Epistolary novels are written in the form of letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. The technique allows for multiple narrators and viewpoints. The first was Love Letters between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela and Clarissa were famous 18th-century examples. The form fell out of favor but was revived in the 19th century by writers such as Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker. Modern examples include Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Matt Beaumont’s e, an entirely email-based novel.
An epistolary novel is also called a letter novel, because the narrative takes place in the form of letters, possibly diary entries, and occasionally newspaper articles. An epistle is an archaic term for a letter. This type of novel uses an interesting literary technique and allows a writer to include more narrators in the story than he does. This means that the story can be told and interpreted from many points of view.
The very first epistolary novel was the 17th-century work, Love Letters between a Nobleman and His Sister, written by Aphra Behn. Unlike many subsequent novels, several volumes of the work also include the voice of a narrator, who ties together letters and commentaries on all characters. This aspect would disappear in later works when this type of novel became popular in the 18th century.
Of these 18th-century works, the most famous were those of Samuel Richardson. Both his novels Pamela and Clarissa were novels of letters. French novelist Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos wrote one of today’s most recognizable epistolary novels Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), which has been the inspiration for modern plays and two popular films.
As with any form of novel, the epistolary novel fell out of favor and began to be copied and mocked by writers. However, Jane Austen tried her hand at writing a successful one in the short film Lady Susan. However, parodies such as Henry Fielding’s Shamela began to emerge in the mid-century.
Although this form of novel became less popular, efforts to revive it continued into the 19th century, and several extremely well-known writers showed great skill in the form. Among them, the mystery works of Wilkie Collins, especially in The Woman in White and The Moonstone, use letters, reports, transcripts and diary entries to convey more points of view and advance the plot. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is also considered to be a very effective epistolary novel and one that continues to capture the imagination of modern audiences.
Alice Walker has also given great credit to the shape in her novel The Color Purple, which is a modern take on the shape. Stephen King’s first well-known novel, Carrie, also combines epistolary elements. Like Aphra Behn’s work, it also includes an omniscient narrator.
Perhaps the most fascinating modern interpretations of the epistolary novel are the current “email novels” that have been written in recent years. As formal letter writing has become less and less common, using email has become relatively standard for many people. Of these recent examples, perhaps the most fascinating is Matt Beaumont’s novel e. Using narration from multiple people, the novel is entirely composed of emails written by people who work at an advertising agency. The book is a darkly comic look at the world of advertising, in which Beaumont once worked, and does justice to the modernized form.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
