For the Love of Letters: The Joy of Slow Communication
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Descripción editorial
Remember letters? They were good, weren't they? The thrill of receiving that battered envelope with its longed-for contents - all the better for the wait... Handwritten is a celebration of letter-writing in all its guises, a showcase for the masterpieces we would all write if we had the time and inclination - the perfect thankyou letter, a riotous despatch from a far-flung location, that heartfelt declaration of love. As John O'Connell shows, the best letters have much to teach us - Samuel Richardson's 'familiar letters'; Wilfred Owen's outpourings to his mother; the schoolboy scatology of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin; Churchill and Clementine's reflections on the 'colour & jostle of the highway' they trod together; the sly observational charms of Jane Austen... In this richly entertaining book, O'Connell puts forward a passionate case for the value of letter-writing in a distracted, technology-obsessed world. A properly crafted letter is something to be cherished, an act of exposure which gives shape and meaning to the chaos of life. In the words of John Donne, 'Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls;/For, thus friends absent speak.'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This book-length essay argues that in a world increasingly driven by instantaneous, ephemeral electronic communication, a place still exists for the old-fashioned handwritten letter. O'Connell, like many lovers of the written word, delights in the sensuous physicality of fine paper and a favorite pen. But he is keenly aware of how profoundly different handwritten letters are from e-mails or tweets, demanding greater time and attention from writer and reader alike while possessing the potential to outlast both by centuries. O'Connell collects snippets from dozens of famous correspondents, from the thoughtful Seneca to the comic, anxious Evelyn Waugh, as well as emotionally powerful letters from soldiers to their families. Side excursions treat the reader to a quick history of the postal services that made all of this possible and to witty discursions on subgenres like love letters, "round-robin" family letters, and "legacy" letters from mothers to their unborn children. Although this book will not singlehandedly bring back the heyday of the first-class post, it will inspire readers to recognize and value one of the oldest and most intimately revealing forms of human communication.
