Dialogue

An experienced novelist reflects on dialogue as the meeting of minds in talk, distinguishing it from monologue and soliloquy and stressing reciprocity, interruption, and the clash of viewpoints as its lifeblood. He surveys philosophical and comic precedents, contrasts one-sided conversational devices with fully dialogic exchanges, and praises novels where each speaker contributes a distinct perspective. He argues that dialogue advances character, drama, and concision, lets authors show rather than tell, and serves technical aims such as impartiality, secrecy, and suspense, while offering practical examples from both modern and classical literature to illustrate effective and ineffective uses.