Style
In considering the style in which this play was written, it could be helpful to place it in a time period. It was published in 1997, and takes place from 1979 to 1995. It is clearly set in the modern era. Interestingly enough, it does not follow a modern model. It is much more pre-modern, in that the subject of the play is stable, we understand it, whereas modernism would present certain problems in our viewing. There are also clear cause and effect relationships, and it is generally unified and linear. The play does stray slightly into modernism in that there are questions of morality when Dominic leaves Amy, and the social order is challenged when Esme is forced out of theater and into television. Esme also loses her savings through Lloyd's investing misfortunes, and Dominic rises from a nobody-critic to a big-time film director.
In terms of more specific styles, each address author concerns, comprehensibility, plot construction, character substance, setting, and language. In looking at realism, the author is most concerned about "the impact the evils of society will have upon the human spirit." This can be either issue driven, where there are specific references to societal issues and historical events, or character driven, where the play follows the change in characters more closely than related facts. Amy's View is actually sort of a mixture of these, addressing the conflict between theater and new media, but also drawing on the growth of the characters as they navigate this changing culture.
Comprehensibility, of course, deals with the way in which the world is presented and how easy it is for us to understand. A realistic play must be logical and probable, which Amy's View certainly is. Plot construction must also be logical and linear. Amy's View is just this, following a cause and effect pathway, despite being broken up over time. Characters of a realistic play should naturally be realistic as well – lifelike and believable as real people. The only place where this is stretched is in Dominic's role, where some critics find the actor struggling to "make the character human." Setting and language obviously need also be realistic, perhaps set in a limited space (Esme's living room) and using dialogue that "reflects the lives of the audience."
After analyzing each component of a realistic play, it is clear that Amy's View follows a realistic model.
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Famous quotes containing the word style:
“I would observe to you that what is called style in writing or speaking is formed very early in life while the imagination is warm, and impressions are permanent.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I concluded that I was skilled, however poorly, at only one thing: marriage. And so I set about the business of selling myself and two children to some unsuspecting man who might think me a desirable second-hand mate, a man of good means and disposition willing to support another man’s children in some semblance of the style to which they were accustomed. My heart was not in the chase, but I was tired and there was no alternative. I could not afford freedom.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain much kinetic matter.... For me “style” is matter.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)