Travesties (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Tom Stoppard
- First Published: 1975
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Play of ideas
- Time of Work: 1917-1918 and the 1970’s
- Setting: Zurich, Switzerland
- Genres: Drama, Problem play, Parody, War drama, Memory play
- Subjects: 1970’s, Memory, Philosophy or philosophers, Revolutions, Art or artists, 1910’s, Novelists, Creative process, Comedy, Switzerland or Swiss people
- Locales: Zurich, Switzerland
Characters Discussed
Henry Carr, an elegantly attired character who appears both as a very old man and as his youthful self. The character is modeled on a minor official by the same name who was in the English consulate in Switzerland during the turbulent years of World War I. The events of the play mirror history. As young Carr, this character is involved in a quarrel with James Joyce over money for clothes in a production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, in which Joyce is closely involved. As an old man, Carr narrates the events of the time, and it...
[The entire page is 746 words long]
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