CHOOSING WORDS–STOPPARD AND THE CRICKET BAT.

CHOOSING WORDS–STOPPARD AND THE CRICKET BAT. It is surprising to see Ben Brantley saying that Stoppard despairs of communicating with words considering that one of Stoppard’s characters has an eloquent statement of what can be done with words and craftsmanship. In THE REAL THING, Henry, a professional writer, compares good writing to a cricket bat, “several pieces of particular wood cunningly put together” so that” if you get it right, the cricket ball will travel two hundred yards in four seconds.” He compares bad writing to a lump of wood shaped roughly like a cricket bat: “if you hit a ball with it, the ball will travel about ten feet and you will drop the bat and dance about shouting Ouch! with your hands stuck into your armpits.” The whole speech is brilliantly written and funny, and brings sustained applause.