escorpio
Pencils
Posts: 86
Looking for Penpals?: Perhaps. It depends...
|
Post by escorpio on May 28, 2020 7:05:57 GMT
I started writing this as a respond in another thread, discussing the delays in mail due to the pandemic. Then, I figured it became too off-topic and realised it could be a nice topic of its own, letter writing featured in culture and popular culture, where letter writing is featured and important fo
This whole letter delays, due to the pandemic, makes me think back to one of my favourite book series, The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg, chronicalling the mass-emigration of Swedes to America in the mid-1800s. The main family left their home and parents, assuming that they'd never see them again, and travelled for 2 weeks in Sweden and 10 weeks at sea.Upon arrival in NY they wrote letters home, telling the remaining family that they'd crossed the Ocean. The letter then had to travel all the way back, meaning that the family did not get it until after 6 months after their (grown) children and grandchildren left. Plus they couldn't reply, since the family didn't stay in New York and needed to wait for another letter to arrive, with address details. Going forward they sent about 1-2 letters per year in each direction, the American family maybe embelleshing the new land a bit too much. Also I felt bad for the wife, as she could read, but not write, and was left at her husband's mercy to write her letters to her family and she noticed that he changed her words in the letters (she was very homesick).
Any where else where letter writing is featured or an important part of the plot?
|
|
|
Post by stompie on May 28, 2020 11:50:45 GMT
I cant recall the name of the film but a man and women correspond via the home mailbox but, they are from different times and they only know that they have mail because of the flag going up or down. Eventually they get to meet up.
|
|
|
Post by davidv on May 28, 2020 12:22:33 GMT
I cant recall the name of the film but a man and women correspond via the home mailbox but, they are from different times and they only know that they have mail because of the flag going up or down. Eventually they get to meet up. I think that one’s called The Lakehouse
|
|
|
Post by jamberrychoux on May 28, 2020 13:07:51 GMT
I cant recall the name of the film but a man and women correspond via the home mailbox but, they are from different times and they only know that they have mail because of the flag going up or down. Eventually they get to meet up. I think that one’s called The Lakehouse Sounds like a great movie that I would love to see. I wonder if it is based on a book?
|
|
|
Post by jamberrychoux on May 28, 2020 13:35:51 GMT
Any where else where letter writing is featured or an important part of the plot?
I enjoyed these two books: 1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows 2. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
|
|
|
Post by michelleg on May 28, 2020 15:59:59 GMT
Epistolary novels are wonderful. Love, love, love 84 Charing Cross Road - and loved the movie as well. There's also a movie from the 1990s called The Love Letter - which is also about a man and woman corresponding over time. Set in modern day and American Civil War. And The Lakehouse is amazing! Huge Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock fan. Persuasion by Jane Austen isn't a strictly epistolary novel as such, but has one of the best love letters every written in fiction, IMHO. Great article on the 100 of these novels (or novels where letters play an important role in the plot development): bookriot.com/2016/08/24/100-epistolary-novels-from-the-past-and-present/I of course, also love the non-fiction books of letters of famous people. Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke is hands down my favorite.
|
|
|
Post by davidv on May 28, 2020 18:12:55 GMT
There’s also In The Good Old Summertime, featuring Judy Garland. It’s basically the same plot as You’ve Got Mail. The man and woman are pen pals and think each other is wonderful, but they also meet in real life and don’t know they’re the same people they’re writing to. In real life they hate each other. Of course eventually it all works out in the end.
|
|
|
Post by hoyabella on May 29, 2020 16:25:45 GMT
Thank you for the link. They missed "Going postal" by Terry Pratchett!
|
|
|
Post by michelleg on May 30, 2020 0:01:15 GMT
Thank you for the link. They missed "Going postal" by Terry Pratchett! Ah yes! Love him!!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 30, 2020 16:08:10 GMT
And The Lakehouse is amazing! Huge Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock fan. I looked this up on Amazon and apparently you can get it free if you have Prime I shall have a look later.
|
|
|
Post by Lupine on May 31, 2020 2:32:39 GMT
I just finished reading _The Namesake_ by Jhumpa Lahiri (and I just mentioned this very same novel in a letter I wrote today!). In the novel, the main character's name is going to be given to him by his Grandmother living in India, but the letter never arrives, so his parents have to come up with something temporary. I also recently read _Paper Wife_ by Laila Ibrahim where the long distance letter writing was very much like escorpio describes in the original post. Both of these novels take place decades ago when letters were essential. This topic reminds me of the many movie plots that work because the mobile phone had not yet been invented. Ever watch an older movie and say to yourself, if that were now, he'd just call her on her cell?
|
|
|
Post by hoyabella on Jun 10, 2020 12:19:07 GMT
"Waltz into darkness" by C. Woolrich (or W. Irish, he used pseudonyms) is a dark story based on the fact that the two characters know each other by correspondence. The novel inspired Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid.
|
|
|
Post by distractedmom on Jun 12, 2020 1:44:01 GMT
I started writing this as a respond in another thread, discussing the delays in mail due to the pandemic. Then, I figured it became too off-topic and realised it could be a nice topic of its own, letter writing featured in culture and popular culture, where letter writing is featured and important fo
This whole letter delays, due to the pandemic, makes me think back to one of my favourite book series, The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg, chronicalling the mass-emigration of Swedes to America in the mid-1800s. The main family left their home and parents, assuming that they'd never see them again, and travelled for 2 weeks in Sweden and 10 weeks at sea.Upon arrival in NY they wrote letters home, telling the remaining family that they'd crossed the Ocean. The letter then had to travel all the way back, meaning that the family did not get it until after 6 months after their (grown) children and grandchildren left. Plus they couldn't reply, since the family didn't stay in New York and needed to wait for another letter to arrive, with address details. Going forward they sent about 1-2 letters per year in each direction, the American family maybe embelleshing the new land a bit too much. Also I felt bad for the wife, as she could read, but not write, and was left at her husband's mercy to write her letters to her family and she noticed that he changed her words in the letters (she was very homesick).
Any where else where letter writing is featured or an important part of the plot?
I'm going to have to add this to my reading list. My ancestors are from Sweden.
|
|