The Correspondent

The epistolary novel is a narrative traditionally told through the medium of letters. The genre now includes any written media, such as diary entries, “found” documents, emails, text messages, dispatches, and articles. It is one of the oldest literary genres, as tales told through letters date as far back as early antiquity. One of the earliest examples of epistolary narratives is found in classical literature. Ovid’s Heroides (c. 100 BC) comprises a collection of 15 epistolary poems from mythological women to their absent lovers and features the intimate and confessional tone that would later qualify the genre.

During the Renaissance period, European writers sought to experiment by including letters in their prose fiction to portray moral quandaries, ethical debates, and dialogue between characters. In the 18th century, epistolary novels encountered a marked popularity as literacy levels rose—particularly in middle-class women—and the reading public favored the letter form for its immediacy, air of credibility, and fictional glimpses into the lives of others. Authors encouraged their readers to imagine themselves as wallflowers to private conversations, eavesdropping on personal correspondences and learning the secrets of characters as they read.