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Postdata: Curiosa historia de la correspondencia
Todos hemos vivido la cálida emoción de recibir una carta o la impaciente espera de noticias postales. Sin embargo, parecemos asistir sin inmutarnos a la desaparición de un arte que durante siglos desempeñó un papel irreemplazable. El correo electrónico, sucesor eficaz pero aséptico y demasiado instantáneo, no da lugar ya ni a un proceso mental pausado, ni al placer táctil del sobre marcado por el viaje, ni a la misteriosa fuerza de la tinta.
Simon Garfield devuelve la voz a un Napoleón enamorado e inseguro que, con sonido de batallas de fondo, lamenta la falta de respuesta de su amada Josefina, o a Leonard Woolf devastado tras el suicidio de su esposa Virginia. Pero junto a la de fi guras como Cicerón, Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson o Jack Kerouac, tiene también cabida la correspondencia de personajes desconocidos pero capaces de capturar el mundo en una hoja de papel.
Con fascinación contagiosa, Garfield recorre dos mil años de cartas solemnes, informales, íntimas, pomposas, picantes, apasionadas, mostrándonos lo que per demos al dejar de escribirlas, y ofrece maravillosas anécdotas, así como la sorprendente historia del correo postal. ¿Cómo llegaba la carta a su destinatario antes de que existieran los buzones y que un funcionario tuviera la extravagante idea de establecer el pago de un penique a cambio de "un trozo de papel cubierto en su reverso por una solución pegajosa"?
La crítica ha dicho...
«Un libro que se presta de un modo increíble a la cita, pero si empezáramos a citar no habría fin. Lo que lo vuelve tan atractivo es el evidente amor del autor por el tema, y la frescura con la que escribe, aparte de su erudición y elegancia.»
Literary Review
«Excelente: a menudo divertido y, en muchos momentos, emocionante.»
Financial Times
«Una carta de amor a lo que ya parece ser una forma de comunicación pasada de moda. Recorriendo dos milenios de cartas con Garfield como guía, resulta divertido reconocer aquello que nunca cambia.»
The Guardian
«Un himno de alabanza a veinte siglos de escritura de cartas. Despierta el deseo de concederles una nueva oportunidad al papel y al sobre. La sabiduría de Garfield es amplia, y su entusiasmo infinito.»
The Times
«Al cavar en dos siglos de cartas, Garfield desentierra numerosos hallazgos epistolares. Fascinante, repleto de historias extravagantes.»
The Washington Post
«Un luminoso tributo al moribundo arte de escribir cartas.»
The Sunday Times
Simon Garfield devuelve la voz a un Napoleón enamorado e inseguro que, con sonido de batallas de fondo, lamenta la falta de respuesta de su amada Josefina, o a Leonard Woolf devastado tras el suicidio de su esposa Virginia. Pero junto a la de fi guras como Cicerón, Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson o Jack Kerouac, tiene también cabida la correspondencia de personajes desconocidos pero capaces de capturar el mundo en una hoja de papel.
Con fascinación contagiosa, Garfield recorre dos mil años de cartas solemnes, informales, íntimas, pomposas, picantes, apasionadas, mostrándonos lo que per demos al dejar de escribirlas, y ofrece maravillosas anécdotas, así como la sorprendente historia del correo postal. ¿Cómo llegaba la carta a su destinatario antes de que existieran los buzones y que un funcionario tuviera la extravagante idea de establecer el pago de un penique a cambio de "un trozo de papel cubierto en su reverso por una solución pegajosa"?
La crítica ha dicho...
«Un libro que se presta de un modo increíble a la cita, pero si empezáramos a citar no habría fin. Lo que lo vuelve tan atractivo es el evidente amor del autor por el tema, y la frescura con la que escribe, aparte de su erudición y elegancia.»
Literary Review
«Excelente: a menudo divertido y, en muchos momentos, emocionante.»
Financial Times
«Una carta de amor a lo que ya parece ser una forma de comunicación pasada de moda. Recorriendo dos milenios de cartas con Garfield como guía, resulta divertido reconocer aquello que nunca cambia.»
The Guardian
«Un himno de alabanza a veinte siglos de escritura de cartas. Despierta el deseo de concederles una nueva oportunidad al papel y al sobre. La sabiduría de Garfield es amplia, y su entusiasmo infinito.»
The Times
«Al cavar en dos siglos de cartas, Garfield desentierra numerosos hallazgos epistolares. Fascinante, repleto de historias extravagantes.»
The Washington Post
«Un luminoso tributo al moribundo arte de escribir cartas.»
