Like many others who embrace the British soul by destiny, not by birth, (born in Czechoslovakia with the name Tomás Sträussler) he became a national treasure of United Kingdom literature over the years. The playwright, author of works such as Rosencrantz and Guildersten are dead. or the film script died this Saturday at the age of 88 at his residence in Dorset, surrounded by his family.
“He will be remembered for the brilliance and humanity of his works, for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his deep love for the English language,” United Agents, the agency that represented the playwright, said in a statement.
He defined himself as a conservative with a small c, almost a liberal, with a deep concern for human rights, political freedom and censorship, which he conveyed in many of his early works.
He left Czechoslovakia with his parents, two non-practicing Jews, to begin a life as a refugee that took him to Singapore and India until he ended up in England in 1946. His father, according to Stoppard himself, drowned on the ship he was trying to escape from the Japanese army. A doctor by profession, he served voluntarily on the British side.
The playwright, decorated and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, began as a journalist. He immediately began writing short works for radio, until in 1960 he presented his first creation for the stage, Enter a Free Man (A Free Man).
which he provided with a narrative structure and agility that seduced millions of viewers. Something that is clearly reflected in one of his most famous works, , which revolves around the lack of self-determination and the irremediable fate of two secondary characters in the Hamlet by William Shakespeare who do not understand what their role really is in that great tragedy, all told with a very humorous stoppardiano. For that work, first presented in 1966 at the Edinburgh Festival and performed two years later by the National Theater Company, he won four Tony Awards, including best play.
Lovers of the cinema and literature of another great giant of British literature, John Le Carré, know that Stoppard’s hand is behind one of the most exquisitely constructed film adaptations, which did not have enough.
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