Dialogue

The term dialogue (or dialog) expresses basically reciprocal conversation between two or more persons. The etymological origins of the word (in Greek concepts like flowing-through meaning) do not necessarily convey the way in which people have come to use the word.

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When reported or imitated in writing, "dialogue" labels a form of literature invented by the Greeks for purposes of rhetorical entertainment and instruction, and scarcely modified since the days of its invention.

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A literary dialogue comprises a little drama without a theatre, and with scarcely any change of scene. It can exhibit those qualities which La Fontaine applauded in the dialogue of Plato, namely vivacity, fidelity of tone, and accuracy in the opposition of opinions. It has long served writers who have something to censure or to impart, but who love to stand outside the pulpit, and to encourage others to pursue a train of thought which the author does not seem to do more than indicate. The dialogue expresses and notes down the undulations of human thought so spontaneously that it almost escapes analysis. All that any literature records of the alleged actual words spoken by living or imaginary people appears dialogic. One branch of letters, the drama, depends upon dialogue almost exclusively. But in its technical sense the word describes what the Greek philosophers invented, and what the noblest of them lifted to the extreme refinement of an art.

Conversation: For the movie from Francis Ford Coppola, see The Conversation....

Greek: The noun Greek refers to:...

Rhetoric: Rhetoric (from Greek ?????, rh?t?r, "orator") is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar) in Western culture. In ancient and medieval times, both rhetoric and dialectic were understood to aim at being persuasive. The concept of rhetoric has shi...