Imaginary Conversations
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| - | :''[[Dialogues of the Heterae]], [[Dialogues of the Dead]], [[dialogue]]'' | + | '''''Imaginary Conversations''''' is the best-known prose work of the English poet and author [[Walter Savage Landor]]. It comprises 6 volumes of imaginary conversations between personalities of classical Greece and Rome, poets and authors, statesmen and women, and fortunate and unfortunate individuals. |
| - | A [[literary dialogue]] consists of [[drama]] in a sentence. It has long served writers who have something to censure or to impart, but who love to stand outside the [[pulpit]], and to encourage others to pursue a train of thought which the author does not seem to do more than indicate. The dialogue expresses and notes down the undulations of human [[thought]] so spontaneously that it almost escapes analysis. Commonly, records of the alleged actual words spoken by living or imaginary people and it appears in a dialogued format. One branch of this form of expressive documentation, the drama, depends upon dialogue almost exclusively. Yet, in its technical sense, the word 'dialogue' describes what the Greek [[philosophy|philosophers]] invented, and what the noblest of them lifted to the extreme refinement of an [[art]]. | + | ==Background== |
| + | The Imaginary Conversations were begun when Landor, aged 46, had settled down with his family at [[Florence]] in 1821 where he had rooms in the Medici Palace and later rented the Villa Castigilione. The roots of the compositions lay in his childhood as he wrote later ''"When I was younger..[a]mong the chief pleasures of my life, and among the commonest of my occupations was the bringing before me such heroes and heroines of antiquity, such poets and sages, such of the prosperous and unfortunate as most interested me …[and e]ngaging them in conversations best suited to their characters"''.<ref> H Van Thal ''Landor:a biographical anthology'' (1973) </ref> The unenthusiastic reception of “Count Julian” demonstrated that Landor, while adept at dialogue, lacked the dramatic capability necessary to convert these to the stage and he destroyed another tragedy “Ferranti and Giulio” in frustration at his publishers. The Imaginary Conversations therefore provided a different vehicle for Landor’s art. | ||
| - | ===Antiquity and the middle ages=== | + | At Florence, Landor was corresponding with [[Robert Southey|Southey]] who had planned to write a book of "Colloquies" and they considered collaborating on a project. Landor had finished fifteen dialogues by 9 March 1822, and sent them to [[Longman]]s. Longmans would not publish, so by the influence of his friend Julius Hare, he managed to get agreement with the firm of Taylor & Hessey to publish them. Some disputes with the publishers followed in which both Southey and [[William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]] became involved. Not without some embarrassment to Southey as one of the "Conversations" was between Southey and Porson on the merits of Wordsworth's poetry. In 1824, two volumes were published with eighteen conversations in each. The third volume of Imaginary Conversations was published by Henry Colburn in 1828 but Julius Hare was frustrated by Colburn’s delays and the fourth and fifth volumes were finally published by James Duncan in 1829. Over the succeeding years Landor published occasional Imaginary Conversations as one off pieces and collated a number of them in 1853. |
| - | In the east, the genre dates back to the [[Sumerian]] dialogues and disputations (preserved in copies from the early second millennium b.c.e.), as well as [[Rigvedic dialogue hymns]] and the [[Indian epic poetry|Indian epic]] ''[[Mahabharata]]'', while in the west, literary historians commonly suppose that Plato (c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC) introduced the systematic use of dialogue as an independent literary form: they point to his earliest experiment with the genre in the ''Laches''. The Platonic dialogue, however, had its foundations in the ''mime'', which the [[Sicily|Sicilian]] poets [[Sophron]] and [[Epicharmus]] had cultivated half a century earlier. The works of these writers, which Plato admired and imitated, have not survived, but scholars imagine them as little plays usually presented with only two performers. The ''[[Mime (drama)|Mimes]]'' of [[Herodas]] give us some idea of their scope. | + | |
