Arcadia: A Play by Tom Stoppard Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Arcadia: A Play
Book Review: Something worth wondering about
Summary: 5 Stars
Arcadia is one of the most touching and enlightening works of literature I have ever read. The interweaving of ideas from physics, fractals, literature, architecture, history, psychology and many other fields of knowledge hidden in the play is just perfect. Never have I read anything that blends so many unique ideas into itself and does it with such clarity. Layers after layers of ideas are treasured into the hilarious dialogues between the lively characters, and every one of them is worth wondering about. Among these ideas present are some quite obvious and a bit hackneyed ones: sexual attractions are extraordinary forces of nature, history is a cycle of recurring events, and the world is slowly reaching an equilibrium which means the end of all things; in contrast to these ancient topics, Arcadia also opens gates to very profound yet reasonable ideas: the present is mathematically interpretable, the future is technically derivable, and the past is always with us. It takes the mind of a genius, like Tom Stoppard, to formulate these ideas and present them to the public in a single neat play that is very limited in setting and the number of characters. In a general sense, Arcadia is marked as a comedy because of the peculiarity of some of the characters; however, it is also a tragedy, a romantic story, a comforting book, a philosophical question, and a scientific term paper. That's why this play, in my idea, stands out amidst the numerous other great contemporary writings. Unfortunately, perfection is impossible in reality; and like everything else in the world, Arcadia has some flaws due to the human factor. Tom Stoppard, after all only a gifted man among men, inevitably gives the readers a sense of vanity through his showing off of his breadth of knowledge. He is a great and sadly underrated writer, I agree, but he is no Gauss, Einstein nor Aristotle. The brief involvements of math, physics, and philosophy do help to develop the ideas, but I believe they are just there to impress the readers. The mathematical, physical, and philosophical theories are not discussed to a depth to show that the characters have true understandings of these theories. Because so, Tom Stoppard's pride becomes a black spot in the fabulous painting of Arcadia; but he is no where to be blamed, for that there is no way to control the human factor in anything humans do; unless we stop doing things using our own knowledge, but let the things take their course and we follow the path of true nature. Ummm... Something worth wondering about...Book Review: Stoppard is PURE BRILLIANCE
Summary: 5 Stars
As always, Tom Stoppard has managed to intricately weave a complicated tale that leaves one with not only a score of hilarious one-liners but also some deep questions about the ways of the world. This one is definitely a must read!Book Review: Stoppard's Unheralded Masterwork
Summary: 5 Stars
What can you say about Stoppard that hasn't already been said?It's a shame how Rosencrantz and Guildenstern gets the vast majority of the press for Stoppard. Arcadia, though while far more intellectual, is a much superior work. Stoppard is able to work in the two time periods equally well and deftly weaves them together by small threads. As usual, his characterization is excellent, Septimus Hodge especially stands out for me as a complex and very endearing character. The real question is, How much do you have to know about the background topics discussed. Well, a working knowledge of Newtonian physics and Victorian poetry will certainly add to the enjoyment of the work, but as with Stoppard, is not a must. Why they have not given this man the Nobel Prize yet is beyond me. I would highly reccomend picking this book up and giving it a read, Stoppard does not dissapoint
Book Review: Stoppard's best work to date.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Stoppard's best work to date. A very ambitious play which juxtaposes scenes and characters from the early 19th century and contemporary life, Arcadia is devoted to an explanoration of how humans find meaning in life. This play has all of Stoppard's famous wit and word-play and as is characteristic of his best work is simultaneously very funny while exploring serious philosophical issues. One of the things that that really distinguishes this play is Stoppard's interest in biology, specifically the aspects of what we now call complexity theory. Stoppard's combination of 19th centrury and contemporaray characters allows him to demonstrate the continutity of scientific thought of the past 2 centuries and allows a triumphant, though wittily presented resolution of the problem of entropy and life. This sounds dry, but one of the features of this play is that these issues are presented with true pathos and in a way that deomonstrates that science is a very human and passionate pursuitBook Review: The best English-language play of the 20th century
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, I haven't read all of them, but I can't believe anything better than Arcadia could have been written. This play addresses the essential ideas of our century, and perhaps of the last millenium, better than any other work of art I know of.