Tom Stoppard - an inventory of his postmodern and near-postmodern literary devices

This Master's thesis is dedicated to the analysis of Tom Stoppard's plays. It analyses their main themes, protagonists and modern and postmodern literary devices that Stoppard used when creating his plays. The theoretical part briefly introduces postmodernism and some of its major characteristics. It further focuses on the theatre of the absurd. In the practical part, Tom Stoppard's plays are then analysed from different angles. The major areas constitute mainly Stoppard's modern and postmodern literary devices, the themes of his plays and their division. The part of this thesis dedicated to themes also discusses the characters of the plays. Key Words: Stoppard, postmodernism, theatre of the absurd, play