The Transformational Exchanges in Travesties
Yoon, Jeongyong
(Chungbuk National University)
In Travesties, Tom Stoppard mixes realities with fictions, and repeatedly questions the true nature of reality. But, he doesn’t give any answers or clues for it. In the ending, there is no resolution to the conflicts which can be generally expected. Instead, new conflicts are brought forth, and readers/spectators become more and more confused. In short, Travesties well embodies ‘disorder’ or ‘uncertainty,’ one of the most prominent aspects in his works.
In Travesties, a variety of texts are piled one on another, multifarious dramatic devices are mixed together, and new fictional realities are created. In addition, these multi-layered realities exist as the outward appearances regulated by settled pattern. Sometimes, because of the unreliability of the protagonist, Carr’s memory, identical words and phrases are reiterated, and ‘time-slips’ occur repeatedly, but, Stoppard creates new order and meaning from disorder. In Travesties, he provides the disorderly scattered fragments with extremely different contexts, and creates new realities and meanings, which is the central point of the work.
In Travesties, dramatic actions are developed not according to the relation of cause and effect but to Carr’s unreliable memory, which illustrates that human lives are not logical, and that human histories are not exact. In short, Stoppard demonstrates that we, humans, aren’t directly related to the historical affairs which actually happened, but fettered to a kind of fictional history temporarily reconstructed based on the necessity of the present, and therefore we should lead a more active, creative life.
The Transformational Exchanges in Travesties
Yoon, Jeongyong
(Chungbuk National University)
In Travesties, Tom Stoppard mixes realities with fictions, and repeatedly questions the true nature of reality. But, he doesn’t give any answers or clues for it. In the ending, there is no resolution to the conflicts which can be generally expected. Instead, new conflicts are brought forth, and readers/spectators become more and more confused. In short, Travesties well embodies ‘disorder’ or ‘uncertainty,’ one of the most prominent aspects in his works.
In Travesties, a variety of texts are piled one on another, multifarious dramatic devices are mixed together, and new fictional realities are created. In addition, these multi-layered realities exist as the outward appearances regulated by settled pattern. Sometimes, because of the unreliability of the protagonist, Carr’s memory, identical words and phrases are reiterated, and ‘time-slips’ occur repeatedly, but, Stoppard creates new order and meaning from disorder. In Travesties, he provides the disorderly scattered fragments with extremely different contexts, and creates new realities and meanings, which is the central point of the work.
In Travesties, dramatic actions are developed not according to the relation of cause and effect but to Carr’s unreliable memory, which illustrates that human lives are not logical, and that human histories are not exact. In short, Stoppard demonstrates that we, humans, aren’t directly related to the historical affairs which actually happened, but fettered to a kind of fictional history temporarily reconstructed based on the necessity of the present, and therefore we should lead a more active, creative life.