Letter to X
Writing Project Three: Epistolary Essay
The epistolary essay is a genre of nonfiction writing which appropriates some of the
conventions of the letter in order to inform or persuade.
But which conventions of the letter, you might be asking, do epistolary essays
appropriate? Well, some epistolary essays begin with a “greeting” or “salutation,” and end with
a “complimentary close” and signature. Utilizing these features of the letter add a level of
simulated formality and deference to the essay which can sometimes be used for emotional
and/or rhetorical effect. For example, if I was to begin my epistolary essay to with the greeting
“Dear Mr. Gates,” I am both suggesting a level of formality and a certain level of respect—a
respect which may be useful for rhetorical effect even if I follow that respect up with a highly
critical essay. If, on the other hand, I begin my essay with the greeting by writing simply, “Mr.
Gates,” I am suggesting a level of formality but am foreshadowing a much colder, more-distant,
potentially-angrier and less-respectful posture. Likewise, if I were to begin my essay “Dear
‘Positive Vibes Only’ [Bumper Stickers]” (as one essay that we will look at does), I am suggesting
a level of mock-formality which suggests a more light-hearted and irreverent effect.
A similar tactic can be used for the complimentary close and signature. I may close a
letter, for example, with the phrase “Sincerely,” in order to remind the reader of the formality I
am attempting to simulate; or I may end a critical and irreverent essay with the phrase
“Affectionately,” in order to add some irony for a comedic and/or disrespectful effect.
But these conventions, as useful as they might be, are not necessary features of the
epistolary essay. In fact, depending on your purpose in writing the essay, the formality of a
greeting and complimentary close might be wholly inappropriate. (You may, for example, want
to create an effect of intimacy in the essay which may be hurt by such ostentatiously formal
features.) What truly sets the epistolary essay apart is that, in this type of essay, the writer is
addressing a particular person, place, thing, idea, phrase, or institution. By all appearances,
they are not writing about someone or something but writing to them. This someone or
something which the writing addressing we will call the addressee.
It’s important to realize that the addressee is not the same thing as the audience. We
can see the difference between an addressee and an audience when we consider the form of
epistolary essay known as the “open letter.” A well-known open letter, “J’Accuse…!,” was
published in 1898 by the French novelist Émile Zola. The letter is addressed to then-FrenchPresident Félix Faure whom Zola accuses of unlawfully jailing a suspected spy for anti-Semitic
reasons. But Zola never intended to send the letter to President Faure and, instead, published it
on the front page of the liberal newspaper L'Aurore. Clearly, Zola’s intended audience—the
readership of L’Aurore—was quite different than the person to whom the letter was addressed.
The explicit use of the addressee in writing is called “direct address” and is created by
the use of the second-person pronoun “you.” For example, in Paul’s letter to the Romans (a
book in the New Testament) the apostle Paul writes, “I long to see you so that I may impart to
you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged
by each other’s faith” (Romans 1:11-12; emphasis added). Paul is, here, through the use of
second person pronouns, directly addressing the members of a church in Rome. This use of
direct address in the epistolary essay creates the impression that the essay is “in conversation”
with a particular person, place, group of people, or thing. This less-formal, conversational tone
that the direct address creates is important to the effect of the epistolary essay as it allows the
writer to write more personally and more emotionally than in other forms of essay writing.
This is an important point to realize as the personal, conversational, informal tone of
direct address is more appropriate for some purposes than others.
Your task in Writing Project Three is to write an epistolary essay. To do this, you will
need to choose an addressee and either an informative or persuasive purpose for your essay
and then construct an essay around that purpose.
Choosing an addressee and purpose. In Writing Project Three, you will be choosing
whether you write an informative or a persuasive essay as the epistolary essay can be used for
either purpose. That being said, the use of the direct address serves some informative and
persuasive purposes better than others. If, for example, I wanted to inform my reader about
the intricacies of a very complicated piece of legislation being considered by Congress, direct
address might distract from that goal. Likewise, if I was writing a proposal in the hopes that I
might persuade my local government to build a new park by my home, the informality of direct
address might suggest that I have not fully considered all of the intricacies of such a project.
If, on the other hand, I wanted to write an impassioned critique of Congress or my local
government, or if I wanted to convince my reader to boycott a particular company or
institution, I may use an epistolary essay in order to justify my informality or to direct my
emotions at their cause. Likewise, if I wanted to inform my reader about something personal
such as those things that make me happy or sad, my sense of purpose or meaning in my life, my
relationship with a family member, or the intricacies of a very intimate process such as
meditation or writing, I may use an epistolary essay in order to simulate a sense of intimacy.
Letters to the editor, open letters, biblical epistles, advice columns—these are a few of
the common types of epistolary essay which (usually) aim at persuading. If you want to
persuade your reader of something, you will need to decide what you would like your reader to
believe and/or what action you would like them to take and then to construct an essay with the
aim of convincing your reader to agree with your position. To write a persusive epistolary essay,
you will want to choose an appropriate addressee. You might, for example, address the person,
place, idea, thing, or institution about which you want to change your reader’s beliefs or
actions: “Dear Congress,” or “Dear Members of my Local PTA” or “Dear Sit Ups that I Don’t
Want to Do.” Or you might directly address those people that you aim at persuading: “Dear
Amazon Prime Subscribers.” To do this, you will want to refer back to the work we did in
Writing Project One. You might also refer to Part Three of The McGraw Hill Guide, pgs. 235-418.
Epistolary essays which aim at informing are less common but do exist. One betterknown form of epistolary essay which aims at informing is the collection Letters to a Young Poet
by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. In this book, Rilke informs a young poet with whom he
was in correspondence, about matters of his poetic process and artistic practice. Similar books
have been written, Letters to a Young Novelist by Mario Vargas Llosa and Letters to a Young
Scientist by Edward O. Wilson, for example, which similarly attempt to mentor burgeoning
novel writers and scientists respectively. Likewise, we are going to read an essay by novelist
Karl Ove Knausgaard called “Letter to an Unborn Daughter” in which Knausgaard attempts to
share with his unborn daughter his answer to the question “What makes life worth living?”
To write an informative epistolary essay, you will want to choose an appropriate
addressee determined by your subject matter: you might, for example address a member of
your family if you aim to inform your reader about some aspect or dynamic family, or you might
address a fellow enthusiast of a hobby if you aim to inform your reader about that hobby
and/or the culture surrounding it. To do this, you will want to refer back to the work we did for
Writing Project Two. You might also refer to Part Two of The McGraw Hull Guide, pgs. 74-234.
My expectations for your first draft of WP3 are as follows:
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The essay should have an introductory paragraph or two which begins to introduce
the subject matter and/or purpose of the essay (what trait the essay is about) and
effectively engages the reader and a concluding paragraph which conveys a sense of
completeness and closure. (For some ideas of how to write a strong concluding
paragraph, see this article by the Harvard Writing Center on the topic.)
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The essay as a whole should, by the end, have a clear informative or persuasive
purpose.
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Each paragraph should have a topic sentence and “signposts” should be included
where necessary. Likewise, the essay should be free of “Velcro transitions.” (For
more about topic sentences, read this article. For more about transitions and
“Velcro transitions,” read this article.)
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The essay should be formatted correctly according to the “Formatting Guide” on
Canvas.
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The essay should be at least four (4), double-spaced pages once the formatting
conventions listed above have been applied.