“We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia

Arcadia can be read as a subverted detective story in which history is reinterpreted rather than deciphered. The sleuth is a ruthlessly ambitious scholar who distorts evidence so as to achieve his ends. Arcadia thus highlights the unreliability of textual meaning, appealing to the reader/spectator’s...

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Main Author: Aloysia Rousseau
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2011-12-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2450
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author Aloysia Rousseau
author_facet Aloysia Rousseau
author_sort Aloysia Rousseau
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description Arcadia can be read as a subverted detective story in which history is reinterpreted rather than deciphered. The sleuth is a ruthlessly ambitious scholar who distorts evidence so as to achieve his ends. Arcadia thus highlights the unreliability of textual meaning, appealing to the reader/spectator’s vigilance and inviting him to participate in the hermeneutical quest. This paper will throw light upon the play’s double time frame as being characteristic of the whodunit before focusing on the figure of Bernard as anti-detective and finally analysing how visual deciphering prevails over scriptural deciphering.
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spelling doaj.art-581dc28dcd584d68ae6ab1d7111b38392022-12-21T18:11:17ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022011-12-0113“We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s ArcadiaAloysia RousseauArcadia can be read as a subverted detective story in which history is reinterpreted rather than deciphered. The sleuth is a ruthlessly ambitious scholar who distorts evidence so as to achieve his ends. Arcadia thus highlights the unreliability of textual meaning, appealing to the reader/spectator’s vigilance and inviting him to participate in the hermeneutical quest. This paper will throw light upon the play’s double time frame as being characteristic of the whodunit before focusing on the figure of Bernard as anti-detective and finally analysing how visual deciphering prevails over scriptural deciphering.http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2450ArcadiaTom Stoppardwhodunithermeneuticssemioticspostmodernism
spellingShingle Aloysia Rousseau
“We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
Sillages Critiques
Arcadia
Tom Stoppard
whodunit
hermeneutics
semiotics
postmodernism
title “We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_full “We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_fullStr “We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_full_unstemmed “We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_short “We will write it again”: subverted hermeneutics in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
title_sort we will write it again subverted hermeneutics in tom stoppard s arcadia
topic Arcadia
Tom Stoppard
whodunit
hermeneutics
semiotics
postmodernism
url http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2450
work_keys_str_mv AT aloysiarousseau wewillwriteitagainsubvertedhermeneuticsintomstoppardsarcadia