What The Correspondent Taught Me About Writing to People

Remember: words, especially those written, are immortal.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is an epistolary novel: the whole story is told through letters and emails. A letter can't describe every event the way narration does, so as readers we fill in what happened from the next reply. Most of the time we work out what a character did from how someone answers them, or from the letter they send next. That's what I found really unique about it.

The letters also carry a context and nuance that I don't think modern chat, or even a phone call, can convey. In The Correspondent, every letter (and telegram) feels personal, and it connects with you as the reader.

The letters that were never sent

What struck me most is that sometimes the most important piece is the one that never gets sent. It stays tucked away in a journal, or scribbled in a random note.

Writing to a stranger

I love it when Sybil writes to the author of a book she has just read. Her letters are carefree and completely honest about what she thought of the book. When I first read her letter to Ann Patchett, I was a bit surprised. You're allowed to send a letter to a stranger? You can actually do that?

It reminded me of my thesis. Just after I graduated, a student found my thesis and contacted me to ask for my resources. I ignored him. My reason at the time was that he hadn't asked politely enough, and how dare he ask for source files I had made with so much dedication.

Then, a few years ago, someone else contacted me asking for the same thing. This time I felt honoured that my thesis was still relevant, and that someone was continuing to build on the topic. I even gave her my calculation file. What a character development!

Reconnecting with an old friend

The thing I wanted to do most after reading this book was to write a letter to an old friend. Someone I was close to back then, but for one reason or another (mostly distance) we don't talk much anymore.

Suddenly sending them an update about my life on chat feels like too much. And asking about their life out of curiosity feels like an interrogation. I think a letter can soften that. I'm even thinking of a handwritten one, with a gift of course. Maybe a copy of The Correspondent.

My engineering brain wants to say something

Letters, telegrams and emails are all forms of communication. As I said above, each form carries a different nuance, and the sender and the reader can read the same message differently. A handwritten letter feels personal in a way an email doesn't.

We've seen communication technology move from letters to telegrams to email. Today we take in so much information, especially with the rise of AI-generated writing, that our brains can't keep up, and we end up selectively ingesting only some of it.

We communicate every day: by voice and by text, in casual talk, telling stories, asking for information, asking for help. What this book showed me is that even a simple form of communication can have a huge impact.