From the Back Cover
It is 1936 and A. E. Housman is being ferried across the river Styx, glad to be dead at last. His memories are dramatically alive. The river that flows through Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love connects Hades with the Oxford of Housman's youth: High Victorian morality is under siege from the Aesthetic movement, and an Irish student called Wilde is preparing to burst onto the London scene. On his journey the scholar and poet who is now the elder Housman confronts his younger self, and the memories of the man he loved his entire life, Moses Jackson-the handsome athlete who could not return his feelings. As if a dream, The Invention of Love inhabits Housman's imagination, illuminating both the pain of hopeless love and passion displaced into poetry and the study of classical texts. The author of A Shropshire Lad lived almost invisibly in the shadow of the flamboyant Oscar Wilde, and died old and venerated-but whose passion was truly the fatal one? "Vintage Stoppard in its intelligence and wit."-Matt Wolf, Variety "Tom Stoppard at his best; manipulative, inquisitive, irresistible . . . a master at work."-Sunday Times (London) "So beautifully constructed that the playwright seems to be discovering his play only one jump ahead of the audience. It has that sense of surprise and wonder."-Vincent Canby, The New York Times "A magical memory play which meanders like an elaborate dream . . . Stoppard has been inspired to write the most emotionally powerful and enthralling play of his career. Never before has he written with such exciting eloquence."-Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard "Some of the finest, most passionate, and most disarmingly brilliant dramatic writing that he has given us."-Alastair Macaulay, The Financial Times Tom Stoppard is the author of such seminal works as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Arcadia, The Real Thing, Travesties, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, and The Real Inspector Hound.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It is 1936 and A.E. Housman is being ferried across the river Styx, glad to be dead at last. His memories are dramatically alive. The river that flows through Tom Stoppard's new play connects Hades with the Oxford of Housman's youth: High Victorian morality is under siege from the Aesthetic movement, and an Irish student called Wilde is preparing to burst onto the London scene.

On his journey the elder Housman confronts his younger self, the flamboyant Wilde, and the memories of the man he loved his entire life, Moses Jackson -- the handsome, athletic, and wholly heterosexual classmate who could not return his affection. Housman reflects on a life spent alone, first as a patent office clerk, and then as a renowned classics scholar, burying his passion in his poetry. As if a dream, The Invention of Love travels through Housman's life -- a struggle with unrequited love and his passion for dead texts -- and asks, Which is more fatal: intellect or emotion?

FROM THE CRITICS

Sunday Times (London)

Tom Stoppard at his best; manipulative, inquisitive, irresistible...a master at work.

Daily Telegraph

Tom Stoppard is at the top of his form....The Invention of Love does not just make you think, it also makes you feel.

Financial Times

Some of the finest, most passionate, and most disarmingly brilliant dramatic writing that he has given us.

Evening Standard

A magical memory play which meanders like an elaborate dream....Stoppard has been inspired to write the most emotionally powerful and enthralling play of his career. Never before has he written with such exciting eloquence.

Vincent Canby