Down with "Dialogical"

Van Gogh, from letter to Émile Bernard, March 18, 1888

“Dialogical” – what an ugly word! It sounds like something left over from the wastelands of Soviet industrialism. It’s like a cross between “dialectical” and “diabolical.” It's like the sluggish churning sound of an old washing machine - dialogical dialogical dialogical. Patrick Grant, in his The Letters of Vincent van Gogh: A Critical Study (2014), uses it to describe Van Gogh’s writing. He suggests that “a dialogical interplay among religion, morality, and art provides an implicit, quasi-narrative structure to the correspondence.” He refers to “the dialogical evolution of Van Gogh’s thinking.” He views the shifts in Van Gogh’s idealism as a “dialogical process.” He refers to “the dialogical complexities of Van Gogh’s writing.” He talks about “the dialogical transformations that the letters record.” That’s a lot of “dialogical” to digest. What does it mean? I think it stems from the word “dialogue,” as in a dialogue between religion and morality or a dialogue between morality and art. Grant’s theory is that Van Gogh’s writing embodies such dialogues. Okay, I get it. Analytically, "dialogical" might be justified. Aesthetically - as a description of Van Gogh's glorious, direct, spontaneous, talking letters - it's a dud.