Read Dialogue in American Drama

Dialogue in American Drama

Ruby Cohn

4.9/5 (33276 ratings)

Description:"A unique contribution to drama appreciation is provided by Mrs. Cohn in this sparkling analysis of functioning dialogue in major modern American plays. She examines imagery, rhythm, original turn of phrase, fidelity to character, but above all the theatrical viability of the dialogue of each play. The author notes that eighty percent of today's Broadway plays, still influenced by Artaud, scripted dialogue is being replaced by incantations, improvisation, and other experimental forms. She chooses, therefore, to look backward from Artaud and his followers to a period of true dramatic dialogue in American theater that she believes began with Eugene O'Neill. Her view of dialogue is Aristotelian-that dialogue furthers plot and reveals character-so that she confines her analyses to those playwrights she believes have written original and distinctive dramatic dialogue and achieved recognizable style, avoiding those she believes have written genteel, anonymous English. Mrs. Cohn's intriguing chapter titles, such as "The Wet Sponge of Eugene O'Neill," "The Garrulous Grotesques of Tennessee Williams," and "The Verbal Murders of Edward Albee," suggests the forcefulness of dialogue as she perceives it: O'Neill fathers realistic American dialogue with his raw language , especially in his efforts to render uneducated speech; Arthur Miller was O'Neill's heir and, through lacking O'Neill's diversity, has a truer ear for his own limited register: Williams brought to the stage the languorous rhythms and lyrical images of southern speech in a way that functioned dramatically rather than decoratively; Albee has drawn upon O'Neill's repetitions, Miller's inflections, and Williams' atmospheric imagery, and has added idiomatic pungency and studied rhythms all his own. The author also discusses plays written by a select group of American novelist and poets who she believes have produced plays of dramatic interest, though she somewhat wistfully imagines what "might have been" had the quality of their dramatic dialogue matched that of their fiction and verse.These writers include Theodre Dreiser, Thomas Wolfe, John Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitz-gerald, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, Mark Harris, John Hawkes, Gertrude Stein,Thornton Wilder (perharps a playwright writing with a novelist's hand). She concludes her book with a brief exploration of drama and theatre today, what future trends are likely to evolve, and wonders, while she believes American theatre have survived several periods of debased dialogue, whether it can do so once again. Mrs. Cohn's clear analyses and brilliant style will bring pleasure and enlightenment to anyone interested in modern drama."-PublisherWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Dialogue in American Drama. To get started finding Dialogue in American Drama, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 360

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: —

Release: 1971

ISBN: w6PcAAAAIAAJ

Description: "A unique contribution to drama appreciation is provided by Mrs. Cohn in this sparkling analysis of functioning dialogue in major modern American plays. She examines imagery, rhythm, original turn of phrase, fidelity to character, but above all the theatrical viability of the dialogue of each play. The author notes that eighty percent of today's Broadway plays, still influenced by Artaud, scripted dialogue is being replaced by incantations, improvisation, and other experimental forms. She chooses, therefore, to look backward from Artaud and his followers to a period of true dramatic dialogue in American theater that she believes began with Eugene O'Neill. Her view of dialogue is Aristotelian-that dialogue furthers plot and reveals character-so that she confines her analyses to those playwrights she believes have written original and distinctive dramatic dialogue and achieved recognizable style, avoiding those she believes have written genteel, anonymous English. Mrs. Cohn's intriguing chapter titles, such as "The Wet Sponge of Eugene O'Neill," "The Garrulous Grotesques of Tennessee Williams," and "The Verbal Murders of Edward Albee," suggests the forcefulness of dialogue as she perceives it: O'Neill fathers realistic American dialogue with his raw language , especially in his efforts to render uneducated speech; Arthur Miller was O'Neill's heir and, through lacking O'Neill's diversity, has a truer ear for his own limited register: Williams brought to the stage the languorous rhythms and lyrical images of southern speech in a way that functioned dramatically rather than decoratively; Albee has drawn upon O'Neill's repetitions, Miller's inflections, and Williams' atmospheric imagery, and has added idiomatic pungency and studied rhythms all his own. The author also discusses plays written by a select group of American novelist and poets who she believes have produced plays of dramatic interest, though she somewhat wistfully imagines what "might have been" had the quality of their dramatic dialogue matched that of their fiction and verse.These writers include Theodre Dreiser, Thomas Wolfe, John Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitz-gerald, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, Mark Harris, John Hawkes, Gertrude Stein,Thornton Wilder (perharps a playwright writing with a novelist's hand). She concludes her book with a brief exploration of drama and theatre today, what future trends are likely to evolve, and wonders, while she believes American theatre have survived several periods of debased dialogue, whether it can do so once again. Mrs. Cohn's clear analyses and brilliant style will bring pleasure and enlightenment to anyone interested in modern drama."-PublisherWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Dialogue in American Drama. To get started finding Dialogue in American Drama, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Special Offer | $0.00

Special Offer! | $0.00

Dialogue in American Drama

Dialogue in American Drama

More Books

Modern Shakespeare Offshoots (Princeton Legacy Library) by Ruby Cohn (2015-03-08)

Modern Shakespeare Offshoots (Princeton Legacy Library) by Ruby Cohn (2015-03-08)

New American Dramatists, 1960-1990 (Modern Dramatists)

New American Dramatists, 1960-1990 (Modern Dramatists)

Casebook on Waiting for Godot

Casebook on Waiting for Godot

A Beckett Canon (Theater: Theory/Text/Performance)

A Beckett Canon (Theater: Theory/Text/Performance)

Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut

Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut

Edward Albee

Edward Albee

Just Play: Beckett's Theater (Princeton Legacy Library)

Just Play: Beckett's Theater (Princeton Legacy Library)

From Desire to Godot: Pocket Theater of Postwar Paris

From Desire to Godot: Pocket Theater of Postwar Paris

Retreats from Realism in Recent English Drama

Retreats from Realism in Recent English Drama