The Hard Problem - Hardcover

Stoppard, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571322921 ISBN 13: 9780571322923

Publisher: Faber & Faber, London, England, 2015

Synopsis

Above all don't use the word good as though it meant something in evolutionary science.Hilary, a young psychology researcher at a brain-science institute, is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question at work, where psychology and biology meet. If there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness?This is 'the hard problem' which puts Hilary at odds with her colleagues who include her first mentor Spike, her boss Leo and the billionaire founder of the institute, Jerry.Is the day coming when the computer and the fMRI scanner will answer all the questions psychology can ask?Meanwhile Hilary needs a miracle, and she is prepared to pray for one.The Hard Problem by Tom Stoppard premieres at the National Theatre, London, in January 2015.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Stoppard's work includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, After Magritte, Dirty Linen, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, the trilogy The Coast of Utopia and Rock 'n' Roll. His radio plays include If You're Glad I'll Be Frank, Albert's Bridge, Where Are They Now?, Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died, In the Native State and Darkside (incorporating Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon). Television work includes Professional Foul, Squaring the Circle and Parade's End. His film credits include Empire of the Sun, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which he also directed, Shakespeare in Love, Enigma and Anna Karenina.

Review

Praise for The Hard Problem:

Mr. Stoppard is, as always, an adept craftsman. . . . [He] has provided food for thought, and not just a tasting menu but a full, footnoted banquet.” Ben Brantley, New York Times

Tom Stoppard [is] the English-speaking world’s brainiest playwright.” Wall Street Journal

Oozes learning. . . . [Stoppard] proves that it is possible to construct a tight 100 minutes of drama around neuroscientific conceits. . . . He has succeeded . . . this is a play to admire.” Economist

[The Hard Problem] displays intact the dramatist’s remarkable ability to synthesize complex knowledge into wittily metaphorical dialogue. . . . Demand for this brainy, funny, and touching play will long outstrip supply.” New Statesman

Tom Stoppard’s first play for nine years is typically witty an intellectually charged piece that delights in the slippery nature of language and pulses with interesting ideas.” London Evening Standard

100 minutes of condensed brain-ache, marbled by wit and some camisoled sexiness. . . . Admirably high-minded . . . It succeeds, in my view triumphantly.” Daily Mail

Stimulating . . . absorbing . . . A rich, ideas-packed work that . . . offers endless stimulation and represents, like so much of [Stoppard’s] work, a search for absolute values and a belief in the possibility of selfless virtue.” Guardian

The dialogue is flashily impressive . . . it leaves one panting with admiration.” Spectator (UK)

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber, London, England
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571322921
• ISBN 13: 9780571322923
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96