Word: melodrama
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...call it a bar would be wrong. It is a saloon. And very much of the right sort--luxurious red interior, brass lamp fixtures, an exquisite Wurlitzer nickelodeon and, oy course, peanuts to throw at the villain of the melodrama...
...sharp insider's insight into Washington and the U.S. Senate that provided much of the book's fascination. In A Shade of Difference onetime U.N. Correspondent Drury fails to make the U.N. come alive in the same crackling way, and often mires his story in mawkish melodrama and details so fine that they manage to be tedious rather than interesting. Maybe the U.N. is that way, and Author Drury could not help himself. But the reader who managed to sit through Drury's long Senate sessions with rapt attention is more likely to doze when...
...background of greatness is not there, so the savor, the depth of contrast, is gone. The surprise, the fast switch, the shock, have taken its place. Unless there is a belief in the potential greatness of man, there can no longer be tragedy; there can only be melodrama...
...more than temporary. Even France knows that if it keeps Britain out, it will be isolated from its partners in the Six-all of whom favor Britain's admission into the club. One top German official saw the stalemate as only a plot ploy in the Common Market melodrama. "The drama has started," he said. "I can see exits with doors slamming, tears, shouts of rage, devious subplots involving doublecrossing, and all the rest. But I am completely convinced that this is no tragedy. Late in the third act, everything is going to turn out all right...
James later toned down the melodrama of these early stories, and fewer characters died of broken hearts. But only one of these stories is hopelessly bad; a few rank not far below the best of James's later tales...