“Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia

Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia has a narrative structure that works backwards and forwards through time, examining concepts of change across the whole spectrum of philosophy and the arts. This is most obviously represented by that which we never see: “the landscape outside [that] we are told, has undergone...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: John Bull
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2011-12-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2524
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832578600929329152
author John Bull
author_facet John Bull
author_sort John Bull
collection DOAJ
description Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia has a narrative structure that works backwards and forwards through time, examining concepts of change across the whole spectrum of philosophy and the arts. This is most obviously represented by that which we never see: “the landscape outside [that] we are told, has undergone changes”. However, simultaneously, that which we do see throughout, the room in which the action is located, remains unaltered. Change and flux are confronted by continuity and consistency. In this paper, I will consider the ideological implications of this paradox in relation to the playwright’s use of pastoral models that date from the English Renaissance, and yet reconfigure models of earlier post-second war British theatre, models that – according to many critical accounts – had long been superseded and abandoned. Arcadia is a supposedly ideology-free zone that is actually constituted of disputed ideological discourses.
format Article
id doaj-art-8d14e0c9a2b5488f888bee9a8151a8d6
institution Kabale University
issn 1272-3819
1969-6302
language English
publishDate 2011-12-01
publisher Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
record_format Article
series Sillages Critiques
spelling doaj-art-8d14e0c9a2b5488f888bee9a8151a8d62025-01-30T13:46:38ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022011-12-011310.4000/sillagescritiques.2524“Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s ArcadiaJohn BullTom Stoppard’s Arcadia has a narrative structure that works backwards and forwards through time, examining concepts of change across the whole spectrum of philosophy and the arts. This is most obviously represented by that which we never see: “the landscape outside [that] we are told, has undergone changes”. However, simultaneously, that which we do see throughout, the room in which the action is located, remains unaltered. Change and flux are confronted by continuity and consistency. In this paper, I will consider the ideological implications of this paradox in relation to the playwright’s use of pastoral models that date from the English Renaissance, and yet reconfigure models of earlier post-second war British theatre, models that – according to many critical accounts – had long been superseded and abandoned. Arcadia is a supposedly ideology-free zone that is actually constituted of disputed ideological discourses.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2524StoppardShakespeareArcadiaContemporary British TheatrePastoral
spellingShingle John Bull
“Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
Sillages Critiques
Stoppard
Shakespeare
Arcadia
Contemporary British Theatre
Pastoral
title “Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_full “Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_fullStr “Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_full_unstemmed “Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_short “Nowadays the house would be called a stately home”: Pastoral Relocations in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_sort nowadays the house would be called a stately home pastoral relocations in tom stoppard s arcadia
topic Stoppard
Shakespeare
Arcadia
Contemporary British Theatre
Pastoral
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2524
work_keys_str_mv AT johnbull nowadaysthehousewouldbecalledastatelyhomepastoralrelocationsintomstoppardsarcadia