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DIALOGUE
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DIALOGUE , properly the conversation between two or more persons, reported in See also:writing, a See also:form of literature invented by the Greeks for purposes of rhetorical entertainment and instruction, and scarcely modified since the days of its invention. A dialogue is in reality a little See also:drama without a See also:theatre, and with scarcely any See also:change of See also:scene. It should be illuminated with those qualities which La See also:Fontaine applauded in the dialogue of See also:Plato, namely vivacity, fidelity of See also:tone, and accuracy in the opposition of opinions. It has always been a favourite with those writers who have something to censure or to impart, but who love to stand outside the See also:pulpit, and to encourage others to pursue a See also:train of thought which the author does not seem to do more than indicate. The dialogue is so spontaneous a mode of expressing and noting down the undulations of human thought that it almost escapes See also:analysis. All that is recorded, in any literature, of what pretend to be the actual words spoken by living or imaginary See also:people is of the nature of dialogue. One See also:branch of letters, the drama, is entirely founded upon it. But in its technical sense the word is used to describe what the See also:Greek philosophers invented, and what the noblest of them lifted to the extreme refinement of an See also:art. The systematic use of dialogue as an See also:independent See also:literary form is commonly supposed to have been introduced by Plato, whose earliest experiment in it is believed to survive in the Lathes. The Platonic dialogue, however, was founded on the See also:mime, which had been cultivated See also:half a See also:century earlier by the Sicilian poets, See also:Sophron and See also:Epicharmus. The See also:works of these writers, which Plato admired and imitated, are lost, but it is believed that they were little plays, usually with only two performers. The recently discovered mimes of See also:Herodas (Herondas) give us some See also:idea of their See also:scope. Plato further simplified the form, and reduced it to pure argumentative conversation, while leaving intact the amusing See also:element of See also:character-See also:drawing. He must have begun this about the See also:year 405, and by 399 he had brought the dialogue to its highest perfection, especially in the See also:cycle directly inspired by the See also:death of See also:Socrates. All his philosophical writings, except the See also:Apology, are See also:cast in this form. As the greatest of all masters of Greek See also:prose See also:style, Plato lifted his favourite See also:instrument, the dialogue, to its highest splendour, and to this See also:day he remains by far its most distinguished proficient. In the 2nd century A.D. See also:Lucian of See also:Samosata achieved a brilliant success with his ironic dialogues " Of the Gods," " Of the Dead," " Of Love " and " Of the Courtesans." In some of them he attacks superstition and philosophical See also:error with the sharpness of his wit; in others he merely paints scenes of See also:modern See also:life. The See also:title of Lucian's most famous collection was borrowed in the 17th century by two See also:French writers of See also:eminence, each of whom prepared Dialogues See also:des morts. These were See also:Fontenelle (1683) and See also:Fenelon (1712). In See also:English non-dramatic literature the dialogue had not been extensively employed until See also:Berkeley used it, in 1713, for his Platonic See also:treatise, See also:Hylas and Philonous. See also:Landor's Imaginary Conversations (1821–1828) is the most famous example of it in the 19th century, although the dialogues of See also:Sir See also:Arthur See also:Helps claim See also:attention. In See also:Germany, See also:Wieland adopted this form for several important satirical works published between 1780 and 1799. In See also:Spanish literature, the Dialogues of See also:Valdes (1528) and those on See also:Painting (1633) by Vincenzo See also:Carducci, are celebrated. In See also:Italian, collections of dialogues, on the See also:model of Plato, have been composed by Torquato See also:Tasso (1586), by Galileo (1632), by See also:Galiani (1770), by See also:Leopardi (1825), and by a See also:host of lesser writers. In our own day, the French have returned to the See also:original application of dialogue, and the inventions of " See also:Gyp," of See also:Henri See also:Lavedan and of others, in which a mundane See also:anecdote is wittily and maliciously told in conversation, would probably See also:present a See also:close See also:analogy to the lost mimes of the See also:early Sicilian poets, if we could meet with them. This See also:kind of dialogue has been employed in English, and with conspicuous cleverness by Mr See also:Anstey See also:Guthrie, but it does not seem so easily appreciated by English as by French readers. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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