Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters between the fictional characters of a narrative. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings. More recently, epistolaries include electronic documents such as recordings and radio, blog posts, and e-mails. The word epistolary derives from Latin from the Greek word epistolē, meaning a letter.
There are two theories on the origin of the epistolary novel: The first claims that the genre originated from novels with inserted letters; over time, the portion containing the third-person narrative in between the letters was reduced.
The other theory claims that the epistolary novel arose from miscellanies (collections) of letters and poetry; some of the letters were tied together into a (mostly amorous) plot. There is evidence to support both claims.
The first truly epistolary novel, the Spanish Prison of Love (c. 1485) by Diego de San Pedro, belongs to a tradition of novels in which a large number of inserted letters already dominated the narrative.
Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
Other well-known examples of early epistolary novels are closely related to the tradition of letter-books and miscellanies of letters. With successive editions of Edmé Boursault's Letters of Respect, Gratitude and Love (1669), a group of letters written to a girl named Babet were expanded and became more and more distinct from other letters, until the book formed a small epistolary novel entitled Letters to Babet.
The immensely famous Letters of a Portuguese Nun (1669) generally attributed to Gabriel-Joseph de La Vergne, comte de Guilleragues, though a small minority still regard Marianna Alcoforado as the author, is claimed to be a part of his miscellany of prose and poetry.
The founder of the epistolary novel in English is credited by many to James Howell with Familiar Letters (1645–50), who writes of prison, foreign adventure, and the love of women.
More often cited as the first epistolary novel is Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, published anonymously in three volumes (1684, 1685, and 1687), and attributed to Aphra Behn, though its authorship remains disputed. Although Behn's characters are fictional, they were modeled on real-life likenesses. Putting their narrative into the form of letters increased the realism of Behn's account, making readers feel as though they were privy to a secret and private correspondence.
Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
This novel explored the possibilities of the epistolary genre. It shows changing perspectives; individual characters express individual opinions, while the unifying voice of the author, and moral evaluation, disappeared (at least in the first volume; further volumes introduced a narrator). The author furthermore explored a realm of intrigue with complex scenarios such as letters that fall into the wrong hands, faked letters, or letters withheld by protagonists.
The epistolary novel became popular in the 18th century with the works of such authors as Samuel Richardson, with his immensely successful novels Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1749). John Cleland's early erotic novel Fanny Hill (1748) is written as a series of letters from the title character to an unnamed recipient.
In France, there was Lettres Persanes (1721) by Montesquieu, followed by Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse (1761) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Dangerous Liaisons (1782), which used the epistolary form to great dramatic effect, because the sequence of events was not always related directly or explicitly. In Germany, there was Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774).
Epistolary novel—Pamela
The full title of Pamela makes clear both Richardson's intentions and the formal apparatus of the novel: Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, in a Series of Familiar Letters from a Beautiful Young Damsel to Her Parents.
The beautiful young damsel was already a cliché in Richardson's time. But it's the adjective "familiar" that is important here, because it signaled to readers that what followed would be a series of letters concerning a household and its intimate domestic details. So Pamela's letters are familiar not because anyone had read them before (Richardson made them up, after all) but because they were composed in a free informal style suitable for that of a daughter writing her parents.
Where that novel contains almost exclusively only letters from Pamela, the novel Clarissa includes not just her correspondence but also those of the rakish gentleman Lovelace, who pursues her, giving readers two main perspectives on the action of the narrative.
In these novels, Richardson perfected a style he called "writing to the moment," in which his characters record their thoughts and actions in what seems to be real time, thus adding further realism immediacy and even suspense to the genre.
Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
But, during the 18th century, the epistolary novel also became subject to much ridicule, resulting in a number of savage burlesques. The most notable example of these was Henry Fielding's Shamela (1741), written as a parody of Pamela. In it, the female narrator wields a pen and scribbles diary entries under the most dramatic and unlikely of circumstances.
Oliver Goldsmith used the form to satirical effect in The Citizen of the World, subtitled "Letters from a Chinese Philosopher Residing in London to his Friends in the East" (1760–61). So did the diarist Fanny Burney in a successful comic first novel, Evelina (1788).
The epistolary novel slowly became less popular after the 18th century. Although Jane Austen tried the epistolary in juvenile writings and her novella Lady Susan (1794), she abandoned this structure in her later work. It is thought that her lost novel First Impressions, which was redrafted to become Pride and Prejudice, may have been epistolary: Pride and Prejudice contains an unusual number of letters quoted in full and some play a critical role in the plot.
Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
The epistolary form nonetheless saw continued use, surviving in exceptions or in fragments in 19th century novels. In Balzac's Letters of Two Brides, two women who became friends during their education at a convent correspond over a 17-year period, exchanging letters describing their lives.
