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directed by blanka zizka
STUDY GUIDE
WHAT IS THE PLAY ABOUT?
In THE INVENTION OF LOVE, Oscar-winner Tom Stoppard explores the life of classical scholar and renowned poet A.E. Housman. Old and infirm, Housman dreams that he is dead. As Cheron, the mythical boatman, ferries him across the River Styx, Housman returns to the Oxford of his youth where he fell in love with scholarship and with his fellow student, Moses Jackson. Stoppardís dream world includes Victorian London, where Parliament made homosexuality a crime, and the French seashore, where Oscar Wilde - convicted of that very crime - is living out his final days. This complex and rewarding play weaves ideas, wit, and passion.
DRAMATURGICAL GLOSSARY
THE INVENTION OF LOVE spans many worlds: turn-of-the-century century Oxford, classical literature, pre-war London. We have compiled a comprehensive glossary to the play, which can be read online.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why doesnít AEH act on his yearning and love for Jackson?
What is the significance of the professors? The journalists?
How many models of Victorian homosexuality does Stoppard create in his play? What does he show or accomplish by creating these multiple models?
What freedoms do the dream framework allow AEH? Stoppard?
What does Paterís phrase "Art for Artís sake" connote?
What is the Aesthetic Movement?
How does the British University system, like Oxford, differ from the American University system?
What is New Journalism? What was its goal? Who was the father of New Journalism?
What is the Criminal Law Amendment Act? What was the effect of Clause XI on Oscar Wilde and on England in general?
What is Kateís role in the play?
Why is Chamberlain the only invented character?
What is the significance of certain repetitive dialogue?
What kinds of the problems can occur in the transmission of an ancient Latin or Greek text to our age?
What is textual criticism?
How does the Wilmaís production (set, props, lights, etc...) support Housmanís dream state?
SUGGESTED READING
M.H. Abrams, editor, The Norton Anthology of English Literature (volume 2): sections on Ruskin, Pater, Housman, Stoppard
G.A. Cevasco, The 1890s: An Encyclopedia of British Literature, Art, and Culture
John Dougill, Oxford in English Literature
Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde
Robert Fitzgerald, translator, Aeneid
A.S.F. Gow, The Bucolic Poets: Theocritus
M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers, Oxford Concise Companion to Classical Literature
Keith Jebb, A.E. Housman
Guy Lee, translator, The Poems of Catallus
Guy Lee, translator, Propertius: The Poems
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