I am a mix of an introvert and extrovert personality. While I prefer the solitude and far away from the talking crowd.
I am happy to hide in the calming cloak of night’s darkness. The company of starlit sky with the moon in one of her varied phases is sufficient muse of companionship.
Equally the brightness of the day brings to the fore front creatures of the wild garden from my past. But today, I see concrete jungle surround me.
Yet, the light from the lit windows of an apartment gives wing to my imagination to run wild. I think about the people’s lives in these lighted windows. An interesting life maybe?!!
It may seem like each life in the tall rising apartments have a unique story to tell. Each story comes with a complex plot progress. Through lived process leading to grand value-add to human existence.
Now, a human existence is a mere iterated data points for monetization value. I feel being humane, does not even count, for being kind is marked with ROIs.
In 1991, I came across a book which was a collection of letters between people. It was written by lone souls seeking companionship. Since then, I have been interested in book on correspondence and letter-based novels.
Surprisingly, I came across an early novel which was written using the method of correspondence. Plot progress was structured around consecutive letters.
If you look at the novels from early days after the advent of the novel writing. The current novels were a progress from the essays and prose writing.
Before Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” the first novel in English Literature, there were many prototypes to the correspondence form of novels which shook literature. Giving birth to the novels that we know now.
Among them precursor to present-day novel where the Epistolary novel. I don’t remember the name of the novel of the interesting Epistolary novel that I read many years hence.
Plot Line of the Untitled Epistolary Novel That I Read
The story was about family of three people, the father, elder brother and the younger. The eldest son is a people pleaser. The youngest son is a carefree person much to his pious father’s disapproval.
The child was born out of wedlock and eldest brother ignores the plea of his lover and abandons them.
The youngest comes to know it and takes them under his wings owning to take the woman as his wife and her child as his son.
The father disowns the second son for being amoral and disinherited from his estate. While the eldest does not own up fearing losing the inheritance.
His refusal to accept the child from the illicit relationship with a woman from the working class does huge harm. But the Younger son helps out the woman who is struggling from Tuberculosis and later passes away.
Eventually, when the elder brother and the grandfather of the child accepts the relationship because of no heir to estate. The child, now a young man, gets to know about his true origin from his adopted father and uncle through his letters left when he passes away.
It is too late, since the young man only sees his uncle as his father and refuses to accept his biological father. The story of social image of uprightness and the contrast of irresponsible second son’s true nature is explicitly seen and heard in the letters he leaves behind to his nephew and his adopted son on his death bed.
Epistolary Novel Take Away
While reading this novel, I realised that I felt more for the narrator’s balanced mindset and less than pious ways. His open-mindedness in seeing morals with a humane eye was endearing.
Sometimes if I want to write a story, I often begin with the words “Dear Reader…” and later remove them from the write-up. Letters to a friend or close connections are more motivational for my writing.
It made me realise, that the reader is not some cold person, least interested in the story I have written for them.
Likewise, I feel reading the letter of writers to their family, friends, and fellow writers are intriguing and innovative.
The way things unfold when you write a letter is quite different from the newspaper articles we end up bingeing.
Letters to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
Among the many Epistolary works that I have read. I found a collection of letters by Maya Angelou was truly invigorating for me.
There were letters that spoke of pearls of wisdom striven in such glamours undertones. That I got goosebumps reading them.
She had a clear idea of what her daughters should possess and what take away she got from her life.
She did not smoothen the hard reality of life, relationships, and social challenges. She did not list out the excuses for such an existence that surround young women of her and our time.
Her advises were matter-of-fact and had kind truths in it. She gave sensible advises to her daughter of the present, past, and the future.
There was one letter which was so poignant that I was moved to tears. Her words simply refused to move out of my mind.
This incident was about a male friend whom she knew for a long time and thought was kind and cultured. But he was the one who then physically beat her up till she was critically wounded.
His justification for his cruel act. He randomly reasoned that he was disciplining her for ignoring him. That part of the letter was moving for me because the betrayal was too much to bear for me.
Even in those dazed moment Maya does not explain or complain about the horror. She merely hangs in their until the nightmare ends and help arrives. She aptly titled it Accident, Coincident, or Answered Prayer.
When she spoke of her other experiences connected with lectures and her embarrassing moments. She had a wonderful grace to accept her misinterpretation in concluding without proper analysis of the situation.
