SARS-Cov-2 virus?

Objective: To describe the occurrence of COVID-19 with an ultra-short incubation period in a familial cluster. Experience report: Description of a series of eighteen cases of COVID-19 from the same familial cluster, with possible contamination at a social dinner. The time elapsed between the family reunion and the onset of each guest's symptoms was described. The cases that have been tested and their results are presented. Experience report: Nineteen people from a family group were followed for twelve days. The average incubation period was 37.16 hours. The incubation period was 24 hours in 11.11% of the cases, 36 hours in 66.67% and 48 hours in 22.22% of the individuals in the cluster. In just over five percent of patients, the estimated incubation period was 96 hours. The most frequent initial symptom was cough (38.8%). Final considerations: An ultrashort incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 can be an important alert for a new COVID-19 standard. However, our study is limited by the scarce number of individuals and the lack of tests before the meeting.

Can an Ecological, Multilingual Approach Help Us to Better Support Reunited Refugee Families in Scotland with Language Learning?

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between academic literature, policy, and practice in terms of language learning within the specific context of refugee families who have recently reunited in Glasgow through the British Red Cross Family Reunion Integration Service. The paper presents research findings from a pilot teaching study, working collaboratively with participants within their first few weeks of arriving in Scotland to explore whether an ecological, multilingual approach to language learning is effective in this context. Building on principles of translanguaging with participants using their full “linguistic repertoire” (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2010) and drawing on Norton’s construct of “investment” (2013) the paper explores key themes of empowerment and identity in the classroom. The results enable us to draw conclusions regarding the balance of power in the classroom and the impact of the recognition of refugees’ own languages within the learning process.