| - | Plato further simplified the form and reduced it to pure [[Logical argument|argumentative]] conversation, while leaving intact the amusing element of [[fictional character|character]]-drawing. He must have begun this about the year 405-406 BC, and by 399 he had brought the dialogue to its highest perfection, especially in the cycle directly inspired by the death of [[Socrates]]. All his philosophical writings, except the ''[[Apology]]'', use this form. As the greatest of all masters of Greek prose style, Plato lifted his favorite instrument, the dialogue, to its highest splendor, and to this day he remains by far its most distinguished proficient. | + | ==Selected Conversations== |
| + | {{details|List of Landor's Imaginary Conversations}} | ||
| - | Following [[Plato]], the dialogue became one major literary genre in antiquity, and there are several examples both in Latin and Greek. Soon after Plato, [[Xenophon]] wrote his own ''[[Symposium (Xenophon dialogue)|Symposium]]'', Aristotle is said to have written several philosophical dialogues in Plato's style (none of which have survived), and later most of the Hellenistic schools had their own dialogue. [[Cicero]] wrote some very important works in this genre, such as ''On the Orator'' (De Oratore), '' On the Republic'' (De Re Publica), and the lost ''Hortensius'' (the latter cited by [[Saint Augustine|Augustine]] in the ''[[Confessions (St. Augustine)|Confessions]]'' as the work which instilled in him his lifelong love of philosophy). | + | Some of the most notable conversations are as follows. |
| - | In the 2nd century AD. [[Lucian of Samosata]] achieved a brilliant success with his ironic dialogues ''Of the Gods'', ''Of the Dead'', ''Of Love'' and ''Of the Courtesans''. In some of them he attacks [[superstition]] and philosophical error with the sharpness of his wit; in others he merely paints scenes of modern life. | + | Volume 1 (1824) |
| + | *[[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth]] and [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Cecil]] | ||
| + | *[[Robert Southey|Southey]] and [[Richard Porson|Porson]] | ||
| + | *[[Jacques Delille|The Abbe Delille]] and Walter Landor | ||
| - | The dialogue was frequently used by early Christian writers, such as [[Justin]], [[Origen]] and Augustine, and a particularly notable dialogue from late antiquity is [[Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius|Boethius]]'s ''[[Consolation of Philosophy]]''. The genre survived up through the early scholastic period, with [[Peter Abelard]] composing his ''Dialogue with a Jew, a Christian and a Philosopher'' in the early 12th century AD, but later, in the wake of the powerful influence of writings by [[St. Bonaventure|Bonaventure]] and [[Thomas Aquinas]], the scholastic tradition adopted the more formal and concise genre of the summa, which largely superseded the dialogue as philosophical format. | + | Volume II (1824) |
| + | *[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] and [[Anne Boleyn]] | ||
| + | *[[George Washington|Washington]] and [[Benjamin Franklin|Franklin]] | ||
| - | ===The modern period to the present=== | + | Volume III (1828) |
| - | Two French writers of eminence borrowed the title of Lucian’s most famous collection; both [[Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle|Fontenelle]] (1683) and [[François Fénelon|Fénelon]] (1712) prepared ''Dialogues des morts'' ("Dialogues of the Dead"). Contemporaneously, in 1688, the French philosopher [[Nicolas Malebranche]] published his ''Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion'', thus contributing to the genre's revival in philosophic circles. In English non-dramatic literature the dialogue did not see extensive use until [[George Berkeley|Berkeley]] employed it, in 1713, for his treatise, ''[[Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous]]''. [[Walter Savage Landor|Landor]]’s ''[[Imaginary Conversations]]'' (1821-1828) formed the most famous English example of dialogue in the 19th century, although the dialogues of [[Arthur Helps|Sir Arthur Helps]] also claim attention and make himself more popular. | + | *[[Epictetus]] and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] |
| + | *[[Marcus Claudius Marcellus|Marcellus]] and [[Hannibal]] | ||
