. What shimmers with life on the page may die within minutes in the theater precisely because prose is a language to be spoken to an individual, recreated in an individual reader’s consciousness, usually in solitude, while dramatic dialogue is a special language spoken by living actors to one another, a collective audience overhearing.
O: Oates seems to be trying to enforce the idea that prose fiction is a space for readers to take in the 'art' of the novel/story/etc., and grow an interpretation. I think the earlier statement, "Where in prose fiction the writer is accustomed to shaping subtleties of meaning by way of carefully composed language," explains this best. While the play on the other hand is given directly to the viewer, with little space to fill in imaginative blanks (although the depth behind acting should not be disregarded.) I find this comparison impactful because it demonstrates the depth of prose fiction that may not be initially realized. A play becomes a predominately collective experience and interpretation, while prose fiction becomes a living document. I can think back to times when I was so immersed in a piece of prose fiction that I began to imagine it in my free time, the characters coming alive in my head, my imagination becoming incredibly involved in the story.