DIALOGUE - New Critical Idiom Author:Peter Womack Dialogue is a form that has been used in varying ways at different cultural moments, adapting to the needs of the time and of its speakers. Playful and allusive, it has often been the mode of expression for eccentrics and provocateurs, but can also claim to be the original format for Western Philosophy. In this clear and concise guide to the his... more »torical and contemporary significance of the term, Peter Womack: considers the history of the dialogue form, looking at Platonic, Renaissance, Enlightenment and Modern examples examines questions of writing versus conversation and public versus private, and how literary dialogue moves between the two illustrates the use of dialogue in the many 'voices 'of the novel and considers the place of dramatic dialogue looks at the influential dialogic theories of Mikhail Bakhtin. Practical and thought-provoking, this volume is the ideal springboard for those first encountering this diverse and fascinating literary form.« less