When
reading these epistolary forms you begin to sympathize with her character. The letters act as a raw form of how
she feels throughout the novel and therefore invoke an emotional response or
connection to the reader. In this
form of epistolary work the letters do end because Celie is eventually reunited
with her sister and finds no need to subject herself to expression through her
letters any longer. In an even more
contemporary epistolary form such as one involved with technology is
possible for these to not end.
They may never end because they are published to the web and therefore
are always available to been seen or expanded upon. Whether epistolary form is used in letter format or shown through
something as simple as a text message, it continues to function as a highly
effective way to express oneself and engage it’s readers.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Epistolary Work
When thinking back to some form of epistolary work that had
an effect on me I think of a novel I read in my Young Adult Literature class
last semester. “The Color Purple”
by Alice Walker functions as a contemporary epistolary form compared to that of
“Clarissa.” This is a novel
comprised of letters written by the protagonist, Celie, to God and her sister. It also contains letters written back
to her from the sister and other characters in the novel. Celie’s character is individualized
because we are able to see her inner most thoughts, complaints, and desires
through her letters. Her letters
act as a medium for her to express who she is to the reader and establish
herself as an individual.
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When I realized that Clarissa was written in epistolary form, I also thought of The Color Purple as a more contemporary comparison. Celie uses letter writing as an outlet, and it comforts her to have someone to write to. At first it is God, but then the comfort comes from writing to her sister. This reminds me of Clarissa writing to Anna as a source of comfort. As you pointed out, Celie eventually stops writing because she is reunited with Nettie. This makes me wonder if Clarissa is going to find her comfort at the end of the novel as well? We can imagine that the novel ends when Clarissa stops writing, so what is the reason for that going to be? The ending definitely has the opportunity to be either very hopeful or very tragic.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you mentioned that the epistolary form causes us to sympathize and engage with the writer. Also, the idea of the modern day epistolary “never-ending” is intriguing to me, especially the idea of permanence on the web. I think this really goes to show how much better connected we are as a global community now. Via the internet we can literally communicate with anyone anywhere. Back in the time of Clarissa and even The Color Purple (which I’ve never read, but I’ve seen bits of the movie), letter writing was the most convenient way to stay in touch and even then it was limited. How many times in Clarissa are letters being moved or stolen, etc.? On the internet you can’t really do that and I think that’s part of the reason why communication on the web is so never ending. This whole notion of the internet as an epistolary communication platform is very intriguing to me and I wonder how it will continue to expand and change in the future.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to remember that the epistolary novel is not dead! There are of course many recent and current examples, and as you say, Ashley, the epistolary form allows for intense individuation in those as well. And even if a novel isn't completely made up of letters or diaries, they are a common addition to novels to provide a sense of immediate interruption or access to a character (pay attention in Persuasion to the key moments where letters are used!). Off the top of my head I'm also thinking of AS Byatt's novel Possession, which weaves a story from the past into a contemporary story by using letters--and the discovery of the letters becomes a ket narrative engine... but there are many, many more examples.
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