Womack - Dialogue

DIALOGUE

Dialogue is a many-sided critical concept; at once an ancient philosophical genre, a formal component of fiction and drama, a model for the relationship of writer and reader, and a theoretical key to the nature of language. In all its forms, it questions literature, disturbing the singleness and fixity of the written text with the fluid interactivity of conversation.

In this clear and concise guide to the multiple significance of the term, Peter Womack:

outlines the history of dialogue form, looking at Platonic, Renaissance, Enlightenment and Modern examples;

illustrates the play of dialogue in the many voices of the novel, and considers how dialogue works on the stage;

interprets the influential dialogic theories of Mikhail Bakhtin;

examines the idea that literary study itself consists of a dialogue with the past;

presents a useful glossary and further reading section.

Practical and thought-provoking, this volume is the ideal starting-point for the exploration of this diverse and fascinating literary form.

Peter Womack is Professor of Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia.

DIALOGUE

Peter Womack

First published 2011
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2011 Peter Womack

The right of Peter Womack to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.

Typeset in Garamond and Scala Sans by Tayor & Francis Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Womack, Peter, 1952

Dialogue / Peter Womack. 1st ed.

p. cm. (The New critical idiom)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Dialogue analysis. I. Title.

P95.455.W63 2010

401.43 dc22

2010046804

ISBN: 978-0-415-32921-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-32922-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-39127-3 (ebk)

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