Tom Stoppard鈥檚 friends have nothing but good things to say about him
Beloved playwright Tom Stoppard, winner of countless accolades 鈥� including an Academy Award and a shelf of Tony Awards 鈥� first asked the great biographer Hermione Lee to write his life story in 2013, and that book, 鈥淭om Stoppard: A Life,鈥� has finally appeared. The book dresses out at almost 900 pages. This will be a cause for celebration among the many fans Lee has garnered with her other biographies; she鈥檚 previously focused on Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf, Penelope Fitzgerald, and, most magnificently, Edith Wharton. A big new book from Lee is always a happy event for readers of biography.
Stoppard, too, has armies of fans. Born as Toma虂s虒 Stra虉ussler in Czechoslovakia in 1937 and raised in England by his mother Marta (n茅e Beckova虂) and his English stepfather Kenneth Stoppard, he began his writing career as a columnist and theater critic. It wasn鈥檛 too long before he turned to playwriting himself, achieving enormous national success beginning in 1967 for his play 鈥淩osencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,鈥� which was immediately embraced by critics and theatergoers alike.
An unbroken string of successes stretched out from that auspicious event. Stoppard went on to write engaging stage works like 鈥淎rcadia鈥� and 鈥淭he Coast of Utopia.鈥� He worked as a translator of other writers, including his friend V谩clav Havel. He co-wrote the screenplay for the hugely popular movie 鈥淪hakespeare in Love.鈥� He was ubiquitous at gala events. He received the full battery of honors 鈥� president of the London Library, honorary fellow of the British Academy, patron of charities, the beaming face of the public Man of Letters. He has the stately home, the long vacations abroad, and the status of a literary institution; his plays are anthologized and taught in schools; his name is used as an adjective for describing delightfully playful and hyper-intellectual writing.
Along the way, he鈥檚 amassed a sizable archive, the primary sources of his own life and times. And although many old friends like Harold Pinter or Havel have died, a legion of friends still remains, and almost all of them share the same general feeling about Stoppard: that he鈥檚 a genuinely important figure in English literature, that he matters.
Lee gained access to all of this 鈥� the archive, the old friends, all the behind-the-scenes details 鈥� when she agreed to become Stoppard鈥檚 biographer. This is about as authorized as an authorized biography can be.
Stoppard tells Lee that he imagines his biography as something that exists parallel to his lived experience: 鈥淗e would be living his life, and I would be writing about his life, and occasionally the lines would intersect,鈥� he says. And, Lee tells her readers, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 exactly how it has been.鈥�
鈥淲hile I鈥檝e been working in his archives, talking to people who know him and writing this book,鈥� she adds, 鈥渉e鈥檚 been getting on with being Tom Stoppard.鈥�
Throughout the book, Lee perceptively discusses Stoppard鈥檚 work 鈥� her analyses of his major plays are some of the most invigorating examinations they鈥檝e ever received 鈥� but it becomes increasingly clear that writing those plays has, for decades, been only a relatively small part of 鈥済etting on with being Tom Stoppard.鈥� As so often happens in authorized biographies, readers are regularly subjected to appointment calendars in place of historical narrative. There鈥檚 a ceremony at Windsor for the Queen Mother, a trip to New York for Christopher Hitchens鈥� memorial, an awards presentation, hosting Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,聽at a dinner, attending Jade Jagger鈥檚 wedding, helping Prince Michael of Kent celebrate his birthday....
The word for all this is glamour, and the danger of it co-opting the narrative is the main reason why so many biographers prefer to write about subjects who are no longer living.
Stoppard鈥檚 acquaintances, seemingly without exception, tell Lee he鈥檚 a marvelous, significant figure. In a chance run-in at a theater, the actress Sin茅ad Cusack discusses Stoppard鈥檚 third wife, the producer Sabrina Guinness, with Stoppard鈥檚 old director friend John Boorman. 鈥淵ou know, Sabrina has always been looking for a good man; and now she鈥檚 got the best man in the world,鈥� she tells him 鈥� and the comment somehow makes its way to Lee.
There鈥檚 virtually nothing in 鈥淭om Stoppard: A Life鈥� that reflects even poorly, let alone damningly, on its subject. Is that because Stoppard has no flaws? Or is it because Lee would rather not speak ill of her friends, several of whom she thanks in the book鈥檚 acknowledgements, including Stoppard鈥檚 third wife and his lawyer? Time will certainly tell.
