Three Uses of the Knife

On the Nature and Purpose of Drama

David Mamet

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Paperback

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English

Random House USA Inc
15 August 2000

Plays & playscripts; Crime & Mystery

The purpose of theater, like magic, like religion . . . is to inspire cleansing awe. What makes good drama? And why does drama matter in an age that is awash in information and entertainment? David Mamet, one of our greatest living playwrights, tackles these questions with bracing directness and aphoristic authority. He believes that the tendency to dramatize is essential to human nature, that we create drama out of everything from today's weather to next year's elections. But the highest expression of this drive remains the theater.

With a cultural range that encompasses Shakespeare, Bretcht, and Ibsen, Death of a Salesmanand Bad Day at Black Rock, Mamet shows us how to distinguish true drama from its false variants. He considers the impossibly difficult progression between one act and the next and the mysterious function of the soliloquy. The result, in Three Uses of the Knife, is an electrifying treatise on the playwright's art that is also a strikingly original work of moral and aesthetic philosophy.

By: David Mamet
Imprint: Random House USA Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 201mm, Width: 133mm, Spine: 7mm
Weight: 85g
ISBN: 9780375704239
ISBN 10: 037570423X
Pages: 96
Publication Date: 15 August 2000
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama

[Mamet] brings his usual passion and provocation to his treatise on what makes good drama. --Vanity Fair No modern playwright has been bolder or more brilliant. --The New Yorker Pinter, Albee, Miller. They're all looking over Mamet's shoulder. --New York David Mamet adds yet another segment to a body of work that puts him among the great writers of this, or any other, time. --Joe Mantegna