On the Narrative Rhythm of Drama
Dramatic narrative rhythm is the playwright”s rhythmic treatment of all the elements of drama.Such rhythm is achieved through the playwright”s arrangement of his/her work”s acts and scenes,conflicts and clashes, and development of its characters” emotions and affections.The drama”s acts and scenes may be rendered undulating, conflicts and clashes stirring, and its characters” emotions and affections full of ups and downs.But drama is an art of dialogue.Unlike in novels where the novelist may directly describe the novel”s actions and events, and comment on characters or editorialize rather freely, in drama, the playwright has to reveal characters and their conflicts/clashes — that is, he/she has to let characters dramatize the kind of people they are and the kind of events they are engaged in by their own words and actions.So dramatic narratives have to be presented through the playwright”s designing of the plot and the characters” acting and conversing, forming the rhythmic movement of tense or relaxed, sad or happy communication between the drama”s narrative curve and the reader/audience”s emotional response.Thus we have to look at dramatic narrative rhythm from two respects: one, structural rhythm, and two, dialogical rhythm.
drama narrative rhythm structural rhythm dialogical rhythm
Xu Youzhi
Henan University
国内会议
重庆
英文
30-42
2014-10-16（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）