The Sunday Times
546 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
97 people are currently reading
2517 people want to read
About the author
Simon Garfield
36 books332 followersSimon Garfield is a British journalist and non-fiction author. He was educated at the independent University College School in Hampstead, London, and the London School of Economics, where he was the Executive Editor of The Beaver. He also regularly writes for The Observer newspaper.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
May 1, 2024
Well written. Too long. At least 3 1/2 stars.
This book isn’t really a paean to letter writing, nor does it spend a lot of time moping about modern communication technology and habits that seem to be killing the handwritten or typed letter. A lot of the book is a historical survey of letters of famous people and literary figures. Some of it is fascinating and funny and some drifts, is too long and actually boring.
It is interesting that some of our most esteemed authors come off as windbags or pretentious bores. Garfield thinks Jane Austen’s letter writing life was equivalent to sending relatives her grocery list. Ted Hughes was one of the last hold-outs to shun the computer. Unfortunately, his letters add to his complicated reputation.
Garfield does suggest that there are good reasons to write letters but he’s not obnoxious about it. They give us time to think and revise, not blurt. Emails may actually pin people down to more time spent writing with less substance. Many people he cites obviously feel that letter writing is remembered with pleasure.
This book isn’t really a paean to letter writing, nor does it spend a lot of time moping about modern communication technology and habits that seem to be killing the handwritten or typed letter. A lot of the book is a historical survey of letters of famous people and literary figures. Some of it is fascinating and funny and some drifts, is too long and actually boring.
It is interesting that some of our most esteemed authors come off as windbags or pretentious bores. Garfield thinks Jane Austen’s letter writing life was equivalent to sending relatives her grocery list. Ted Hughes was one of the last hold-outs to shun the computer. Unfortunately, his letters add to his complicated reputation.
Garfield does suggest that there are good reasons to write letters but he’s not obnoxious about it. They give us time to think and revise, not blurt. Emails may actually pin people down to more time spent writing with less substance. Many people he cites obviously feel that letter writing is remembered with pleasure.
May 30, 2019
There was a time, long ago, when an adult would corner you with stories about walking five miles to school. In the snow. Without a winter coat or serviceable shoes. Dessert was an apple. The tooth fairy brought a quarter. Santa Claus left underwear. ("And we were mighty glad to have it!") Summertime diversions were fourteen variations of Tag, a bag of marbles, hopscotch, jump rope, running through a sprinkler. This adult would go on and on until, one sad and sorry day, he passed his Baton of Chastisement to you and you'd find yourself saddled with the task of explaining the now-arcane concepts of, say, a phone book, an eight-track tape, an encyclopedia. A pop-top. A pea shooter. Thirty-five millimeter film. Three television stations total and no means to record. ("Whatever did you do, Antigone?!?" "We made what's called a choice.")
Simon Garfield draws the posted letter into the mix for what he fears may be its last hurrah. His is a scattershot journey through the history of correspondence, from Cicero to Petrarch to Madame de Sevigne; Napoleon, Keats, Emily Dickenson and more. Interspersed between the many legendary figures in epistolary writing are bits and bobbles of backstory on the proper form of a letter, the use of letters in novels and plays, the postal service, the collection of letters; auctions, archives, digital dilemmas. There's a fun little section on the Dead Letter Office and samples of many a puzzling address in desperate need of decipher:
Wood,
John,
Mass
Translation:
John Underwood
Andover, Mass.
As you may well have discerned, our Mr. Garfield is an odd duck and jumps from place to place. This can prove trying at times; a trouble that is in no way allayed by the inclusion of an ongoing wartime correspondence between a pair of British sweethearts that he disperses throughout the work. These poor ordinary people and their ordinary-people writing skills suffer mightily when book-ended by the likes of Leonard Woolf (immediately following the death of Virginia), Ted Hughes (immediately following the death of Sylvia), and the ridiculously potent Anais Nin (forever following Henry). It can be quite the struggle.
Yet if you're fond of a packet of notes wrapped tight with an old silk ribbon? It may be worth facing off against a jot of eccentricity.
Simon Garfield draws the posted letter into the mix for what he fears may be its last hurrah. His is a scattershot journey through the history of correspondence, from Cicero to Petrarch to Madame de Sevigne; Napoleon, Keats, Emily Dickenson and more. Interspersed between the many legendary figures in epistolary writing are bits and bobbles of backstory on the proper form of a letter, the use of letters in novels and plays, the postal service, the collection of letters; auctions, archives, digital dilemmas. There's a fun little section on the Dead Letter Office and samples of many a puzzling address in desperate need of decipher:
Wood,
John,
Mass
Translation:
John Underwood
Andover, Mass.
As you may well have discerned, our Mr. Garfield is an odd duck and jumps from place to place. This can prove trying at times; a trouble that is in no way allayed by the inclusion of an ongoing wartime correspondence between a pair of British sweethearts that he disperses throughout the work. These poor ordinary people and their ordinary-people writing skills suffer mightily when book-ended by the likes of Leonard Woolf (immediately following the death of Virginia), Ted Hughes (immediately following the death of Sylvia), and the ridiculously potent Anais Nin (forever following Henry). It can be quite the struggle.
