Product Description

Lajos Egri examines a play from the inside out, starting with the heart of any drama: its characters. For it is people - their private natures and their inter-relationships - that move a story and give it life. All good dramatic writing depends upon an understanding of human motives. Why do people act as they do? What forces transform a coward into a hero, a hero into a coward? What is it that Romeo does early in Shakespeare's play that makes his later suicide seem inevitable? Why must Nora leave her husband at the end of A Doll's House? These are a few of the fascinating problems which Egri analyzes. He shows how it is essential for the author to have a basic premise - a thesis, demonstrated in terms of human behaviour - and to develop his dramatic conflict on the basis of that behaviour. Premise, character, conflict: this is Egri's ABC. His book is a direct, jargon-free approach to the problem of achieving truth in a literary creation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36777 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Lajos Egri was born in the city of Eger, Hungary, and wrote his first three-act play at the age of ten. For more than thirty-five years he has written and directed plays in Europe and the United States. He was director of the Egri School of Writing in New York City for many years.

Customer Reviews

somewhat disappointing
This book has received many positive reviews so maybe my expectations were simply too high. I did not find this book particularly inspiring. It is focused on character building which is good, but I found it sometimes repeating itself. The analogies to natural science should be ignored.

A few plays are analysed and used to show the authors point, but if you're unfamiliar with these then the book looses some value. Certainly these are classics: Mostly he uses Ibsen's "A dolls house", but also works of Shakespeare, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, or Sophocles' Oedipus are used.

Some sections and even chapters are written as Q&As, to me that indicates that the author has yet to think through the topic discussed and often answers simply repeat previous sections.

Woody Allen Recommended This Book
Woody Allen said of Lajos Egri "I still think his 'The Art of Dramatic Writing' is the most stimulating and best book on the subject ever written, and I have them all." (Part One, 'Woody Allen - A Biography' by Eric Lax).
This is how I found out about Egri's book and were I to try to give it the full praise it deserves I'd quickly run out of superlatives.
Even if you have no intention of getting into writing I would recommend this work because of the way it will transform your understanding not only of plays, but all narrative art forms. You will put down the book enlightened, empowered and aware of how little most other authorities in the field of writing (especially teachers and college professors) grasp about the fundamentals of play-, novel- & screen-writing.
For someone who wants to be a writer this work will prove invaluable. I won't go into the specifics of Egri's approach since it wouldn't be possible in the space available, but urge you to get a copy now.
Will Taylor

Quality
If you want to understand how to write drama for theatre, films or tv you will not find a better book. I'm currently reading it for the second time because it can be quite hard work at first. There have been mountains of books written on this subject but Egri's is the best despite being penned more than half a century again. A must for anyone serious about writing drama.