Conclusion

Abstract

This chapter examines the limitations of the literary letter, particularly in relation to those experiences that exert the greatest pressure on its outer limits: the illiterate, the oral, the dispossessed. Bower argues that new conventions emerge most powerfully at these outer limits, and discusses the future of the epistolary form. The chapter describes the emergent epistolary conventions in the books under consideration, and argues that the epistolary revival was underpinned by a set of ideals relating to dialogue. Some works present non-anglophone material to the anglophone reader, some use letters to challenge policed borders, whilst others create epistolary narratives which connect correspondents in different cultural and linguistic contexts. Bower highlights the potential of combining Auerbach’s Ansatzpunkt and Bourdieu’s field analysis for future comparative work in the field. The chapter also provides valuable information about how the ideals underpinning literary works are often constrained by the logic of literary institutions and book markets. Bower outlines the importance of her investigation for the fields of epistolary criticism and world literature, and revisits the central claim of the book: that the literary letter speaks powerfully again at the end of the long twentieth century.