Tom Stoppard: A Life [Hardcover]

Ira Nadel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

Tom Stoppard is, arguably, the greatest living English playwright. His work, from the early Jumpers to the film Shakespeare in Love to the current Invention of Love has changed the landscape of drama. Witty, erudite, passionate, abstract, clever, his works are like no one else's. Who is Tom Stoppard-the Czech-born son of Jews who became the singularly English man of letters? In this vibrant, critical portrait, Ira Nadel weaves life and works into a fascinating chronicle of Stoppard's world on English and American stages. Peopled with such characters as Diana Rigg, John Wood, and Billy Crudup, the book untangles Stoppard's genius against the backdrop of Broadway and London's West End.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Tom Stoppard is perhaps our greatest living playwright, with over 25 plays produced since 1965 and a cornucopia of honors, including numerous Tony awards, an Oscar for the screenplay of Shakespeare in Love, and a knighthood. Yet Stoppard is and always has been a hard man to pin down, and noted critic and academic Nadel freely admits that "Stoppard in many ways resists biography." Fortunately, that does not keep him from trying and, 600-plus pages later, largely succeeding. Canadian critic/biographer Nadel (Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen) spends considerable time wending his way through the Stoppard chronology, dwelling on the linguistically lush plays like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Thing, and Arcadia, all of which are uniquely complex, comedic, and intellectual. This thorough and fresh text updates and surpasses Michael Billington's 1987 Stoppard the Playwright. The best and most complete Stoppard biography available, this is a no-brainer acquisition decision for all collections. Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Ira Nadel is a well-known critic and biographer. The author of the acclaimed Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen, he is a commentator for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and teaches English at the University of British Columbia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan; 1st Palgra edition (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312237782
• ISBN-13: 978-0312237783
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #468,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Theatre

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unauthorized Bio, October 17, 2002

By 

Antoinette Constable "Crazy About WWII" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom Stoppard: A Life (Hardcover)

Nadel has clearly done his homework in his reading about the theatre and plays generally. But he also unfortunately, and probably in order to fill in many gaps, provides us with far too many of unnecessary details-- such as the street number of the house where Stoppard's father was born, but little valid information about Tom Stoppard as an an author,-- though we're given much useless information about other characters- or the very plays he's supposed to explore for and with us. If you haven't read all the plays, you will find the book heavy, literally and figuratively.

Praise, when given, often seems grudging-- we are told, in the acknowlegments, that the playright was generous, as told Nadel by Stoppard's sister. But that generosity isn't shown in the body of the biography , though we're given many petty details, such as Stoppard being often late or disorganized.

In writing his unauthorized bio,Nadel,by definition, had to leave out much: what he was unaware of, what he couldn't explore, and what he didn't understand. He appears unaware of Stoppard's aim of creating a theater of ideas as more than a theater of action.

At over 500 pages, this biography is too long and repetitive. (And surely, somewhere, there could have been traces of humor, considering Nadel was writing about a most witty author...)

Being left with many unanswered questions, in spite of its topic, I found this book disappointing.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REALLY NOW, WHO IS TOM STOPPARD?, July 8, 2002

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tom Stoppard: A Life (Hardcover)

Precisely who is the man who gave us such disturbing and erudite plays as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," "The Real Thing," and most recently "The Coast Of Utopia"? He is arguably the foremost dramatist of our time, but what makes Tom Stoppard tick?

We'll not find the answers to these questions in a biography of the playwright by Ira Nadel, although that is not due to lack of research as there are almost 100 pages of references and indices included in this rather weighty tome.

Perhaps the best one can do in assessing another human being is to hazard guesses based on observation. There are observations aplenty in this highly readable portrait of an enigmatic genius who, almost singlehandedly, has altered the face of 20th century drama.

For Stoppard, born Tomas Straussler in 1937, it has been a far journey from his home in Czechoslovakia to Hollywood, Broadway, and London's West End. Readers take this journey with him, observing Stoddard's evolution into a playwright concerned with morals and politics, noting the ups and downs in his personal life, and seeing his connectedness to his past.

Critic/biographer Nadel has done an exemplary job in documenting the life of a contradictory figure. Yet, the question lingers: precisely who is Tom Stoppard?

- Gail Cooke