Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama

It's long become customary to nickname David Mamet as "controversial", "acerbic", "opinionated" and the like... Evidently, he's making someone nervous. So much so that they're willing to exploit unsubstantiated, desperate, primitive mantras for debasing their "Nemesis". I hope he's taking it as a compliment. Come to think of it, what can be more dangerous than a powerful, rational thinker, a one of a kind intellectual, an eloquent artist on his quest for truth? Why, he would have been among the first ones to be eliminated by any totalitarian regime!As for the "Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama": this book is an enlightened, aphoristic conversation that celebrates moral reasoning and good taste. I wholeheartedly recommend it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Erudite and interesting if you wonder why theater is a force in people’s lives . At some level it is also about language and how it moves people in the arts. Mamet’s plays have always seemed to me to be as much about language as opposed to the images they create so it was interesting to see that reflected in his book.

A thought-provoking book. Mamet cuts through the drivel of television news and skewers the "information age." Along the way he sheds light on how a story teller, dramatist, playwright or novelist can construct a meaningful drama.

The book shows a publisher's date of 1998, so it pre-dates the rise of social media and Orwellian control of our means of communication. Mamet is 10-15 years ahead in his analysis of media, feminism, men and women, and the future of television and cinema. For this reason, I suggest buyers file this book in the reference section of their library. I bought it first in 2000, gifted numerous copies to friends, and pulled it out again just yesterday for a 4th read. It resonates stronger today than when Mamet penned his words. Perhaps this is why reviewers of this book are somewhat less than enthusiastic. Were they to re-read it today, their star rating would rise. Yes, Mamet can get hung up on the flies in the ointment, but he also foretells well in advance of the general public. A keeper.

This book's unfulfilled promise hung in the back of my mind until I finally reread it and realized that my previous review was a comment on my own mental state at the time, not on the book itself.When read as a series of loosely connected monologues regarding the philosophy and art of storytelling this is as good as all the other 5-star reviews say it is. Short but deep; not superficial, must be read as much emotionally as logically.Original confused review:I don't remember where I read this book praised so very highly that I bought it that day, so I don't remember the context. I found it meandering to the point it was almost incomprehensible. Perhaps I'm just not privy to Mr. Mamet's particular sort of genius, but I found little to benefit my writing life.

It’s more like an essay on what drama is and what it isn’t. If you’re looking to learn how to write drama, you should look elsewhere including Mamet’s online “Masterclass”. It’s not the easiest read, but the book has insight to offer and a great deal of serious thought.

If you have any interest in dramatic structure, in myth, in the origins of drama in religion, in the source of the malaise at the core of our culture, at the core of any culture, really, at our cores, then this book is a must read. It is quick and powerful.

Mamet is Mamet. If that doesn't say anything to you, then buy the book or watch Glengarry Glen Ross or House of Games

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)

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

I return to this excellent primer on drama again and again. If you're interested in theatre or the movies, this is a short, snappy and entertaining education you won't regret paying for.

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.

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.