Literary and philosophical genre

When reported or imitated in writing, "dialogue" labels a form of literature used by the Greeks and Indians for purposes of rhetorical entertainment and instruction. This form has scarcely been modified since the days of its invention.

A literary dialogue comprises a little drama without a theater, and with scarcely any change of scene. It can exhibit those qualities which La Fontaine applauded in the dialogues of Plato, namely vivacity, fidelity of tone, and accuracy in the opposition of opinions. 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 philosophers invented, and what the noblest of them lifted to the extreme refinement of an art.