Envelope-ing Genres
Proposed Special Session
2001 MLA Annual Convention, New Orleans
Since the 1800s, it has become increasingly typical to read letters
within a literary work rather than exclusively epistolary writings.
Letters, however, continue to infiltrate, even sometimes to dominate,
Gothic as well as historical fiction, romance as well as horror novels,
didactic tracts as well as erotica, fiction as well as literary
criticism. What are the cultural and narratological/generic politics
behind this persistence? Envelope-ing Genres, a special session I hope
to propose for the 2001 MLA Annual Convention in New Orleans, will look
at questions such as:
—how can we rewrite the history of the literary letter to explain not
only the decline of epistolary novels but also the persistence of
letters within a variety of genres?
—what demands are placed on readers when letters enter a work? Does the
reader become a confidant, voyeur, self-examiner, literary critic, a
subject shaped by the text, or one given full freedom of interpretation?
—how does the inclusion of letters introduce new complexities into
discussions of realism? Does the materiality of the letters—the
handwriting or font, the quality of the paper—expand the texts'
examinations of realism?
—how does gender complicate the construction and reception of letters?
—is there or can there be a revival of the epistolary novel and what
would this 21st century version of epistolarity look like?
These questions are not the only possible ones to consider; I encourage
a diversity of approaches. Please send 1-page abstracts and vitae by 15
March 2001 to ler556@mizzou.edu or Laura Rotunno, Department of English,
107 Tate Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Also feel
free to write me with any questions.
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