10-second review: The dialogue of many novels is much too witty. People don’t talk that way.
Quote: “[Novels coming out of the English-speaking world] are too witty. People don’t talk to each other; they exchange punchlines. It’s all very amusing and after a couple of pages I am amazed at the quality of the dialogue—the witticisms and sharpness. However, I quickly realize that people do not talk like that. The words are all a kind of literary baroque.” Amos Oz, Israeli Writer.
Source: The Writer (September 1973), p. 5. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.
Comment: I guess you can thank Oscar Wilde and Henry James, in part, for that kind of witty dialogue. RayS.
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