An epistolary novel is a literary technique in which a novel is composed as a series of letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. The word "epistolary" comes from the word "epistles", meaning letters, although it has nothing to do with epistemology. Novels and short stories do not simply come from nowhere. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Look up Letter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A letter is a written message from one party to another. ... A diary is a book for writing discrete entries arranged by date. ... Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. ...

The form is related to the false document form, but more probably draws inspiration from the letters in the New Testament. A false document is a literary technique that attempts to create in the reader (viewer, audience, etc) a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief. ... The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ...

One of past arguments for an epistolary novel was that it was thought to add greater realism and verisimilitude to the story, chiefly because the epistolary novel mimics the workings of non-fictional works in real life. It is able to demonstrate differing points of view without recourse to the omniscient narrator, whom some novelists believed to be an unrealistic representation. Non-fiction is a truthful account or representation of a subject which is composed of facts. ... In literature, an omniscient narrator is a narrator who appears to know everything about the story being told, including what all the characters are thinking. ...

The epistolary novel was a form most popular in the 18th century in the works of such authors as Samuel Richardson, whose early novel Pamela (1740), was considered the first epistolary novel. In France, Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) used the epistolary form to great dramatic effect, because the sequence of events was not always related directly or explicitly. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 - July 4, 1761) was an eighteenth century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753). ... Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is a novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. ... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... Pierre Ambrose Choderlos de Laclos, a French official and army general, was born on October 18, 1741 in Amiens, France and died in Taranto, Italy on September 5, 1803. ... Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) is a famous French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782. ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Even during the end of the 18th century, the epistolary form was subjected to much ridicule, resulting a number of savage burlesques, most notably in Henry Fielding's Shamela, written as a parody of Pamela, where the female narrator can be found wielding a pen and scribbling her diary entries under the most dramatic and unlikeliest of circumstances. Burlesque was originally a form of art that mocked by imitation, referring to everything from comic sketches to dance routines and usually lampooning the social attitudes of upper classes. ... Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707 - October 8, 1754) was a British novelist and dramatist. ...

The epistolary novel slowly fell out of use in the 19th century. By the time Jane Austen popularized techniques of the omniscient narrator, the form has become somewhat archaic. For example, Pride and Prejudice (1811) was originally written as an epistolary novel but Austen rewrote it with a third-person omniscient narrator marking, in part, the end of the era of the epistolary novel. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra House of Jane Austen (today it is a museum) Jane Austen (December 16, 1775–July 18, 1817) was a prominent English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. ... In literature, an omniscient narrator is a narrator who appears to know everything about the story being told, including what all the characters are thinking. ... Pride and Prejudice book cover Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austens novels. ... 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra House of Jane Austen (today it is a museum) Jane Austen (December 16, 1775–July 18, 1817) was a prominent English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. ... In literature, an omniscient narrator is a narrator who appears to know everything about the story being told, including what all the characters are thinking. ...

Subsequently epistolary novels made some rare but memorable appearances in English literature. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) uses not only letters and diaries, but dictation tapes and newspaper accounts, to trace the supernatural tale. C. S. Lewis also used this form to craft his Screwtape Letters and considered writing a companion novel from an angel's point of view--though he never did so. The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, or literature composed in English by writers who are not necessarily from England. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847–April 20, 1912) was an Anglo-Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp Dracula is a fictional character, arguably the most famous vampire in fiction. ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Clive Staples Lewis (November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an author and scholar mostly resident in England. ... The Screwtape Letters is a work of Christian fiction by C. S. Lewis first published in book form in 1942. ... In various human mythologies an angel is believed to be an ethereal creature whose duties are to assist and serve the God or gods of many religious traditions. ...

In the late 20th century, Emma Bull and Steven Brust's Freedom and Necessity combined letters with diary entries, as did Alice Walker's The Color Purple. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Emma Bull (born 1954) is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. ... Steven Brust Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. ... Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an African American author whose most famous novel, The Color Purple, won both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award. ... This article is about the novel. ...

Epistolary form has made a small number of recent appearances in contemporary literature such as Andrew Crumey's fourth novel Mr Mee and Tim Parks' Home Thoughts. Arguably, both Ella Minnow Pea and Ibid: A Life by Mark Dunn are also written as epistolary novels. The most recent mutation of the epistolary novel is the novel in e-mails, which follows the same format (example: PS He's Mine). Tim Parks is an author who lives near Verona, Italy, who has written numerous books, the most well known of which are probably Italian Neighbours and An Italian Education, about life in contemporary Italy. ... Ella Minnow Pea is a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable written by Mark Dunn. ... Mark Dunn is an American author and playwright. ...

This technique has also been adapted to film, as in Woody Allen's 1983 picture Zelig, where he used bluescreen technology to insert himself into actual newsreels from the 1920s and 1930s. Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Woody Allen (born December 1, 1935), is an American short story writer, screenwriter, and film director whose large body of important work and cerebral style have made him one of the most widely respected and prolific filmmakers in the modern era. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zelig is a 1983 movie produced and directed by Woody Allen. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly... // Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ...

See also: literature, false document. Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Classicism in Literature The Universal Library, by Carnegie Mellon University Project Gutenberg Online Library Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon... A false document is a literary technique that attempts to create in the reader (viewer, audience, etc) a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief. ...