Mary Shelley employs the epistolary form in her novel Frankenstein (1818), using letters as one of the framing devices. The story is presented through the letters of a sea captain and scientific explorer attempting to reach the north pole who encounter Victor Frankenstein; it records the dying man's narrative and confessions.
Published in 1848, Anne Brontë's novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is framed as a retrospective letter from one of the main heroes to his friend and brother-in-law with the diary of the tenant inside it.
In the late 19th century, Bram Stoker released one of the most widely recognized and successful epistolary novels, Dracula. Printed in 1897, the novel is compiled entirely of letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, telegrams, doctor's notes, ship's logs, and the like.
Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
The novel is a large assortment of documents and recordings, including not just letters from characters, but also newspaper clippings, diary entries, dictation cylinders, and telegraphs, the last two representing up-to-the-minute technologies in Stoker's day.
The result is not just polyvocal and multimedia but also effectively suspenseful, since the reader, being privy to all of the novel's materials, frequently knows more than any single character and can see what is happening, or is going to happen, more clearly than they. Stoker, in other words, uses the epistolary form to maximize Gothic terror and suspense.
Today, relatively few novels are written entirely in letters, although there are notable exceptions. C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters from 1942, for example, and Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, from 1996, which borrows many epistolary tropes to make her heroine's misadventures come to life.
Epistolary novel—history (Wikipedia)
More recently still, emails and texts have begun to make their way into novels. The academic satire Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher, for example, uses letters of recommendation, emails, and other forms of modern communication to paint a very funny picture of a very dysfunctional English Department (one that bears no resemblance whatsoever to our fine institution here at Oregon State University, I should note!)
And Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer-Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad includes a chapter entirely written in PowerPoint slides.
Finally, it's worth noting that versions of the epistolary form have found their way into film as well. I'm thinking here of when a movie is presented in terms of "found footage" so that it is made up of what appears to be footage shot by the characters themselves--The Blair Witch Project is probably the best known recent example of this--or by cameras that exists within the frame of the movie itself, say, home videos in the Paranormal Activity franchise.
And many movies will make use of these tactics temporarily even when the entire movie is not shot that way. A quick shot made to look like it was recorded by a security camera, for example, is often used to add realism immediacy and suspense to our viewing experience.
And just think of all the times the characters are shown texting or writing emails in real time, all of which owes a debt--whether conscious or not--to Richardson's technique of "writing to the moment."
Epistolary novel—variations
Epistolary novels can be categorized based on the number of people whose letters are included. The three types are:
Monophonic, giving the letters of only one character
Dialogic, with the letters of two characters (Letters from Skye, Jessica Brockmole)
And polyphonic, with three or more letter-writing characters, such as in Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer).
A crucial element in polyphonic epistolary novels is the dramatic device of "discrepant awareness," that is, the simultaneous but separate correspondence of heroines and villains, creating dramatic tension.
Videos
Oregon State Univ. (good, 6:41)
YouTube Video—just slides
Letter writing—history (from fiction letters.com)
As civilizations developed and writing systems became more advanced, letter writing became a more common form of communication. The ancient Greeks and Romans were known for their elaborate letter-writing practices, and the art of letter writing was considered a highly refined skill.
During the Middle Ages, letter writing was primarily the domain of the wealthy and educated. It was not uncommon for noblemen and women to employ scribes to write letters on their behalf. These letters were often written in Latin, the language of the educated elite, and were adorned with intricate calligraphy and decorated with seals.
In the centuries that followed, letter writing became more widespread as literacy rates increased and the cost of producing written materials decreased. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century made it easier to produce books and other written materials, which further contributed to the growth of letter writing.
Letter writing—history (from fiction letters.com)
As letter writing became more common, it also became more standardized. The development of the postal system in the 17th and 18th centuries made it easier for people to send letters to one another, and the introduction of pre-printed forms and envelopes made the process of writing and sending letters even more convenient.
The 18th century was called the "Great Age of Letter Writing." Letter writers used this to communicate and explore their identity and daily life at the time. As a medium of writing that lies ambiguously between the public and private worlds, letters provide an appealing peek into other people's thoughts, feelings, and lives.
During this historical period, publishing these "private" letters so they could build and preserve literary prominence became common for the first time. Just as social media streams now allow modern celebrities to present versions of their intimate lives for the public, so did 18th-century figures carefully build themselves in their letters for audiences to read as works of literature. Readers frequently associated personal letters with the ideals of honesty and truth. Alexander Pope was the first English writer to publish from his own letters during his lifetime.
Letter writing—history (from fiction letters.com)
Letter writing also became a really important pastime for some, particular women, who used letters to express themselves. A lot of female friendships were formed from women being encouraged to write letters. In fact, the most popular character who wrote in this period was named Clarissa Harlowe.
