Getting Your Letters Wrong

Early Modern Epistolary Writing

Abstract

Letters have played a central role in the development of various forms of literary culture. This article argues that it is through the tropes of miscarriage, deceit and betrayal that early modern writers and audiences frequently encountered epistolary forms of communication. By looking at various examples from Renaissance and Restoration fiction and literary culture, the article demonstrates that this period was marked by inconsistencies, experimentation and negotiations. Letters at the time provided writers with an opportunity to showcase the flexibility and malleability of language. The letter, indeed, represented the semantic in-betweenness that links factuality and fiction.