An Overview of Turkish and Greek Epistolary Novels - Essay Example

This rejection of the epistolary novel is a tragic decision because the epistolary novel can be a very compelling, effective, and powerful tool that provides readers with a new, electrifying experience. The epistolary novel carries a greater impact on the readers because the writer is able to probe into the recesses of the characters’ minds and the tensions within the subjectivity of the self. The writer allows his characters to think on paper and to directly communicate their innermost feelings and emotions to each other and to the readers without interference from the author.

Through this genre, the writer is able to convey the shape of events to come with dramatic immediacy. In conclusion, the epistolary novel emerged because ancient writers realized the power of letters to convey nuanced and complex emotions. It had its beginnings in ancient Greece when erudite men like Epistolary novel flourished in Greece because traditions and culture encouraged the genre which cannot be said of the Islamic Turkish culture, which discouraged letter writing and fiction and thus the novel.

The epistolary novel flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries culminating in the ‘golden age of letters’ but sadly it waned with the advent of modernism which favored novels with third person narratives. It gradually became obsolete as modernism results to a breakdown in sympathetic attachments and thus the breakdown of correspondence. Still, the epistolary novel refused to die as more powerful novels like ‘The Color Purple’ are churned and enjoyed in the modern era.