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Travesties
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
9 posts | 3 read | 8 to read
"Travesties" was born out of Stoppard's noting that in 1917 three of the twentieth century's most crucial revolutionaries -- James Joyce, the Dadaist founder Tristan Tzara, and Lenin were all living in Zurich. Also living in Zurich at this time was a British consula official called Henry Carr, a man acquainted with Joyce through the theater and later through a lawsuit concerning a pair of trousers. Taking Carr as his core, Stoppard spins this historical coincidence into a masterful and riotously funny play, a speculative portrait of what could have been the meeting of these profoundly influential men in a germinal Europe as seen through the lucid, lurid, faulty, and wholly riveting memory of an aging Henry Carr.
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Yossarian
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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In Travesties, Stoppard dreams up a fictional meeting in 1917 between writer James Joyce, artist Tristan Tzara, and Communist leader Lenin. (They were actually all living in Zurich, but there is no evidence they actually met.)

In this dream meeting, the historical figures accidentally re-create large portions of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest, making the entire play the #WILDEstDreams possible.

heikemarie I love Stoppard! 7y
Yossarian @inwhichHeikereadsharder Stoppard loves you too! 7y
heikemarie @Yossarian while I wish I had known sooner, this is great news! 7y
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Yossarian @inwhichHeikereadsharder It's never to late! Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern may be dead, but Tom is still alive! 7y
heikemarie @Yossarian if you need me, my living hopes and I will be waiting at that table from Arcadia for Tom (first name basis, obviously) 7y
Cinfhen 🏆#winning well done 🙌🏻 7y
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review
rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
Pickpick

Surprisingly fun. I ended up learning a lot about art, particularly the Dadaist movement. Thanks, Tom!

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rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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Stuffing bread rolls up their noses?! 👃🏻🍞

Dogearedcopy LOL, Maybe breadsticks? 😄 7y
rabbitprincess @Dogearedcopy That would be easier to stick up one's nose than a baguette! 7y
Dogearedcopy @rabbitprincess I'm never going to be able to look at a bread basket at a restaurant the same way again! 😄 7y
17 likes4 comments
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rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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😂

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rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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I *can* speak French, but I can't speak Russian, so I am glad for the parenthetical translations.
#melodicmay day 9: Can't Speak French

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rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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"I well remember as though it were yesteryear (oh where are they now?) how Hugo Ball--or was it Hans Arp? yes!--no!--Picabia, was it?--no, Tzara--yes! wrote his name in the snow with a walking stick and said: There! I think I'll call it The Alps."

(When a Tom Stoppard play makes you think of Calvin and Hobbes...)

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rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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Have to read this play quickly, because it's due back on Tuesday and I can't renew it. Oops!
Pictured is one reason I am reading this: Tom Hollander played Henry Carr in a recent adaptation at the Menier Chocolate Factory 😄 (and later the Apollo Theatre in the West End).

Libby1 Love him. 7y
rabbitprincess @Libby1 He is adorable! I loved him especially in In the Loop, The Invisible Woman, and Rev. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk Mister Collins! 7y
rabbitprincess @TobeyTheScavengerMonk Yes! I loved him in that role too 😄 7y
24 likes4 comments
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rabbitprincess
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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I am enjoying the very 70s font on the library's copy of this play ✌

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Yossarian
Travesties | Tom Stoppard
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What book that had a major impact on the way you think would you guess has been read by the fewest people?

For me, it's this "lesser" Stoppard play about a fictional meeting of Communist Vladimir Lenin, author James Joyce, and and artist Tristan Tzara.

Since then, all sorts of odd combinations of historical figures have been having debates in my head.

Floresj That is a great quote! It's one of the primary reasons I love this app! I feel as though I'm exposed to a wider variety of books😀! 7y
readinginthedark Sounds fascinating! I'll have to read this! For me, it's probably the short story "The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges. 7y
saresmoore Before Litsy, I hadn't met anyone else who'd read it. For me, it is Hannah Arendt's 7y
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Yossarian @readinginthedark I've read it! Along with the rest of the Complete Borges. It's one of my favorites! 7y
Yossarian @saresmoore I've read Eichmann in Jerusalem, but not that one! 7y
rachelm For me, a Dianna Wynne Jones book that wasn't her most popular. I devoured it so many times and it shaped my view of reality and the surreal 7y
readinginthedark @Yossarian Awesome! I've introduced it to several friends, but most people haven't read it when I meet them. I haven't read as much Borges as I'd like. 7y
vivastory I always see "If On a Winter's Night," rarely mentioned is 7y
vivastory I haven't seen Arenas mentioned much since the film adaptation of "Before Night Falls." I love all of his work, the first one I read by him & one that's stayed with me is 7y
Shortstack I'm guessing this one, but I'm not sure. 7y
Blueberry My son and I both loved Slumdog Millionare, originally titled Q and A, but few people have read it. 7y
Yossarian @LeahBergen No fair being Canadian! It gives you an unfair advantage. No one ever cares about Canadian Literature! 7y
Yossarian @Dragon One of my favorites! 7y
LeahBergen Sorry, eh? 7y
callunakeep @DiruVamp This quote!! 💕 7y
DiruVamp @callunakeep ikr!! Love Murakami! 😍 7y
cariashley Such a great question! I'm ashamed nothing immediately comes to mind for me. I did check my favorites list on Goodreads and was surprised that this book had the fewest ratings of the ~30 on my list (about 4,600) 7y
Gina Oh yessss... that is why I am in a book club. I just wish we had a guy in it to really bring out the other side :( 7y
Yossarian @gina What side are you missing? I'm usually the only male in my book group, and tend to be on a "side," but it's generally a side with half of the females and against the other half. 7y
Yossarian @cariashley I read that as a teenager. I think I liked it, but all I can recall now is that I was confused that every major character was named Jose. 7y
Gina @Yossarian well just the guys perspective on the stuff we read and mabe braking out if the "box" of suggestions. I tend to try and push them out of their and my comfort zone as I like to be challenged but stuff. I am the youngest in my group and quite excitable. They get quite a laugh out of me. 7y
Yossarian @Gina Well, when we read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry I was the only one who thought the plot of the book was just like The Wizard of Oz, but I don't know if that was a particularly male insight. 7y
Gina @Yossarian THAT IS FANTASTIC! Well I will read it and get back to you on that... 7y
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