[The] non-conversational parts of [Compton-Burnett's prose] have the brevity and quality of stage directions….

The dialogue itself has certain obvious characteristics: each of the characters expresses himself or herself in the same elevated, stilted, and sententious diction … and in a formal fluently staccato speech rhythm which is itself removed from the rhythms of normal conversation. (p. 44)

The brief descriptions of action are deliberately reminiscent of stage directions because Miss Compton-Burnett wished to stress that her characters are not behaving naturally: they are acting: and each is acting not only for the benefit of the others but for himself or herself. The dialogue is unindividualised because it is thus capable of embodying the author's sense that the consciousness of self issuing in the individual's desire to act a part is a central truth about civilised man and underlies what she sees as superficial differences of temperament and character. A...