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1
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2
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- Born in 1937 in Czechoslovakia
- German invasion prompted move to Singapore
- Father killed in Japanese invasion; extended family killed in Holocaust
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3
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- 1942—mother and brother evacuated to India
- Attended an American school
- 1945—mother married Major Kenneth Stoppard in the British Army in India
- 1946—family settled in England
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4
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- Worked as journalist—film and theater critic
- 1960—began writing plays, novels, and radio plays
- 1967—gained fame with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
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5
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- Writes for film, television, radio, and the stage
- Three Tony-Award-winning plays
- 1999—won Oscar for Shakespeare in Love
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6
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- Mixture of high art and popular culture
- Literary Allusions
- Historical dislocation/anachronism
- Humor/Parody/Sense of the Absurd
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7
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- Use of fantasy
- Blurring boundaries between life and art
- Stage as metaphor for postmodern reality
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8
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- Parodies the traditional mystery and theater criticism
- Implies that clear solutions and neatly resolved endings are no longer
viable in postmodern reality
- There is no “Real” Inspector Hound!
- Expresses the tenuous nature of existential reality—we can “script”
multiple realities
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9
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10
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11
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Notes
