Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T13:45:19.565Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Artist Descending a Staircase: Stoppard Captures the Radio Station—and Duchamp

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Elissa S. Guralnick
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Artist Descending a Staircase, Stoppard has constructed a play so well suited to radio that it cannot be translated to any other medium without a significant loss. The play thereby calls into question the popular notion that radio is inferior to the stage as a forum for drama. The play also questions our ability to know, with any certainty, those things we have not witnessed, not to mention those we have. Thus, the two mysteries at the heart of the play—Who killed Donner? Whom did Sophie love?—remain essentially unsolved, even though the play suggests convincing solutions. Similarly, although the play does not explicitly discuss Marcel Duchamp, a portrait of the artist nonetheless emerges, drawn in meticulous detail. Artist, then, is built upon paradox, teasing us at every turn with “Now you see it, now you don't.”

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 105 , Issue 2 , March 1990 , pp. 286 - 300
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Adcock, Craig E.Marcel Duchamp's Notes from the Large Glass: An N-DimensionalAnalysis. Ann Arbor: UMI Research P, 1983.Google Scholar
Antin, David. “Duchamp and Language.” d'Harnoncourt and McShine 99–115.Google Scholar
Apollinaire, Guillaume. “Duchamp.” Marcel Duchamp in Perspective. Ed. Masheck, Joseph. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1975. 25–26.Google Scholar
The Almost Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp. Intro. Richard Hamilton. Catalog of exhibition at the Tate Gallery, 18 June to 31 July 1966. London: Arts Council, 1966.Google Scholar
Cabanne, Pierre. The Brothers Duchamp: Jacques Villon, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Marcel Duchamp. Trans. Harrison, Helga and Harrison, Dinah. Boston: New York Graphic Soc, 1976.Google Scholar
Cabanne, Pierre. Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp. Trans. Padgett, Ron. New York: Viking, 1971.Google Scholar
d'Harnoncourt, Anne. “Introduction.” d'Harnoncourt and McShine 34–45.Google Scholar
d'Harnoncourt, Anne, and Hopps, Walter. Etant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau 2° le gaz d'éclairage: Reflections on a New Work by Marcel Duchamp. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1969.Google Scholar
d'Harnoncourt, Anne, and McShine, Kynaston, eds. Marcel Duchamp. New York: The Museum of Modern Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973.Google Scholar
Duchamp, Marcel. Salt Seller: The Writings of Marcel Duchamp (Marchand du Sel). Ed. Sanouillet, Michel and Peterson, Elmer. New York: Oxford UP, 1973.Google Scholar
Esslin, Martin. “The Mind as a Stage—Radio Drama.” Theatre Quarterly 1.3 (1971): 5–11.Google Scholar
Golding, John. Marcel Duchamp: The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. New York: Viking, 1973.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Anthony. The Theatre of Tom Stoppard. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.Google Scholar
Kelly, Katherine E. “Tbm Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase: Outdoing the ‘Dada’ Duchamp.” Comparative Drama 20.3 (1986): 191–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marquis, Alice Goldfarb. Marcel Duchamp: Eros, C'est la Vie: A Biography. Troy: Whitston, 1981.Google Scholar
Matisse, Paul. “Translator's Note.” Marcel Duchamp, Notes. Arr. and trans. Paul Matisse. Boston: Hall, 1983. N. pag.Google Scholar
McShine, Kynaston. “La vie en Rrose.” d'Harnoncourt and McShine 125–34.Google Scholar
McWhinnie, Donald. The Art of Radio. London: Faber, 1959.Google Scholar
Paz, Octavio. Marcel Duchamp: Appearance Stripped Bare. Trans. Phillips, Rachel and Gardner, Donald. New York: Viking, 1978.Google Scholar
Paz, Octavio. “*Water Writes Always In* Plural.” d'Harnoncourt and McShine 143–58.Google Scholar
Pinter, Harold. “Writing for the Theatre.” The New British Drama. Ed. Popkin, Henry. New York: Grove, 1964. 574–580.Google Scholar
Schwarz, Arturo. The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp. New York: Abrams, 1970.Google Scholar
Stoppard, Tom. Artist Descending a Staircase. Four Plays for Radio. London: Faber, 1984. 19–58.Google Scholar
Stoppard, Tom. Artist Descending a Staircase. London: French, 1988.Google Scholar
Stoppard, Tom. Jumpers. London: Faber, 1972.Google Scholar
Tomkins, Calvin. The Bride and the Bachelors: The Heretical Courtship in Modern Art. New York: Viking, 1965.Google Scholar
Tomkins, Calvin, and the editors of Time-Life Books. The World of Marcel Duchamp, 1887–. New York: Time, 1966.Google Scholar
Wade, David. “British Radio Drama since 1960.” British Radio Drama. Ed. Drakakis, John. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981. 218–44.Google Scholar
Whitaker, Thomas R.Tom Stoppard. New York: Grove, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar