tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9518779.post7683114136376579820..comments2023-07-06T04:29:27.227-05:00Comments on Reading for Writers: Arcadia by Tom StoppardA. P. Bucakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06041973307279126317noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9518779.post-47101407933600943922007-01-03T12:17:00.000-05:002007-01-03T12:17:00.000-05:00One of the great things about the play is that eve...One of the great things about the play is that even though the dialogue is about math and other intellectual pursuits, it is a really human, emotional, sad play. And Stoppard is very clever in that he shows the before and after (warning: plot secrets about to be revealed...)of a very emotional event (death of a young girl) and of a very dramatic event (tutor going crazy trying to do her math after her death), he doesn't show the events themselves. Short story writers quickly learn that the most interesting elements of a story are often in the before and/or the after of a dramatic event, and it was interesting to see how in skipping the middle, Stoppard makes the play so much more mournful then if we'd seen Septimus raving in his hermit shack or seen the girl burning in the fire.A. P. Bucakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06041973307279126317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9518779.post-11397988272137197972007-01-02T09:31:00.000-05:002007-01-02T09:31:00.000-05:00I have never seen the play performed professionall...I have never seen the play performed professionally, but I taught it about 5 years ago and it was a hit. I also like the use of time--there is a simultaneity of history. I think it may have something in common with Octavia Butler's "Kindred" in that sense.<br /><br />The other thing I recall liking is the role of mathematics (in addition to the literary--was it Byron?). The discourses that are in dialogue are not only temporal, but also epistemological.<br /><br />At least that is what I remember. Very cool.iradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14694037575230523474noreply@blogger.com