| - | In Germany, [[Christoph Martin Wieland|Wieland]] adopted this form for several important satirical works published between 1780 and 1799. In Spanish literature, the ''Dialogues'' of [[Juan de Valdés|Valdés]] (1528) and those on ''Painting'' (1633) by [[Vincenzo Carducci]] are celebrated. Italian writers of collections of dialogues, following Plato's model, include [[Torquato Tasso]] (1586), [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] (1632), [[Ferdinando Galiani|Galiani]] (1770), [[Giacomo Leopardi|Leopardi]] (1825), and a host of others. | + | Volume IV (1829) |
| + | *[[Diogenes of Sinope|Diogenes]] and [[Plato]] ''[[Wikisource:Imaginary Conversations of Greeks and Romans/Diogenes and Plato|'''Text!''']]'' | ||
| + | *[[John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster|John of Gaunt]] and [[Joan of Kent|Joanna of Kent]] | ||
| + | *[[Alice Lisle|Lady Lisle]] and Elizabeth Gaunt | ||
| + | *[[Leofric, Earl of Mercia|Leofric]] and [[Lady Godiva|Godiva]] | ||
| + | *[[William Pitt the Younger|Mr Pitt]] and [[George Canning|Mr Canning]] | ||
| - | More recently, the French returned to the original application of dialogue. The inventions of "[[Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau|Gyp]]", of [[Henri Léon Emile Lavedan|Henri Lavedan]], and of others, tell a mundane [[anecdote]] wittily and maliciously in conversation, would probably present a close analogy to the lost mimes of the early Sicilian poets. This kind of dialogue also appeared in English, exemplified by [[F. Anstey|Anstey Guthrie]], but these dialogues seem to have found less of a popular following among the English than their counterparts written by French authors. | + | Volume V (1829) |
| + | *[[Epicurus]], [[Leontion]] and Ternissa | ||
| - | The [[Platonic dialogue]], as a distinct genre which features Socrates as a speaker and one or more interlocutors discussing some philosophical question, experienced something of a rebirth in the 20th century. Authors who have recently employed it include [[George Santayana]], in his eminent ''Dialogues in Limbo'' (1926, 2nd ed. 1948; this work also includes such historical figures as [[Alcibiades]], [[Aristippus]], [[Avicenna]], [[Democritus]], and [[Dionysius the Younger]] as speakers), and [[Iris Murdoch]], who included not only Socrates and Alcibiades as interlocutors in her work ''Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues'' (1986), but featured a young Plato himself as well. | + | Published in The Book of Beauty (1844) |
| + | [[Aesop]] and Rhodope | ||
| - | The philosophic dialogue, with or without Socrates as a character, continues to be used on occasion by philosophers when attempting to write engaging, literary works of philosophy which attempt to capture the subtle nuance and lively give-and-take of discourse as it actually takes place in intellectual conversation. | + | ==Critique by [[Algernon Charles Swinburne|Swinburne]]== |
| - | ''Compare: [[Closet drama]]'' | + | {{cquote|The very finest flower of his dialogues is probably to be found in the single volume ''Imaginary Conversations of Greeks and Romans''; his command of passion and pathos may be tested by its success in the distilled and concentrated tragedy of ''Tiberius and Vipsania'', where for once he shows a quality more proper to romantic than classical imagination: the subtle and sublime and terrible power to enter the dark vestibule of distraction, to throw the whole force of his fancy, the whole fire of his spirit, into the shadowing passion (as Shakespeare calls it) of gradually imminent insanity. Yet, if this and all other studies from ancient history or legend could be subtracted from the volume of his work, enough would be left whereon to rest the foundation of a fame which time could not sensibly impair.<ref> Encyclopaedia Britannica 1882</ref>}} |
| - | ==Platonic dialogue== | + | ==Volumes in the 1882 edition == |
| - | The philosopher [[Plato]] wrote a series of dialogues, mostly between [[Socrates]] and some other person. In all these dialogues there is an explicit or an implicit disagreement, and the purpose of these dialogues is to resolve the disagreement. The typical way is for [[Socrates]] to probe his partner for further [[beliefs]] until a contradiction is reached with the disputed belief or [[hypothesis]] by implication. In this way the [[interlocutor]] is made to see the impossibility of his hypothesis, and then tries some other hypothesis, which is again subject to the same scrutiny. Most of these dialogues break off without a final resolution—as in real life. | + | |
| - | ==Egalitarian dialogue== | + | #''Classical dialogues, Greek and Roman |
