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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. When Bennett states that a social revolution has occurred in Russia, what activity does Carr assume this involves?

2. As what does Carr theorize that Tzara is trying to pass?

3. Where is Joyce buried at the time thhat the Old Carr speaks in this section?

4. What is the profession of the man who has Lenin as a tenant, according to Carr?

5. According to Carr, what is the name of the street in Zurich on which both Lenin's lodging and Meierei bar were located?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe some examples of the aristocratic aloofness Carr displays int his section.

2. How does Carr explain Tzara's appearance?

3. What are time slips?

4. How does Carr respond to Tzara's Dadaist sentiments?

5. How is Lenin devastated and frustrated listening to a Beethoven symphony?

6. How do Cecil and Gwen realize that they are both engaged to Tzara?

7. How does Carr's opinion of Joyce seems to change as he sums up the writer's character in his monologue?

8. How does Gwen react to Tzara's poem?

9. Describe Carr's obsession with clothing.

10. What is the last straw for Gwen and Cecily regarding Tzara and Carr?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the character of James Joyce. He is one of the most enigmatic characters in the play, but he has one of the deepest verifiable relationships with Henry Carr. The first half of the essay should concern his art. How does Ulysses fulfill a primal need that he has for literature? What special significance does he assign to the character of Odysseus? The second half should concern his attitude toward money. To what extent does indebtedness and miserliness plague his association with Carr? Is it possible that these attributes may be a creation of Carr the storyteller?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the play cordial, Wilde-esque conversations give way to bouts of unrestrained antipathy between characters. Write an essay about the breaking of the formal shell in the play, focusing on three such outbursts:

Part 1) What is the breaking point for Henry Carr when discussing art with Tristan Tzara in their first conversation of the play? How is Dada so offensive to him? What does Tzara say about the war that infuriates him?

Part 2) Why does Tzara think that Joyce is patronizing him when they discuss Dada in Act 1? How do they differ in their view of classical archetypes in art and literature?

Part 3) Examine the library scene between Cecily and Carr at the beginning of Act 2. What is Cecily's breaking point in discussing Marxism? What patronizing statement does Carr make that sets her off?

Essay Topic 3

Travesties is a homage and subversion of Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest. He steals certain characters and scenes outright and transposes them to a different era. Write an essay about the connection between these two plays in three parts:

Part 1) The two love interests in The Importance of Being Earnest are also called Cecily and Gwendolen. They, too, have odd caveats for their love. What conditions do the two women give in this play regarding their hearts and how do they reflect a world in flux?

Part 2) Mistaken identity plays a major role in Wilde's farce like in Stoppard's. Why do characters in Travesties assume false identities? What is the meaning of the switched folders? How do both represent something more political than personal?

Part 3) Earnest is a product of the Victorian Era, an era of certitude and stricture. Travesties transposes this story to the Edwardian era, when certainty died in the trenches. How does Stoppard undermine Wilde's pat farce injecting it with the madness of the First World War?

(see the answer keys)

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