The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri (Book review)
Welcome to our new book review series. This review is written by Mary Van Everbroeck, student at Barany School of Fiction who writes women’s fiction and nonfiction.
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In The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri, the author’s explanation and use of dialectics (understanding change through movement within dialogue) by analyzing characters in plays, provided me with a dazzling learning experience.
I was front and center with popcorn in hand, leaning back in my seat nice and cozy enjoying a great performance.
Beginning with the Foreword of The Art of Dramatic Writing, and ending with the last page, in which Egri presents a final synopsis of the play, Idiot’s Delight by Robert Sherwood I stood alongside the characters.
Together we experienced both successful and unsuccessful storytelling based on whether the dialectical approach to understanding change had been followed.
My Experience
The experience of reading of The Art of Dramatic Writing helped me to understand what enables plays, books, movies, and teaching to be great and what skills I needed to develop in order to write great stories.
I listened to the audio version and read the book. Listening offered me the opportunity to visualize the scenes he discussed, while reading helped me to focus on the detailed meaning of his words.
As a result of my creativity and intellect being stimulated through listening to both the audio and book, I experienced an intense synergistic learning experience.
Who This Book is For
This book is for playwrights, authors, screenwriters, and writing teachers who yearn to fulfill the expectations of audiences through their plays, books, movies and teaching.
The entire book is filled with examples from plays. To my surprise, after listening to the audio I had an urge that wouldn’t be quelled to read A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, along with several of the other plays Egri discusses. I am currently reading A Doll’s House. I suspect that many writers have had a similar experience after reading The Art of Dramatic Writing.
My appreciation for writing has intensified from being exposed to Egri’s analysis of plays throughout this book. I found his use of the play as a format to teach what is and is not successful writing intriguing. Without a doubt, Egri has motivated me to continue to explore and learn the skills associated with the Dialectical Approach to writing.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Van Everbroeck is a student at Barany School of Fiction and writes women’s fiction and nonfiction. You can connect with her on Twitter @MVanEverbroeck.
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