Henry Carr and James Joyce crossed paths during a staging of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Stoppard incorporates the comedic elements and tone of this play, along with some of its characters, into Travesties.

In Travesties, Lenin’s wife, Nadya, reads excerpts from her biography Memories of Lenin (1930), which details Lenin's experiences during the Russian Revolution.

Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966) is structured around the absurd scenarios faced by the two characters borrowed from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The novel Ulysses (1922), which James Joyce is seen writing in the play, was banned in the United States until 1933. Despite the controversies regarding its complexity among literary critics, it is hailed as one of the greatest works of the twentieth century.