Tom Stoppard & Politics

Peter Kennedy - Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Hong Kong (https://english.hku.hk/people/Affiliates/104/Dr_Peter_Kennedy)

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON ONLY EVENT.

Abstract

Stoppard’s biographer, Hermione Lee, writes that he has been “typecast as a wit, an apolitical entertainer”. I wish to take issue with this view. I will consider first his play Indian Ink (1995) and the politics/ethics of colonialism. Next, I will look at his treatment of politics/ethics in the Soviet Union & Czechoslovakia in Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977), Professional Foul (1978), Doggs’ Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth (1979) and Rock N Roll (2006). Finally, I will consider what he says about politics/ethics and the artist in Travesties (1974) and The Invention of Love (1997).

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Biography

Dr. Peter Kennedy has taught in Hong Kong since 1988. At HKU, he teaches C20th poetry, C21st English poetry as well as a Ulysses course. He holds degrees from the universities of Bristol, Sussex, Wales, Essex and Trinity College Dublin. His five books and his journal articles have been mainly concerned with adult learning and learning English through literature. He also writes poetry that has been published in HK, Ireland, the USA, UK and Germany.