THE TREE WITCH

by Peter Viereck ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1961

Peter Viereck has definitely joined the ranks of the angry young men in this dramatized version of his poem- We Ran All the Way Home- which was published by Poetry Magazine. He manages this dramatization by voicing his ideas through three archetypal sets of figures: ""We""- modern mechanized man; ""They""- the conformists; and ""She"", a tree dryad who represents the spirit of spontaneous life which ""They"", and less heartily, ""We"", try to torture and kill. While the work is on the whole dull, there are some passages of skill- and sophomoric wit (the usual jabs at Madison Avenue, tranquilizers, psychiatry, statistics, etc.) It is conceivable to imagine this piece put on the stage by an off-Broadway company, and coming off rather well- about on the level of college dramatics. On the whole it is full of Viereck's usual ""saucy banalities"" about the harsh world; it also shows signs- as one critic has said- of his former ""originality stiffening into eccentricity"", along with a certain petulance.

Pub Date: June 15, 1961

ISBN: 0548385661

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION