The Lost Art of Letter Writing

Why you should keep on writing letters to your loved ones

Mar 31, 2009 Edurne Scott

Outside of Christmas cards in the holiday season, the idea of a hand-written letter in today's world is already thought upon as an oddity.

What’s the point of all the effort that a letter needs when something can be written for free and sent instantly? Taking the time to write a letter has ceased to be relevant in today’s fast-paced world where everyone is instantly contactable, but this time people once had to spend to communicate with people far away gave others not only the thrill of receiving a tangible object full of news, gossip, and thoughts that an email can never allow for, but created and recorded history itself.

The Death of the Letter

Email is the evolution of the business letter- instant communication to facilitate the business process and make more money. This however does not coincide with the more personal ‘letter’- one where ideas, stories, and goings-on are the main protagonists. Why does the personal letter not fit into a ‘personal email’? Time. The time you spend writing your letter, the time it takes to be delivered, and the time it takes to respond. One could hypothetically write a letter, finish it in half an hour, send it, and get a reply in the next hour.

The bitter sweet days and weeks lovers use to wait to receive a reply to their love letters are now replaced with bitter sweet hours in front of the computer. It seems that email has taken away what was the best part of the letter writing process- waiting. Communication, it seems, was just never meant to be easy.

Letter as Object

Letters also have the advantage of being tangible objects. You could treat them like the latest novel, curl up in your favourite spot in the house, and devour the thick wad of paper full of gossip and news. You could create a mood with your letter the same way you could create a mood with a novel- this is much harder with an email which will have to be read off a screen, in a no doubt office-like environment, while pop-ups go about their business, browsers crash, and instant messaging partners interrupt you.

The Private Letter

In today’s world of security checks and specific issues that cannot be discussed through the phone and internet, the humble ‘letter’ seems to do the trick as well. You only have to use an email system like ‘gmail’ to see how the contents of your personal letter are being picked up to show you customized advertising beside your letter. There is nothing more annoying reading a new love letter online with an advertisement beside it, ‘Does he/she really love you? Take this online test to find out’. In a world where advertising rules, people’s letter-writing habits are the new human past-time being taken advantage of by the marketing world.

Surprise someone with a letter!

Despite email being quicker and easier, handwritten letters still have their charm. Not only are you able to spend the time to write one and spend the time to wait for your reply, you can treat it as a personalized novel which is only for your eyes to see.

The copyright of the article The Lost Art of Letter Writing in Literary Culture is owned by Edurne Scott. Permission to republish The Lost Art of Letter Writing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Letter Writing