Confession, I bought this by mistake. I thought it was the actual plays by Tom Stoppard, not a commentary on them. Nevertheless I found it interesting ...especially because of the background it gave to Stoppard himself. I'd always thought that he was a dyed in the wool Britisher.....but turns out that he was actually an immigrant...his family fleeing the upheavals in Europe in the second world war. So I guess, English was really his second language...though he certainly seems to have mastered it. If you are a student studying one of the three plays here then I guess this book will be useful to you. But I far prefer to read the actual text and make up my own mind about it before reading the commentaries. Though, to be fair, the commentaries often do throw light on scenes or words that I would have just skipped over....oblivious.
I probably shouldn't really rank this book under these circumstances but......ok, I give it three stars. ( )

There are no astonishing insights in here; it's an introduction to Stoppard criticism at best. Even the line annotations are uninspired. Worth reading, but I'm probably going to follow it up with some articles from more sophisticated critics that go more in-depth. ( )

I bought this because of my interest in Arcadia specifically. It is an excellent study guide. ( )

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Jumpers, Travesties, Arcadia. For well over thirty years, Tom Stoppard has consistently held his position as one of England's most admired dramatists. And for this edition of Faber Critical Guides, Jim Hunter examines four of Stoppard's finest works in the context of his entire oeuvre. Hunter writes, "Stoppard's plays present a unique interplay between fun today and the most basic and serious challenges to human understanding. He writes jokes and comic routines; but at the same time he is also writing about moral responsibility, about goodness, and about our scientific, mathematical, or philosophical understanding of reality.
Having read a review that made me aware the play texts were *not* included, I was overjoyed to find this valuable resource. Stoppard's plays are filled with literary, historical and political references that are so easily missed, and this critical analysis and resource of references was invaluable to my study of TRAVESTIES.

The mindblowing experiences of the two little known attendant lords of Hamlet through the dense matter of the closed play.
"What we are attempting is a hypothesis, in which I answer for him, while you ask me questions." ( )