Loosely based on his own life and his large family, The Tanners follows Simon Tanner as he wanders from job to job, in search of a calling. Along his journey of self-definition, we meet
his other siblings: the painter brother whose romantic brooding personality attracts women; the serious professorial oldest brother whose sense of responsibility towards his younger siblings
strains his nerves; the teacher sister who hates teaching but can't get herself to risk the stability of her job; and the institutionalized brother whose name is hardly mentioned and whose
madness potentially runs through the rest of the family. Through it all, Simon explores the master-servant relationship -- whether in employment or in romance -- that is one of the defining
factors of Modernity.
