Interfaces in narrative research: letters as technologies of the self and as traces of social forces

Abstract: In this paper I explore the use of letters in narrative research in the social sciences. Taking Gwen John’s love letters to Auguste Rodin as an exemplar of epistolary analysis, I raise questions around the ontological and epistemological nature of epistolary narratives, particularly focusing on openness as a force generating meaning, challenging conventions in classical narratology and destabilizing discourses around the constitution of the social and the subject. Further drawing on Kristeva’s notion of intertextuality I propose an analysis of epistolary narratives along the axes of subject-addressee and text-context. In this light I trace connections between ‘real life letters’ and the genre of the amorous epistolary novel, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary approaches in the analysis of letters in narrative research

Womenʼs Friendship in Exile: Healing in the Epistolary Correspondence Between Zenobia Camprubí and Pilar de Zubiaurre.

The epistolary correspondence between the Spanish intellectuals Zenobia Camprubi (1887-1956) and Pilar de Zubiaurre (1884- 1970) from October 1938 to August 1956 reveals a long friendship that began in Madrid in the 1910S and continued during the exile that they, as supporters of the democratic Second Republic, both suffered after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the victory of dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. During exile Camprubi writes to Zubiaurre from the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, while Zubiaurre responds from Mexico, where she lived the last thirty years of her life. Out of their mutual correspondence fifteen letters written by Camprubi are held in the Archives of the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, Spain, while five letters written by Zubiaurre are kept in the Zenobia-Juan Ram6n Jimenez Foundation, in Huelva, Spain.1 The importance of these letters is that they illustrate the significant role that women played in exile as transmitters of information and preservers of the national culture in the communities of Spanish Republican exiles. In this chapter I argue that both Camprubi and Zubiaurre experienced a suffering and nostalgic exile and used their epistolary correspondence as a means to cope with it. Exchanging letters contributed to healing their exilic pain in three main ways: by giving and receiving information, by asking for and offering help, and by finding comfort and consolation in difficult times. Thus, both intellectuals conveyed to each other the situation of numerous mutual friends and the news they received from Spain. Letters also allowed them to ask favors of each other, for instance, offering advice on several issues and conveying messages to common friends. Finally, Camprubi and Zubiaurre found in each other\u27s letters the affection needed in hard times, as shown in the references to the importance of their friendship over others. Thus, these letters demonstrate how exiled women supported each other while being away from home and found solace through their mutual friendship

Book Review: \u3ci\u3eHindu-Christian Epistolary Self-Disclosures: ‘Malabarian Correspondence’ between German Pietist Missionaries and South Indian Hindus (1712-1714).\u3c/i\u3e

Book review of, Hindu-Christian Epistolary Self-Disclosures: ‘Malabarian Correspondence’ between German Pietist Missionaries and South Indian Hindus (1712-1714). by Daniel Jeyaraj and Richard Fox Young

Signs of intelligence: William Herle's report of the Dutch situation, 1573

On the 11 June 1573 the agent William Herle sent his patron William Cecil, Lord Burghley a lengthy intelligence report of a ‘Discourse’ held with Prince William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands.∗ Running to fourteen folio manuscript pages, the Discourse records the substance of numerous conversations between Herle and Orange and details Orange’s efforts to persuade Queen Elizabeth to come to the aid of the Dutch against Spanish Habsburg imperial rule. The main thrust of the document exhorts Elizabeth to accept the sovereignty of the Low Countries in order to protect England’s naval interests and lead a league of protestant European rulers against Spain. This essay explores the circumstances surrounding the occasion of the Discourse and the context of the text within Herle’s larger corpus of correspondence. In the process, I will consider the methods by which the study of the material features of manuscripts can lead to a wider consideration of early modern political, secretarial and archival practices