This was also a chance for women to express their intelligence. They used letters to separate themselves from their husbands and have their own voice to enter more into society.
Even when the epistolary novel lost its popularity, people did not stop writing letters. Letters gave everyone a voice when they did not think they had one and it is incredibly important to people to have that, especially the women of this time.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
The number of epistolary novels published since 2000 is dramatically larger than the number published during any other era.
This data comes from the compiled list of epistolary novels. However, this should by no means be regarded as the extent of all epistolary novels. While it is researched and designed to be a comprehensive compilation, it likely does not include all epistolary novels ever published. Regardless, it includes a significant number of these novels which allow reasonable analysis and significant points to be distilled.
The collected data produced a spectrum of 138 works spanning from ancient texts of Hellenic Greece to publications from 2015. Of the 138 epistolary works this research examined, there were 52 epistolary novels published between 2000 and 2015 alone.
Meanwhile, all of the other time periods possess less than 45 publications for their respective century, making the number of epistolary novels published post-2000 remarkable.
At the current rate of publication, the century from 2000-2100 would contain approximately 346 epistolary publications. This would compare to the much lower numbers in previous centuries, with 43 epistolary novels published between 1900-2000, 13 between 1800-1900, and 16 between 1700-1800.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
However, it is important to recognize that there is potential for some distortion of the numbers due to two principal factors.
First, in the present century, more books are being published than previously as a result of technological advances and increased global literacy rates. As such, the 52 epistolary novels published between 2000 and 2015 could appear dramatically larger, but actually, compared to the total number of books published, is proportionally similar.
Second, there is less access to publication records as time goes back. Therefore, the large number could be attributed in part to the relative ease of finding recent publications, as compared to the difficulty of locating many past publications.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
The modern epistolary novel
Although the age of letter writing has passed, how have modern epistolary novels adapted to the modern context, with the inclusion, for example, of emails and text messages?
Only about 30% of the epistolary novels published between 2000 and 2015 include some modern communication in place of letter writing. And these novels tend to have significantly more outside narration than those novels that use letters. Because emails, text messages, and instant messages tend to be more concise, there is more need for outside narration to move the plot.
Second, they are set in a time period where letter writing is common. The authors of about 27% of these novels set their stories in times where letter writing culture was more common, stemming from necessity.
Finally, some novels are based on letters and set in the modern period. These authors create a plot that is somehow constrained, making letter writing the only option and, therefore, making the use of letters in the modern era believable. Example, Letters from Skye.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Public Opinion
Public opinion of epistolary novels between 1800 and the early 1900s (about 1920) is overwhelmingly negative. Repeatedly, epistolary novels are cited as an antiquated format for novels. When the novels are regarded as successful, they are often so in spite of the perceived inherently problematic format.
Epistolary novels were considered “apt to be terribly dull.” It was considered “a dangerous experiment [to put a] story in the form of letters” in the late 19th and early 20th century, as the public opinion of the epistolary form was so abysmal. It was an 'ancient,' 'outdated' form, a 'bastardized blend of fiction and nonfiction,' according to one critic.
Meanwhile, the public opinion of the epistolary style from the mid-1900s through the present day is far more favorable. The use of correspondence is regularly noted as interesting and fresh, regarded as “not conventionally narrated” in a way that “puts the act of writing center stage.” Rather than perceiving the style as pushing obsolescence, it is currently regarded more as a "unique . . . literary voice.”
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Literary style
For example, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (1982) is regarded as a widespread success largely as a result of her “choice of narrative style that, without the intrusion of the author, forces intimate identification with the heroine.”
The epistolary novel is considered a revelatory form that gives the reader a closeness with the character. Modern epistolary fiction is often acclaimed as being tactfully complex and tenderly poignant because of the reader's intimate relationship with the letter-writing characters.
On the other hand, some modern critics disagree and rather claim that “the epistolary form prevents the reader from becoming completely immersed in the story” because the narrative style sometimes “struggles to sustain momentum.”
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Epistolary novels as an intimate space
One of the main draws of epistolary novels is their capacity for the creation of an intimate space between characters and readers. As letters, including modern correspondence, are intended for a particular audience, the recipient of the letter, they are often written in more personal terms. They are a private, personal communication between two people who know each other, at least fairly well.
In fictional letters, authors use this intimate space between writer and reader to reveal firsthand experiences and inner thoughts. Because letters are usually intended to be a closed communication, readers are allowed to peer into the relationship created by the author.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Epistolary novels as an intimate space
The epistolary style then allows the reader to see not only into the personal experience and thoughts of just one character, but potentially of multiple through their exchange.
