Dialogue is a many-sided critical concept; at once an ancient philosophical genre, a formal component of fiction and drama, a model for the relationship of writer and reader, and a theoretical key to the nature of language. In all its forms, it questions `literature', disturbing the singleness and fixity of the written text with the fluid interactivity of conversation. In this clear and concise guide to the multiple significance of the term, Peter Womack: outlines the history of dialogue form, looking at Platonic, Renaissance, Enlightenment and Modern examples illustrates the play of dialogue in the many `voices' of the novel, and considers how dialogue works on the stage interprets the influential dialogic theories of Mikhail Bakhtin examines the idea that literary study itself consists of a `dialogue' with the past presents a useful glossary and further reading section. Practical and thought-provoking, this volume is the ideal starting-point for the exploration of this diverse and fascinating literary form.