"Mamet Speak"

What is postmodernism?

Well briefly defined by Dr. doCarmo, it is a literary movement that started in the late 60’s early 70’s that formulated 3 big recurring trends: A Philosophy, Artistic Style and Historical Period with 6 traits that authors ,categorized in this movement, follow. David Mamet fits into this movement with genius work based artistically on himself and his background. As his sister has mentioned they took what they were exposed to and taught growing up and used that to make a living. Most of Mamet’s work reflects him in some way or another, for example, in Glengarry Glen Ross the position of Williamson (the manager) was based off Mamet’s position when he was a manager for a real estate company. His position there was the window to the masterpiece he created. The Spanish Prisoner, a film Mamet directed, was inspired by real-life characters and events. In the entertainment field, Mamet is widely known and respected for his work not only as a director and playwright but also as an author (Nadel, 2008). Where again Mamet pulls from within himself and his real-life events to formulate these creations. Particularly in two books published in 1997 “True and False” about young actors and what to expect in their chosen fields and “The Old Religion” about a Jewish factory manager where Mamet using his own Jewish culture as a teaching and reference mechanism.

The artistic style Mamet brings to the movement is what is know today as “Mamet Speak.” Mamet’s dialogue is so unique that “his” language is not so much “naturalistic” as it is a “poetic” impression of street-wise jargon (Krasner p. 410). When asked how he developed this style of writing, marked by cynical, street smart edge, precisely crafted, Mamet said “In my family, in the days prior to television, we like to while away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, based solely on our ability to speak the language viciously. That’s probably where my ability was honed” (Norman, Rezek, pp. 276). Self-referential is Mamet’s trait, based off most of his life events, he reaches within himself to create what we call today art, or to be more specific, postmodern art.


Sources:

Nadel, Ira Bruce, “David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008, Tarrant County College Library, Fort Worth, Texas, 4/27/10

David Krasner, A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, p.410

David Mamet, April 1996, interviewed by Geoffrey Norman and John Rezek, The Playboy Interviews: The Directors. M. Press. pp. 276