In First Paragraphs, Donald Newlove presented his personal selection of the winningest openings in world literature. In Painted Paragraphs, he did the same for the best descriptive passages ever written. Now, in Invented Voices, Newlove shares with us his choices for the most convincing, the most entertaining, the most memorable pieces of dialogue ever to hit the page--from novels, short stories, movie scripts, and plays. Among Newlove's favorites are exchanges from novels as diverse as Jane Austen's Pride Prejudice and Terry McMillan's Disappearing Acts; drama that ranges from Beckett's Waiting for Godot to Chekhov's The Seagull; movie scripts that include Raging Bull, On the Waterfront, Howards End, and Children of Paradise. But Newlove does more here than just catalog great dialogue. By catching at full bloom the talents of great writers, he inspires and instructs the rest of us to shake off artifice and safety and invent voices that are rich, real, and from the heart.

In addition to First Paragraphs (Owl Books, 1993) and Painted Paragraphs (Henry Holt, 1993), Donald Newlove is the author of several critically acclaimed novels and a memoir, Those Drinking Days: Myself and Other Writers. He lives in Greenwich Village.