# Why does Baker (1919, Chapter I) say drama is an independent art distinct from fiction, and what concrete differences between play and novel does he list?

- id: art_01M5MXF8381XSJF16G0QAJXSE4
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- updated: 2026-10-23T17:38:21.387Z
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Baker's answer is a list of conditions. A play fills about two and a half hours (his example: three acts, forty typed pages each) against a novel's 250 to 600 pages, so it must be more concise. It is seen once, as a whole and without pause, so it must be clearer at each moment. The dramatist cannot narrate, describe or comment as himself, so action suited to the characters is his mainstay and the best drama is impersonal. A theatre audience watches together, at a distance, with eye and ear, and stage vividness makes some matter unbearable that is tolerable in print. His historical argument (drama is older than the novel) and 'adaptations mostly fail' are asserted rather than counted.

Baker's answer is a list of conditions. A play fills about two and a half hours (his example: three acts, forty typed pages each) against a novel's 250 to 600 pages, so it must be more concise. It is seen once, as a whole and without pause, so it must be clearer at each moment. The dramatist cannot narrate, describe or comment as himself, so action suited to the characters is his mainstay and the best drama is impersonal. A theatre audience watches together, at a distance, with eye and ear, and stage vividness makes some matter unbearable that is tolerable in print. His historical argument (drama is older than the novel) and 'adaptations mostly fail' are asserted rather than counted.

Curator qualifications: The differences between drama and novel are asserted, not counted.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36580/pg36580.txt",
      "note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Baker's answer is a list of conditions. A play fills about two and a half hours (his example: three acts, forty typed pages each) against a novel's 250 to 600 pages, so it must be more concise. It is seen once, as a whole and without pause, so it must be clearer at each moment. The dramatist cannot narrate, describe or comment as himself, so action suited to the characters is his mainstay and the best drama is impersonal. A theatre audience watches together, at a distance, with eye and ear, and stage vividness makes some matter unbearable that is tolerable in print. His historical argument (drama is older than the novel) and 'adaptations mostly fail' are asserted rather than counted. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts · source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36580/pg36580.txt

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