Love in the mail: Dialogue and the epistolary pact in romantic letters from the 1930s
Abstract
In this dissertation, I explore the conventions and methods of negotiation used in letter writing as a unique communicative genre. Specifically, I am interested in revealing the ways that letter writing, as a communicative genre, contributed to the development of a particular romantic relationship in the 1930s, a time when there were few other ways to communicate effectively over geographical distance. In order to explore this genre, I developed a series of investigative practices based upon the theories of contemporary ethnographic theory, M. M. Bakhtin, and American Pragmatism. Specifically, I engaged in three steps: (1) I have explored the stories told in the letters, which has helped establish a historical context for them; (2) I have examined the “epistolary pact” that was negotiated between the two correspondents, Lil and Harry, as they created their written dialogue; and (3) I have reviewed the way that their correspondence functioned as a genre of communication important to the development and maintenance of this relationship over distance in the twentieth century. Through this process, I have outlined specific processes vital to letter writing as a genre of communication including establishing a sense of the presence of the writer in the letter, which required negotiating space and time differentials separating the reader and writer of correspondence. Moreover, I determined that there were certain rules and regulations that were negotiated between writer and reader, including frequency, length, tone, and content. Next, I analyzed the materiality of the letter as a physical object, including the instruments and mediums used in letter writing as well as the tactility of letters. Finally, I looked at the ways that all of these elements functioned concurrently to develop an epistolary pact that allowed a romance to flourish between Lil and Harry.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Rawlins, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Communication|American history
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