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Pragmatic stylistics and dramatic dialogue

Re-assessing Gus’s role in Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter
  • Susan Mandala
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Dialogue across Media
This chapter is in the book Dialogue across Media

Abstract

In this chapter, I follow Short (1989, 1998) and view dramatic dialogue as a form of exchange that can be read on the page just as legitimately as it can be experienced on stage. Employing a pragmatic stylistic analysis linking the text on the page to my interpretation, I offer a re-reading of Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter. While for Burton (1980) Ben was “the dominating and superior interactant,” and Gus “the dominated and inferior one” (70), I argue here that it is Gus who can be considered the dominating character and show in the concluding discussion why this recalibration of power is significant for our wider understanding of the play.

Abstract

In this chapter, I follow Short (1989, 1998) and view dramatic dialogue as a form of exchange that can be read on the page just as legitimately as it can be experienced on stage. Employing a pragmatic stylistic analysis linking the text on the page to my interpretation, I offer a re-reading of Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter. While for Burton (1980) Ben was “the dominating and superior interactant,” and Gus “the dominated and inferior one” (70), I argue here that it is Gus who can be considered the dominating character and show in the concluding discussion why this recalibration of power is significant for our wider understanding of the play.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Creating characters through dialogue
  6. Pragmatic stylistics and dramatic dialogue 19
  7. Dialogue and character in 21st century TV drama 37
  8. Look who’s talking 55
  9. All talk 77
  10. Part II. Involvement, audience design and social interaction
  11. Studying everyday conversation 95
  12. Dialogic interactions on radio 117
  13. Dialogism in journalistic discourse 137
  14. Friends and followers ‘in the know’ 155
  15. Dialogue with computers 179
  16. Part III. Playfulness and narrative functions of dialogue
  17. Dialogue in Audiophonic Fiction 205
  18. Dialogue in comics 225
  19. Dialogue in video games 251
  20. Dialogue and interaction in role-playing games 271
  21. Index 291
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.28.02man

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Creating characters through dialogue
  6. Pragmatic stylistics and dramatic dialogue 19
  7. Dialogue and character in 21st century TV drama 37
  8. Look who’s talking 55
  9. All talk 77
  10. Part II. Involvement, audience design and social interaction
  11. Studying everyday conversation 95
  12. Dialogic interactions on radio 117
  13. Dialogism in journalistic discourse 137
  14. Friends and followers ‘in the know’ 155
  15. Dialogue with computers 179
  16. Part III. Playfulness and narrative functions of dialogue
  17. Dialogue in Audiophonic Fiction 205
  18. Dialogue in comics 225
  19. Dialogue in video games 251
  20. Dialogue and interaction in role-playing games 271
  21. Index 291
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