The Invention of Love

The Invention of Love, by Tom Stoppard, is the timeless tale of A.E. Housman, one of the greatest English poets of the 19th century. It was only through deeply melancholy works that Housman could express his lifelong unrequited passion for a fellow student at Oxford, Moses Jackson. Stoppard’s story begins with Housman old and infirm, dreaming he is dead and being ferried across the river Styx by the mythical boatman Charon. Along the way, he returns to the Oxford of his youth, at a time when Parliament has condemned acts of “gross indecency.” He also visits the French seashore, where Oscar Wilde is living out his final days.