Language
The use of language is that of words solely originating from individuals. Anna Deavere Smith interviewed individuals and recorded their words, exactly as said. Smith then transcribed their words onto paper. The culmination of Smith’s work is a series of versed monologues that are able to convey both meaning and feeling. Smith tries to transcribe in a style that keeps all of the words and emotions of their authors intact. When read on paper, the words and sentences are broken up, to give a sense of sound of how they gave their interview. This portrays a sense that each character is in deep thought, excited and rushed, and so on during their interviews. This allowed Smith to emulate the characters' speech patterns and vocal rhythms to try to convey the essence of each character.
Read more about this topic: Fires In The Mirror
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“One can say of language that it is potentially the only human home, the only dwelling place that cannot be hostile to man.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to.... The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.”
—Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890)
“... language is meaningful because it is the expression of thoughts—of thoughts which are about something.”
—Roderick M. Chisholm (b. 1916)