New Historicism in Tom Stoppard’s Plays: Travesties, The Coast of Utopia, Rock-n-roll

For citation: Solov'yova D.Y. (2016) Novyy istorizm v tvorchestve Toma Stopparda (na primere p'es «Travesti», «Bereg utopii», «Rok-n-roll») [New Historicism in Tom Stoppard’s Plays: Travesties, The Coast of Utopia, Rock-n-roll)]. Mediaskop 1. Available at: http://mediascope.ru/?q=node/2088

© Diana Yu. Solov'yova

PhD student at the Chair of Foreign Journalism and Literature, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University; specialist at the head of studies office, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), di.solov@mail.ru

Abstract

The article analyzes Tom Stoppard's plays Travesties, The Coast of Utopia and Rock-n-roll from the standpoint of their interconnection with the concept of new historicism. The aim of the article is to identify those theoretical aspects that relate the playwright’s texts to the texts of new historians. These aspects are classified as follows: textuality of history (a historical fact is replaced by a narrative - the author of the narrative creates his own version of history), integration of historical and artistic discourses (Stoppard and new historians use the general principle of work with historical material called the arbitrary interpretation method). The playwright uses secondary texts (alongside with the original sources), installs historical subjects, according to his own conception, complements the history with fiction, and creates different versions of historical subjects. Creation of alternative versions of history leads to the disintegration of the objective truth into many subjective ones. The conclusion is that in his plays, Tom Stoppard anticipated and used the methods of new historicism. Stoppard's divergence from new historians consists in the understanding of the art’s role in society: the playwright defends the presence of the timeless moral values in history, the carrier of which is art.

Keywords: new historicism, Tom Stoppard, Travesties, The Coast of Utopia, philosophy of history.

Notes

Borges H.L. Dopushchenie real'nosti [The Assumption of Reality]. Translated from Spanish B. Dubina. Available at: http://www.bibliomsk.ru/library/global.phtml?mode=10&dirname=borges&filename=jlb08005.phtml

Borges H.L. (2009) Tlen, Ukbar i Orbis Tercius [Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius] In: Vymysly: [rasskazy] [Fictions: [stories]]. Translated from Spanish E. Lysenko. St. Petersburg: Amfora Publ.

Stoppard T. (2007) Bereg utopii: Dramaticheskaya trilogiya [The Coast of Utopia: trilogy of plays]. Translated from English A. Ostrovskogo and S. Ostrovskogo. Moscow: Inostranka Publ.

Stoppard T. (2011) Rok-n-roll [Rock 'n' Roll]. Translated from English A. Ostrovskogo and S. Ostrovskogo. Moscow: Astrel' Publ.

Stoppard T. (2006) Travesti, ili Komediya s pereodevaniyami: v 2 d. [Travesties]. In: «Rozenkrants i Gil'denstern mertvy» i drugie p'esy [Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and other plays]. Translated from English I. Kormil'tseva. Moscow: Inostranka Publ.

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