ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to introduce interested readers to those aspects of Stoppard’s work that engage with notions of the unreal, irrational, and ridiculous, that make it simultaneously funny and profound. Stoppard once said that he could be described as a conservative with a small c; for the purposes of this chapter, he will be treated as an absurdist with a small a. Stoppard’s works frequently riff on developments in the sciences that seem to lead to paradoxes and absurdities, such as the uncertainty principle of Hapgood, the chaos mathematics of Arcadia, and the cognitive neuroscience of The Hard Problem. All of this is far from the despairing world of the absurd as defined by Esslin, but it contributes to Stoppard’s own unique blend of playful philosophy, inventive language, and delight in absurdity
