Style
While there are some depictions of unrealistic events, such as Loomis's "possession" and Bynum's stories about his shining man and inner song, style of Joe Turner is based in realism. In a relatively simple definition of realism, David Rush describes it as
"a style that attempts to depict life on stage as it is actually lived by the members of the audience. It shows us so-called everyday events happening to people like us who live in a world like ours and tells its story in a way that makes it appear logical and believable (191).
Joe Turner is exactly that, a linear story line with depictions of everyday life for the residents of the boardinghouse. While modern audiences can’t necessarily relate with all aspects of this culture, it is definitely plausible in the context of American history. Later Rush goes on to qualify realism by "three unities: time, place, and action (192)". Again this play follows this definition of realism in that it is linear plot, remains in the place- the boardinghouse in Pittsburgh- and effectively tells the story of the few people that live in this house.
In a review of the Ethel Barrymore staging of the play, Clive Barnes comments on the language, idiom, and mix of naturalism and symbolism are beautifully staged and the cast is excellent at depicting the realistic play and develop it a heartrending climax.
Read more about this topic: Joe Turner's Come And Gone
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“If the British prose style is Churchillian, America is the tobacco auctioneer, the barker; Runyon, Lardner, W.W., the traveling salesman who can sell the world the Brooklyn Bridge every day, can put anything over on you and convince you that tomatoes grow at the South Pole.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Everything ponderous, viscous, and solemnly clumsy, all long- winded and boring types of style are developed in profuse variety among Germans—forgive me the fact that even Goethe’s prose, in its mixture of stiffness and elegance, is no exception, being a reflection of the “good old time” to which it belongs, and a reflection of German taste at a time when there still was a “German taste”Ma rococo taste in moribus et artibus.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Carlyle must undoubtedly plead guilty to the charge of mannerism. He not only has his vein, but his peculiar manner of working it. He has a style which can be imitated, and sometimes is an imitator of himself.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)