Tell me about the importance of dialogue in a story.

>said OP, clumsily

>>9489217
Personally, I believe it's terribly overrated. It's hard to write good dialogue so it's a good indicator whether someone is a good writer, but I still always find dialogue to be the weakest part of almost everything I read.

If the book market wasn't 90% women the rules would probably change a lot.

>>9489217
It's what makes Shakespeare great, and he's the greatest.

>>9489217
you say story, so i assume you mean something with a comprehensible plot. depends on the perspective of the novel. but it's safe to say that if the story consists of human beings, dialogue is ultimately one of the most important pieces of a story. it's how we communicate at large, for chrissakes!

>>9489217

Well, basically, you create a fictional persona and a straw man to play devils advocate against him, then just rant as long as you can. Example

>muh orthodoxy
>character which represents this stance, name him after my son
>and an atheist who is wrong and goes mad
>twas ever thus to atheists
>orthodoxy is the business

>>9489349
But Ivan has the best and most convincing argument for atheism in all of literature. It's anything but a strawman.

>>9489217
Some great book a have none, so it's not necessary. But if you do have it, it's quality can make or break the story.

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>>9489257
>but I still always find dialogue to be the weakest part of almost everything I read.
Honestly, I don't get it. Am I the only one who genuinely loves dialogue in a book? Especially the dialogue in Dostoyevky's novels is so passionate, nuanced, cunning, and genuine that it feels like a real verbal conversation - and sadly, such conversations don't exist anymore.

Dialogue is the merit I measure authors on, because that's where an author has the opportunity to show his understanding and skill in summarizing the complexity of human nature. Unless the prose is highly eccentric and well executed like, for example, in Tristram Shandy, the story is nothing but a necessary evil for me.

>inb4 my plebeian ass should fuck off this board and come never again

>>9489484
go on

>>9490166
Re-read book V chapter IV: Rebellion

>>9489349
>straw man
I can tell you haven't read the book. Ivan's argument is actually pretty convincing.

>>9490161
>Am I the only one who genuinely loves dialogue in a book?
No. When I'm reading plays I often whisper the dialogues, try to make them as convincing as possible, as if I were having actors in my head speaking. And this happens spontaneously with dramas, but not with normal prose books.

>Dialogue is the merit I measure authors on, because that's where an author has the opportunity to show his understanding and skill in summarizing the complexity of human nature. Unless the prose is highly eccentric and well executed like, for example, in Tristram Shandy, the story is nothing but a necessary evil for me.
Now this is a bit too far. You should definitely get into theater, if you haven't already. That's where characters and dialogue are by default in the centre of attention.

>>9489851
What are some great books without dialogue?

>>9490276
Wittgenstein's mistress and times arrow (iirc) are two that come to mind.
Admittedly there aren't many.

>>9490161
I've always found the dialogue of Dostoy to be his greatest prose strength. Capturing the voice of a character brings different issues forward, it's a thing separate from the realm of physical action and description.

I can't imagine many authors capable of carrying a novel in the way Gaddis does in JR or Carpenter's Gothic.

>>9490309
I agree with this totally, it probably shows best in the interrogation scene in C&P

>>9490250

I like the book and "Ivan's" argument just fine, my point is it's Dostoevsky argument, socratic and the dialog of most fiction is this.

>>9490390
lol

Ivan makes the strongest argument of any of his characters in brothers k....

But Ivan was flawed in the affirmation that faith is more powerful than reason....

Ivan was obviously lacking in his spirituality despite having an in depth understanding of logic and reason. This longing for purpose is what bothered Ivan despite his exceptional intellect...

-ivan owns alyosha in logic and reason...

Although, Ivan's greatest strength is in reason and his biggest character flaw is in lack of faith. Alyosha is the exact opposite of ivan...

>>9490161
>Unless the prose is highly eccentric and well executed like, for example, in Tristram Shandy, the story is nothing but a necessary evil for me.

Kek, read Harold Pinter for this.

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>>9490827
Thanks for the recommendation. I shall look into it.