| - | Egalitarian dialogue is a form of discussion that takes place when different contributions are considered in terms of the validity of the arguments, rather than assessing them according to the power positions of those who advocate them. | + | #''Dialogues of sovereigns and statesmen |
| + | #''Dialogues of literary men | ||
| + | #''Dialogues of literary men (continued) | ||
| + | #''Dialogues of famous women, and miscellaneous dialogues | ||
| + | #''Miscellaneous dialogues (concluded) | ||
| - | ==Philosophical, theological, and social concept== | ||
| - | [[Martin Buber]] places dialogue in a central position in his philosophy: he sees dialogue as an effective means of on-going communication rather than as a purposive attempt to reach some conclusion or to express some viewpoint(s). | ||
| - | |||
| - | [[David Bohm]] originated a related form of dialogue where a group of people talk together in order to explore their assumptions of thinking, meaning, communication, and social effects. This group consists of ten to thirty people who meet for a few hours regularly or a few continuous days. Dialoguers agree to leave behind debate tactics that attempt to convince and, instead, talk from their own experience on subjects that are improvised on the spot. People form their own dialogue groups that usually are offered for free of charge. There exists an international online dialogue list server group, facilitated by Don Factor, co-author of a paper called "Dialogue - A Proposal," with David Bohm and Peter Garrett. ([http://www.david-bohm.org/mailman/admin/bohm_dialogue]) | ||
| - | |||
| - | Russian philosopher and [[semiotician]] [[Mikhail Bakhtin]]’s theory of "dialogue" emphasized the power of discourse to increase understanding of multiple perspectives and create myriad possibilities. Bakhtin held that relationships and connections exist among all living beings, and that dialogue creates a new understanding of a situation that demands change.In his influential works, Bakhtin provided a [[linguistics|linguistic]] methodology to define the dialogue, its nature and meaning: | ||
| - | |||
| - | <blockquote>''Dialogic relations'' have a specific nature: they can be reduced neither to the purely [[logical]] (even if dialectical) nor to the purely linguistic ([[Composition (language)|compositional]]-[[Syntax|syntactic]]) They are possible only between complete [[utterance]]s of various speaking subjects... Where there is no word and no [[language]], there can be no dialogic relations; they cannot exist among objects or logical quantities (concepts, judgments, and so forth). Dialogic relations presuppose a language, but they do not reside within the system of language. They are impossible among elements of a language. | ||
| - | </blockquote> | ||
| - | |||
| - | Celebrated Brazilian educationalist [[Paulo Freire]], who is known for developing popular education, advanced dialogue as a type of classroom pedagogy. Freire held that dialogued communication allowed students and teachers to learn from one another in an environment characterized by respect and equality. A great advocate for oppressed peoples, Freire was concerned with praxis—action that is informed and linked to people’s values. Dialogued pedagogy was not only about deepening understanding; it was also about making positive changes in the world: to make it better. | ||
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| - | Today, dialogue is used in classrooms, community centers, corporations, federal agencies, and other settings to enable people, usually in small groups, to share their perspectives and experiences about difficult issues. It is used to help people resolve long-standing conflicts and to build deeper understanding of contentious issues. Dialogue is not about judging, weighing, or making decisions, but about understanding and learning. Dialogue dispels stereotypes, builds trust, and enables people to be open to perspectives that are very different from their own. | ||
| - | |||
| - | In the past two decades, a rapidly-growing movement for dialogue has been developing. The website of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, at http://www.thataway.org, serves as a hub for dialogue (and deliberation) facilitators, conveners, and trainers and houses thousands of resources on these communication methodologies. | ||
| - | |||
| - | Groups such as [[Worldwide Marriage Encounter]] and [[Retrouvaille Intern]]ational use dialogue as a communication tool for married couples. Both groups teach a dialogue method that helps couples learn more about each other in non-threatening postures, which helps to foster growth in the married relationship. | ||
