| Sir Tom Stoppard, the early plays.9. | | | | of Being Earnest. Thus the events of |
| TravestiesSir Tom Stoppard's play Travesties | | | | Travesties are structured around the plot of |
| (1974) might be seen as a return to the | | | | The Importance of Being Earnest.The play |
| problems he dealt with right at the beginning | | | | takes its title from the fact that Carr's |
| of his career in A Separate Peace (1960) and | | | | memory tends to oversimplify the characters |
| Enter a Free Man (1963). In these plays the | | | | he met, and hence they are often seen as |
| 'heroes' lived in a world of their own so | | | | travesties of themselves. For example in one |
| separate from the real world that they were | | | | scene the dialogue falls into the form of |
| unable to function in society. In | | | | limericks, and in another into the form of |
| Travesties, with Dogg's Our Pet (1971) as a | | | | question and answer, travestying Joyce's |
| stepping stone, this simple opposition | | | | techniques in Ulysses. The point of this is |
| between the individual and the rest of the | | | | that while Joyce, Tzara and Lenin are each |
| world is scrapped in favour of a | | | | 'living in their own world', asserting that |
| philosophical standpoint which asserts that, | | | | their view of reality is more valid than the |
| to an extent, every individual lives in a | | | | others, the whole picture presented to the |
| world of his own.A 'real world', separate | | | | audience is itself only Carr's view of |
| from our perception and interpretation of it | | | | reality.For the first few minutes of the play |
| may or may not exist. But the term applies | | | | not a single sentence of comprehensible |
| to what seem to be areas of common | | | | English is spoken. Tzara is picking words |
| experience, about which we seem to be able to | | | | from a hat, Lenin is speaking Russian, and |
| communicate in a more or less common | | | | Joyce is speaking the language of Ulysses. To |
| language.Travesties is ostensibly concerned | | | | the audience it is incomprehensible nonsense, |
| with artists, and their relationship with the | | | | until Henry Carr arrives on stage to begin |
| world they live in. As we saw in A Separate | | | | his narrative. The implication suggested by |
| Peace, and Enter a Free Man (in which being | | | | this dramatic structure is that 'objective |
| an inventor can be equated with being an | | | | reality' is incomprehensible without somebody |
| artist), it is one of Stoppard's basic | | | | there to comprehend it; and the person |
| assumptions that the artist creates a world | | | | comprehending reality will distort it |
| of his own, and, to an extent, lives in it as | | | | according to the limitations on his ability |
| an alternative to the real world. In | | | | to perceive, and the personal interpretation |
| Travesties we have two artists, Tristan Tzara | | | | he puts upon what he perceives. The logical |
| and James Joyce, with very different | | | | implication of this is that we all live in |
| approaches to their lives and their art. For | | | | our own private reality. We are our own |
| Tzara, the Dadaist, art is a revolutionary | | | | narrators, and we distort reality just as |
| act in itself, breaking down our usual | | | | Henry Carr does. And our attempts to |
| assumptions about the world, and | | | | re-create or assert our view of reality will |
| Art.'Tzara (To Joyce): You've turned | | | | be more or less a travesty of objective |
| literature into a religion and it's as dead | | | | reality.It is interesting that his final |
| as all the rest. It's an overripe corpse and | | | | statement on this theme rests on a concept of |
| you're cutting fancy figures at the wake. | | | | 'relativity'; that 'reality' is relative, |
| It's too late for geniuses: Now we need | | | | depending on the observer, in the same way |
| vandals and desecrators, simple minded | | | | that the fate versus free will, and order |
| demolition men to smash centuries of baroque | | | | versus chaos themes ended with the concept of |
| subtlety, to bring down the temple, and thus | | | | 'perspective'. They are, fundamentally, the |
| finally, to reconcile the shame and the | | | | same concept, relativity being a more |
| necessity of being an artist!' (p.62.)For | | | | sophisticated development of 'perspective'. |
| James Joyce art is justifiable for its own | | | | It is also interesting to note the similarity |
| sake, operating on a level above political or | | | | between these conclusions and the prevailing |
| social revolution.'As an artist, naturally I | | | | scientific doctrine of the day: Einstein's |
| attach no importance to the swings and | | | | theory of Relativity.Travesties is a play |
| roundabouts of political history.' | | | | about the inescapable subjectivity of all |
| (p.50)Lenin is a third point in the argument, | | | | Human experience, and hence of any human |
| asserting that art is only valid as an aid to | | | | concept of 'reality'. For Stoppard it seems |
| political revolution. | | | | to mark the end of a line of enquiry which |
| | | | began in 1960 with A Separate Peace.In this |
| 'Lenin: Today, literature must become party | | | | cycle of works Stoppard is reflecting the |
| literature. Down with non-partisan | | | | climate of uncertainty which affects us all |
| literature: Down with literary supermen. | | | | in this age of relativity.'Dotty: You're |
| Literature must become part of the common | | | | probably still shaking from the |
| cause of the proletariat, a cog in the Social | | | | four-hundred-year-old news that the sun |
| Democratic mechanism.' (p.85)One could pursue | | | | doesn't go round youGeorge: We are all still |
| the arguments about the relationship between | | | | shaking. Copernicus cracked our confidence, |
| art and society through the play; this is one | | | | and Einstein smashed it for if one can no |
| level on which the play functions. But more | | | | longer believe that a twelve-inch ruler is |
| importantly we are given an overview of the | | | | always a foot long, how can one be sure of |
| whole problem, and here Stoppard uses the | | | | relatively less certain propositions, such as |
| stage to dramatise a concept, by the fact | | | | that God made the Heaven and the Earth.' |
| that we are seeing the events of the play | | | | (Jumpers)Read the full version of this essay |
| through the distorting medium of Henry Carr's | | | | at: |
| memory.We are introduced to this dimension of | | | | |
| the play by having Carr as narrator, and | | | | Mackean runs the site which features a |
| reminded of it by the repeated 'time slips', | | | | substantial collection of English Literature |
| in which a scene is played two or three | | | | Resources and Essays, and where his sites on |
| times, slightly differently each time as | | | | Books Made Into Movies, and Short Story |
| Carr's memory plays tricks on him. The | | | | Writing can also be found. He is the editor |
| egocentric Carr's best memory of the war | | | | of The Essentials of Literature in English |
| years in Zurich is that he played a leading | | | | post-1914, published by Hodder Arnold. |
| role in Joyce's production of The Importance | | | | |