For example, Potato Peel includes descriptions of specific events as recounted by more than one character, each with a different perspective. This provides the reader with a more detailed knowledge of the event itself, but also reveals the character, attitudes, biases, individual tastes of each of the authors writing about it. The reader then evaluates among the accounts.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Epistolary novels as an intimate space
While the letter format is generally an intimate forum to begin with, some of the epistolary novels are even more personal as a result of the specific audience to whom their letters are addressed.
Letters written to an ambiguous or imaginary party tend to be even more intimate than those written to friends, family, or partners. For example, Alice Walker and her letters addressed to God.
While epistolary novels written between two or more distinct individuals can reveal the personal experiences of the characters through their inherently intimate exchange, the epistolary novels which include pieces written to ambiguous recipients open an even greater space for the reader to gain an intimate understanding of the character.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Feminism, or the female voice
Feminism is a theme regularly included in epistolary novels, both its subtle undertones as well as its principal theme.
Epistolary fiction is a good format for female voices, especially in earlier novels, because of women’s role in letter-writing culture. In periods where public spaces were dominated by men (those centuries preceding the 20th), women were not able to express their experiences or thoughts with the same freedom as their male counterparts.
While men still tend to dominate this public space, women’s place in the public sphere was even more constrained in earlier centuries. Given these public constraints and social taboos, personal interactions were often the space where women could express their personal sentiments.
Therefore, letters served as a forum for women to communicate their perspective to a friend or relative, without breaking the social norms. Through letters, women were better able to act as independent and dynamic characters in spite of their marginalized social position.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
Feminism, or the female voice
In modern epistolary novels, although women have more opportunity to participate in the public space, the feminist theme persists.
It is sometimes manifested in a manner reminiscent of the older feminist epistolary texts, specifically in those novels set back in time. For example, Elizabeth Wein’s novel Code Name Verity (2013) is set during World War II and, therefore, takes on the characteristics of the female experience at that time.
Other times, the theme of feminism is presented in the modern context. In Mariama Bâ’s 1981 So a long Letter, Bâ brings the modern position of Senegalese women to the forefront, detailing the inequalities still faced by women in the modern day.
National Postal Museum—Smithsonian
A sizable number of epistolary novels fall into the mystery genre, specifically 20 of the 92 novels examined.
The use of the epistolary style as a means to convey a mysterious plot is tricky. While the letters can add to the mystery of the plot, with the readers having the opportunity to work through the mystery along with the characters, the letters can also be a barrier to better understanding of the plot development.
We'll see how correspondence is used to advance the mystery plot in The London House. It is integral!
Other popular themes in modern epistolary novels include war-time letters and business letters. See the epistolary elements--memoir and diary--included in Hernan Diaz's Trust.
Characteristics of the epistolary novel
Letters add realism to a story. Although divided by time, the reader reads the words penned by the writer in the present and thereby experiences an event as it is recounted by the author. Figuratively speaking, writer and reader are standing side by side at the same event.
Because a letter is a first-person narrative, we read only the writer's perspective—her knowledge of details, her insight and interpretation. Because the writer has included the reader within her own personal space, they feel connected. The reader is sympathetic to the point of view of the letter writer. Letters provide "dramatic immediacy."
With multiple letters recounting the same event, readers see different points of view from each of the characters writing. Readers gain insight into that writer's character, personality, interests, biases, without the injection of an omniscient narrator's perspective.
Characteristics of the epistolary novel
As readers read what the letter writers have written, they develop a sense of that character as a person, complete with personality, background, biases and quirks. In that sense, readers construct the characters. The author has constructed the letters, but the reader constructs the character based on the content of the letters.
And readers construct the plot or narrative by piecing together the facts of an event compiled from the letters of the various characters. Typically, each letter writer has pieces of the puzzle, but not the whole picture. The reader constructs the narrative by putting together the various pieces contributed by each character, weeding out what he or she knows is probably just that letter writers personal construct.
Thus, readers themselves construct the plot based on their knowledge of each individual character. These readers construct the "facts" or "events" of the novel—its plot—by sifting through the viewpoints of various characters. It emphasizes the way that characters' relationships develop and change.
Epistolary novels
Nick Bantock, (1991). Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence.
Jean Webster, (1913). Daddy Long Legs.
Elizabeth Wein, (2013). Code Name Verity.
Mariama Bâ, (1981). So A Long Letter
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Gilbert Imlay, The Emigrants
Jessica Brockmole, Letters from the Skye
Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian
Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee Members
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
Bel Kaufman, Up the Down Staircase
Maria Semple, Where’d You Go Bernadette?
Stephen King, Carrie
Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White.
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Question for discussion
Today, is email the successor to the letter?
Next Week:
The London House, Katherine Reay