September Book Club: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm

September’s book selection is Tom Stoppard’s comedic one-scene play by Tom Stoppard.  The play spans two time periods, from the Victorian Era to late Twentieth Century.

Thirteen-year-old Thomasina Coverly opens the play by accepting her tutor, Septimus Hodge’s challenge to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem, an unsolved problem that intrigues mathematicians to present day.  As Thomasina busies herself, Septimus critiques a poem written by another character Ezra Chater.  Chaos insues when Chater bursts into the study to demand satisfaction over the rumor of Hodge’s affair with his wife.

Nearly two hundred years later Hannah Jarvis is found in the same study researching the grounds of the estate.  As a renowned author on gardening, Jarvis challenged herself to find the notorious hermit said to have lived on the estate at the time Coverly and Hodge resided there.  With the exception of a sketch of the hermit on the estate, there is no other hard evidence of his existence.

Will Hannah Jarvis find the true identity of the mysterious hermit of Arcadia?  Will Thomasina ever solve Fermat’s Last Theorem?  The true study of this masterwork by Stoppard is the interaction between the characters and the science behind love and sex –“the attraction which Newton left out.”

Feel free to bring your lunch and a friend, and share your thoughts.  Unable to attend the meeting but still interested in participating?  Follow us on our blog.

Local hand-roasted coffee will be generously provided by Cafe Brioso.