She spoke of our assumption and presumption in each situation and how to take it in strides that there are times when she has been wrong and how she allowed her to forgive her incorrect view.
Currently Reading | Letter of Emily Dickinson
I have read about few letters to a close schoolmate Mrs. A.P Strong (1845-53). I found the letters fascinating and how so similar to my thought processes.
How woman during her time were came through beautifully. The women who were treated as objects to tend to a man’s social and personal decoration. How much some of these free-spirited women (much like Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice). They despised such restrictions and often led a rebellion against it.
Especially, women of letters had a hard time accepting their assumed lot in the society. Rarely, do we find progressive men in those time who think of supporting their partners and lift them from such dire straits.
The letters between girls, women, and elderly women seem to reflect the social clipping of their wings of freedom.
Even now in the 21st Century, I must say we may have the women’s independence and find them progressed a lot, yet we are still bound by social norms or present-day social elitism.
Rough Chart of Women Between Maya Angelou and Emily Dickinson
I read Maya’s letter before Emily’s letter, that fact hurts me. The women of 21th Century and women of the 19th Century are not far apart.
Yet, in their diction they may differ making Emily more mellow than Maya. Both asked relevant questions.
Can some these questions be answered by the society of 21st Century? Seriously! Or are we asking the same old questions?
We are still stuck in ancient rhetoric trying to defend the original sin of objectifying women as meagre powered homemakers with no voting rights.
The fact that woman are let to choose the diaper brand while man decide what his son or his daughter will study.
Where is the next generation heading, if the narrow prism view of woman’s role in a family, workplace, or community is belittled largely by the society? Where should women seek change.
Letters to Friends and Family
I personally prefer to write handwritten letter to my acquaintances and close friends since childhood. I send them off adrift on the snail mail postal service with glee.
With the advent of the Email, I have abused many a reader with my long format messages.
I have also got comments for my misguided action on highway of information. I got comment like: “be succinct in your communication!” Though, it felt rude when I received it.
But when minus the emotion it prvoked, the comment evoked in me, an new understanding that time is money!
It was best to use precise and clipped message. As sending messages via email to super busy people could put them off from vital message embedded deep into the email.
Though, it did effectively clip my wings of expression. I shifted my expression to my personal journal or if it qualified to online blogging. Now blog is choice and readership not forced! I am safe!!!
But it did not stop me from reading letters by unknown or popular people as a way of entertainment and expansion of my thinking mind.
So, either way, when a letter from a friend arrives in an envelope, back in my past. It brought with it great joy and happiness for me.
Letters From Different Stages of Novel
Letter writing is an art form fast approaching its demise like Telegram in India.
Telegram always evoked mixed feeling in the receivers and senders alike. It could be a happy or sad news tagged with urgency. Words count for being pricy and are almost like few worded prompt to a news.
Letters from people who communicated with their loved ones about their achievement, travel plans to visit, their struggle are all treasure for the future generation.
If AI Read Letters with Human Emotions
If AI were to read up all these old letters by common people keeping in touch with family, could become a beginning of an art platform.
For long format letters speak of patience from the writers and the readers of these letters.
Present generation expressions are boiled down to emoticons.
The generations are soon drowning to lose their ways to the hallucinating 1s and 0s of the information highway.
Many a time we are hijacked by the very technology that supposed to be for human assistance.
Consuming Half-Baked Online Content
The way contents are consumed in the online community and tribes is quite frightening.
AI guided content creation also results in wrong postulation and incorrect inference.
It is like when the computers were just code card reading machines that aped mathematical calculation.
You miss one card in the card reader, then, it must be re-inserted correctly for code to work!
My brother once explained how codes were entered into the huge machine computers with multiple small electrical and electronic gadgets. It used transistor and semi-conductors with coolants.
Whatever the Future Hold | Hope Still Burns Bright
The future of some decaying and dying habits will be replaced with new one.
If one is not led astray of the new technology then, there is still a silver of hope for the future generation.
So, find the perfect balance between over dependency on a man-made machine technology and the focus on the humans is a fine-tuned balance.
Whether we achieve that, or Skynet takes over the world where AI rules the roaster is yet to be decided.
Whether it is a nightmare or mastery of humanity – Well keep watching while paying attention!
Itinerant Storyteller 