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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What news does Nadya deliver to Lenin in the beginning of the play?

2. Where on his body was Carr wounded in the war?

3. In describing his trenches experience in this section, Carr says he ruined several what?

4. How does Tzara say Cecily is studying the great poets?

5. To which "misfortune" does Carr refer in this section, regarding Tristan Tzara (14)?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Lenin's aversion to career artists.

2. What new revelation regarding Bennett is revealed in the final moments of the play?

3. What is Lenin's ill-fated plan to leave Switzerland?

4. How does Joyce convince Carr to take the role of Algernon?

5. How does Joyce explain his decision to produce The Importance of Being Earnest?

6. What events have transpired in Russia since the abdication of the czar?

7. What is Henry Carr's relationship to James Joyce?

8. How does Carr incorrectly describe Lenin in this monologue?

9. What warning does Carr give Tzara regarding the Bolsheviks int his section?

10. How do the Zimmerwaldists plan to leave Switzerland?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tom Stoppard is a linguist, perhaps the most adventurous linguist of the modern theatre. Language plays a major part in Travesties, though the play is all in English. Write an essay analyzing the major forms the writing takes, focusing on four forms: Witty Farce, Docudrama, Modern Debate, and Limericks. When dos each form occur in the play? What characters or topics are invariably involved with each form? Does one form generally follow another?

Essay Topic 2

Over the course of the play, many characters argue the virtues and vices of new art. Each of the major figures has a different view regarding art's place in society. Write an essay discussing these viewpoints, focusing on the four major characters of the play. What does each think about the role of art? What is the value of old art? What about new art like Dada? What lesson is art meant to impart to its audience?

Part 1) Henry Carr

Part 2) Tristan Tzara

Part 3) James Joyce

Part 4) Lenin

Essay Topic 3

The play opens with a tableau of the Zurich Library. It includes three tables, inhabited by five characters. Write an essay analyzing this opening tableau as a diagram for the artistic and political debate which is to follow. Who dominates each table? What are these dominant figures doing at the beginning of the play? What major movements of the First World War era are represented by these tables?

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