Three Uses Of The Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama (Bloomsbury Revelations)

A classic that I had to underline and highlight almost all the sentences. No wonder it came so brief. Salaam to the master.

I had to read this book for a class I was taking and I did not enjoy it at all. David Mamet writes like someone who hates television and movies in general despite the fact that he has himself created media on the very medium he spends so much time in this book trashing. The language is difficult to understand unless you have a Google window open so you can look up every third or fourth word he uses. This book is a collection of three essays written by him and are full of opinion skewed heavily by someone who primarily wrote for stage plays. This book is not for everyone, and neither is the author from what I understand. Personally, I'd rather stick to studying Joseph Campbell's discussions of the hero's journey than have to ever read this book again.

Short but magisterial overview of the structure and dynamics of drama and its relevance to the way human beings construct their view of the world. A must.

This was recommended to me by a friend who is one of the best actor/director/playwright types on the Cape Breton scene. Mike said "just read it for the language, and what Mamet has to say about almost everything." Well he was right. First off this isn't a guide book to writing your first play or twenty-third play. Look elsewhere for that.What it is, is a slender little volume jam packed with the entire drama of life. Mamet jumps arounds from one idea/notion/thought/memory/opinion/historical and pop culture reference to another with the ease of a bicyclist flying down the twisting curves of the south side of Cape Breton's Smokey Mountain. You just have to hang on for all it's worth, take in what you can, and if you liked it, go back and do it/read it again. And if you're wondering about those uses of Mamet's knife I won't muddy the waters trying to explain it here. Mamet can do that best himself.

Shipment on time, and the book is a great read (although a very short one: which is not necessarily a bad thing, the essay is concise and to the point but rich with interesting thoughts).Three stars because the book came with a defect on the backside of the cover (see the picture)

Un manifiesto ejemplar sobre cómo debería moverse un artista, más allá de la sociedad en la que vive y justamente para salvar y ayudar a progresar esa misma sociedad. que tanto nos condiciona y atrapa. Concepto que deberían estar siempre vivos.