| - | |||
| - | ==Obstacles== | ||
| - | Dialogue is a delicate process. Many obstacles inhibit dialogue and favor more confrontational communication forms such as discussion and debate. Common obstacles including fear, the display or exercise of power, mistrust, external influences, distractions, and poor communication conditions can all prevent dialogue from emerging. | ||
| - | |||
| - | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[Bohm Dialogue]] | ||
| - | *[[Chat]] | ||
| - | *[[Conversation]] | ||
| - | *[[Deliberation]] | ||
| - | *[[Dialogue Among Civilizations]] | ||
| - | *[[Facilitation]] | ||
| - | *[[Intercultural]] Dialogue | ||
| - | *[[Interfaith dialogue]] | ||
| - | *[[Intersubjectivity]] | ||
| - | *[[Speech communication|Speech]] | ||
| - | *[[Small talk (phatic communication)|Small talk]] | ||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | == See == | ||
| - | *[[Dialogues of the Heterae]] | ||
| - | *[[Dialogues of the Dead]] | ||
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Revision as of 20:19, 14 December 2009
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Imaginary Conversations is the best-known prose work of the English poet and author Walter Savage Landor. It comprises 6 volumes of imaginary conversations between personalities of classical Greece and Rome, poets and authors, statesmen and women, and fortunate and unfortunate individuals.
Contents |
Background
The Imaginary Conversations were begun when Landor, aged 46, had settled down with his family at Florence in 1821 where he had rooms in the Medici Palace and later rented the Villa Castigilione. The roots of the compositions lay in his childhood as he wrote later "When I was younger..[a]mong the chief pleasures of my life, and among the commonest of my occupations was the bringing before me such heroes and heroines of antiquity, such poets and sages, such of the prosperous and unfortunate as most interested me …[and e]ngaging them in conversations best suited to their characters".<ref> H Van Thal Landor:a biographical anthology (1973) </ref> The unenthusiastic reception of “Count Julian” demonstrated that Landor, while adept at dialogue, lacked the dramatic capability necessary to convert these to the stage and he destroyed another tragedy “Ferranti and Giulio” in frustration at his publishers. The Imaginary Conversations therefore provided a different vehicle for Landor’s art.
At Florence, Landor was corresponding with Southey who had planned to write a book of "Colloquies" and they considered collaborating on a project. Landor had finished fifteen dialogues by 9 March 1822, and sent them to Longmans. Longmans would not publish, so by the influence of his friend Julius Hare, he managed to get agreement with the firm of Taylor & Hessey to publish them. Some disputes with the publishers followed in which both Southey and Wordsworth became involved. Not without some embarrassment to Southey as one of the "Conversations" was between Southey and Porson on the merits of Wordsworth's poetry. In 1824, two volumes were published with eighteen conversations in each. The third volume of Imaginary Conversations was published by Henry Colburn in 1828 but Julius Hare was frustrated by Colburn’s delays and the fourth and fifth volumes were finally published by James Duncan in 1829. Over the succeeding years Landor published occasional Imaginary Conversations as one off pieces and collated a number of them in 1853.
Selected Conversations
Some of the most notable conversations are as follows.
Volume 1 (1824)
- Queen Elizabeth and Cecil
- Southey and Porson
- The Abbe Delille and Walter Landor
Volume II (1824)
- Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
- Washington and Franklin
Volume III (1828)
Volume IV (1829)
- Diogenes and Plato Text!
- John of Gaunt and Joanna of Kent
- Lady Lisle and Elizabeth Gaunt
- Leofric and Godiva
- Mr Pitt and Mr Canning
Volume V (1829)
Published in The Book of Beauty (1844) Aesop and Rhodope
Critique by Swinburne
Volumes in the 1882 edition
- Classical dialogues, Greek and Roman
- Dialogues of sovereigns and statesmen
- Dialogues of literary men
- Dialogues of literary men (continued)
- Dialogues of famous women, and miscellaneous dialogues
- Miscellaneous dialogues (concluded)
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