As someone with a vested interest in history, this play seems to speak of topics that are "right up my alley". How much of history do we really understand to be factual? How many of our cultural foundations could be based on nothing more than "Bernardian assumptions"? These questions meander through my mind every time I pick up a book or look at a historical primary source. There are simply too many variables when it comes to the study of history but, in a way, that's what makes it such a dynamic field as opposed to the stagnate pursuits of librarians everyone equates historians to be. I applaud Tom Stoppard in presenting my favorite aspects of historical research in a light that makes it relevant for the pop culture. If it had not already been done this would have been a great idea for a final project...ah well. Here are a few quotes that really stood out to me while I was staring into the speaker:
...the snowflake and the snowstorm...
...the future is disorder...
-These passages spoke to my scholarly soul in a variety of ways. The first paints the bleak picture of what one must always keep in their mind whenever they read an account of a historical event. It matters not whether that event took place in Ancient Greece or 1920s New York City, the account is simply a snowflake in a snow storm. Was it written by a single person or a group? Where was this individual born? What are their political ideologies? Were they involved in a war? How close in time and space were they to the event they are trying to describe? What type of schooling did they receive? Are they writing during a time of war or peace? A single snowflake is a marvel to be hold under a microscope, each unique in design and dimension, but if one only focuses on the singular event think of how many other snowflakes they would lose sight of in the storm. Now imagine trying to capture the power of that storm when only a few, tiny flakes are available to share their knowledge. As for the future, how can it not be anything but disorder? No one can say when an earthquake or other natural disaster may be fall us. Will global warming push us into a catastrophic event we are not prepared for? Unanswered questions, yet only by studying history can we gain a scope to prepare for those future events. History: future disorder through the human scope.
...the best time to live...is when everything you knew is wrong...
-I could not help but remember that passage from The Four Quartets:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
-Which parallels nicely into the next quote:
...you could not see to look before...
-scope and proximity-
...enough time and paper and boredom...you'd have to have a reason for doing it...
...the questions you are asking don't matter...
-Once, again Stoppard captures my passion for history perfectly. My view of the world has always been held through the context of time, paper and boredom yet there would be no view with reason and questions. However, all questions matter. If I were to ask you what you had for breakfast this morning and write down your answer then seal that response in a time capsule you make think me crazy and extremely bored. Yet those are the types of questions historians can make the most of. For example, say you had eggs, toast and a glass of milk (not too far out there for a breakfast choice), someone studying that response in the future would have quite a bit of information about you if they looked closely enough. You obviously had money for those supplies and the means to cook them. Those particular eggs and milk had to have come from somewhere and processed in some manner, thus giving a picture of food standards and dietary supplements. The animals and crops for those items had to have been readily available (would those same breakfast items be found in Greece or Tibet?) thus a picture of the geography and location. You had those particular items for breakfast but why not lunch or dinner or as a midnight snack? Possibly the work of social integration and propaganda? (what is the first thought that comes to mind when someone says eggs? what time of day you picture? why?) Every question matters.
...like travelers who must carry everything in their arms...we die on the march...
- We cannot carry every book or paper written on our history and culture yet we carry them with us none the less. One does not have to have seen Star Wars to recognize the music and plot from the film. (as we have proven) I doubt anyone can tell me the life story of Levi Straus yet most of us wear his legacy everywhere we go. What we carry is what we deem most important. Culturally, socially, personally. We do not take our houses and money with us when we die, we take only what can fit on us and within us.
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