"‘This is not science. This is storytelling’: The Poetics of Science in Arcadia"

Liliane Campos (1)

1 PRISMES - PRISMES - Langues, Textes, Arts et Cultures du Monde Anglophone - EA 4398

After using catastrophe theory and quantum mechanics in his earlier texts Professional Foul and Hapgood, Stoppard borrows some of Arcadia’s key concepts from thermodynamics and chaos theory. This article explores the strong epistemological continuity of Stoppard’s references to science, which provide him with metaphors for the systematic instability of knowledge asserted by his plays. The analysis focuses on the poetic use of entropy, unpredictable determinism and iteration in Arcadia, and their structuring role as metaphors of emplotment. Within the dialogue, the evocation of these concepts follows an ekphrastic pattern, strengthening the play’s reflection on the relation between art, time and mimesis.

Mots clés: metaphor; thermodynamics; chaos theory; Tom Stoppard; entropy; determinism; time; drama

Mots clés: Stoppard; Arcadia; science; métaphores; modèles; mise en intrigue; ekphrasis; entropie; déterminisme; itération; temps; theatre

Domaines: Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Littératures; Art et histoire de l'art; Science non linéaire [physics]; Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Physique [physics]

Liliane Campos. "‘This is not science. This is storytelling’: The Poetics of Science in Arcadia". Colloque Arcadias, 14-15 octobre 2011, Paris, laboratoires VALE (Paris Sorbonne) et PRISMES (Sorbonne Nouvelle), Oct 2011, Paris, France. ⟨hal-01292419⟩