Post by Mia on Feb 28, 2017 22:28:52 GMT
This question has arisen in another thread.
A thought - who owns the letter? The writer who sent it, or the recipient?
There are people, due perhaps to a lack of storage space, destroy the letters after they've replied to them. That is at the other end of the spectrum. I'm not so keen on letters I have spent time writing to people, being destroyed although I can imagine circumstances where I would thoroughly support it (perhaps writing to a dissident or to a soldier stationed out in a war zone...).
There are books compiled of letters written by famous people, e.g. I have Roald Dahl's Love From Boy (although I haven't started it), and also not so famous people - the Dear Bessie letters (plus a couple of replies) mentioned in Simon Garfield's To the Letter (although the letters are also in their own book). Then, there's Letters of Note, compiled by Shaun Usher. There are the books, and associated website and a Twitter account. One of the old letters tweeted this year was about the sport the letter writer thought should be called Hand-Egg. Also, there was mention of the "love" letters of James Joyce to Nora (and a link to a website with them on - do not google this if you are at work, or have children around at the time).
I still think letters can and should still be open and honest. You could write, "Please keep this to yourself," for a particularly sensitive bit (as you do in speech - a friend asked me not to say anything to.... and I won't), but also keep in mind some people share almost everything with their partners and keep no secrets.
There are people, due perhaps to a lack of storage space, destroy the letters after they've replied to them. That is at the other end of the spectrum. I'm not so keen on letters I have spent time writing to people, being destroyed although I can imagine circumstances where I would thoroughly support it (perhaps writing to a dissident or to a soldier stationed out in a war zone...).
There are books compiled of letters written by famous people, e.g. I have Roald Dahl's Love From Boy (although I haven't started it), and also not so famous people - the Dear Bessie letters (plus a couple of replies) mentioned in Simon Garfield's To the Letter (although the letters are also in their own book). Then, there's Letters of Note, compiled by Shaun Usher. There are the books, and associated website and a Twitter account. One of the old letters tweeted this year was about the sport the letter writer thought should be called Hand-Egg. Also, there was mention of the "love" letters of James Joyce to Nora (and a link to a website with them on - do not google this if you are at work, or have children around at the time).
I still think letters can and should still be open and honest. You could write, "Please keep this to yourself," for a particularly sensitive bit (as you do in speech - a friend asked me not to say anything to.... and I won't), but also keep in mind some people share almost everything with their partners and keep no secrets.