Yet if you're fond of a packet of notes wrapped tight with an old silk ribbon? It may be worth facing off against a jot of eccentricity.
December 14, 2014
In this book the author looks at a now vanishing art - that of letter writing. As a child I remember having many pen-pals - some I am still in contact with now, although admittedly we mostly email. Email certainly has its uses and is an immediate way to contact someone, but perhaps they do not have the depth of a letter and the author explores this unique form of communication. He argues that letters in the modern sense are both personal and informative and begin properly with the Romans, "the first true letter writers.". We hear from Cicero, "personal and scheming" and of what Julius Caesar was like as a dinner guest and Seneca, "instructional and disarming", who possibly wrote the first self help manuals.
This entire book is full of wonderful nuggets and just about every famous literary and historical era is covered. From prolific letter writers, such as Erasmus and Madame de Sevigne, to the family letters of the Paston family, whose members lived through the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III. The author looks in depth at love letters, greeting cards, the postal service and how to write the perfect letter. There are endless facts to be learnt - for example that 'x's' on a letter first developed from drawing a cross in medieval times and kissing it as a sign of faith, which developed into shorthand for kisses or where the first fictional letter appears (the Illiad). He examines epistolary novels of the eighteenth century, those who wrote letters with an eye on posterity and being published and those, like Jane Austen, whose letters were domestic in viewpoint (domestic, but certainly not dull - Austen could never be dull in my opinion).
From Virginia Woolf, Ted Hughes, Keats, Robert Browing and Elizabeth Barrett, Anais Nin and Henry Miller, Simon Garfield has unveiled a treasure trove of letters from great literary figures and wonderful love stories. However, I think the most touching of all is that of a couple who were not famous. Interspersed with all the great names in this book are letters from Chris Barker, a Post Office worker who was stationed to North Africa in the Second World War. He began to write to a lady he had previously worked with, Bessie Moore. Friendship gradually blossoms to love in a very sweet way and we read the unfolding story of a courtship entirely by post.
Naturally, the author ends his work in the only way possible - with a thank you letter to everyone who helped him. I would like to add my thanks - this is a wonderful book to either dip into or read in a single setting. Letters range from the formal to the desperate, the chatty to the life changing and the entire book is a riveting read. I am sure that anyone with an interest in history or literature would find this enjoyable and, possibly, even be tempted to write a letter yourself.
This entire book is full of wonderful nuggets and just about every famous literary and historical era is covered. From prolific letter writers, such as Erasmus and Madame de Sevigne, to the family letters of the Paston family, whose members lived through the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III. The author looks in depth at love letters, greeting cards, the postal service and how to write the perfect letter. There are endless facts to be learnt - for example that 'x's' on a letter first developed from drawing a cross in medieval times and kissing it as a sign of faith, which developed into shorthand for kisses or where the first fictional letter appears (the Illiad). He examines epistolary novels of the eighteenth century, those who wrote letters with an eye on posterity and being published and those, like Jane Austen, whose letters were domestic in viewpoint (domestic, but certainly not dull - Austen could never be dull in my opinion).
From Virginia Woolf, Ted Hughes, Keats, Robert Browing and Elizabeth Barrett, Anais Nin and Henry Miller, Simon Garfield has unveiled a treasure trove of letters from great literary figures and wonderful love stories. However, I think the most touching of all is that of a couple who were not famous. Interspersed with all the great names in this book are letters from Chris Barker, a Post Office worker who was stationed to North Africa in the Second World War. He began to write to a lady he had previously worked with, Bessie Moore. Friendship gradually blossoms to love in a very sweet way and we read the unfolding story of a courtship entirely by post.
Naturally, the author ends his work in the only way possible - with a thank you letter to everyone who helped him. I would like to add my thanks - this is a wonderful book to either dip into or read in a single setting. Letters range from the formal to the desperate, the chatty to the life changing and the entire book is a riveting read. I am sure that anyone with an interest in history or literature would find this enjoyable and, possibly, even be tempted to write a letter yourself.
July 22, 2014
The letter has been a method of communication that has been in existence for thousands of years. In the book Garfield takes us from the utterances of Pliny, the wooden cards found preserved in the waterlogged ground at the town of Vindolanda next to Hadrian's Wall, the methods you need to to write the perfect letter and the art of the love letter.
There is a brief history of the postal service, after all you cannot send letters without it, and a couple of chapters on the growing market for correspondence to and from famous people and one one the advent of email and the subsequent fall in letter sending.
Interspersed throughout the book are a series of letters from a couple called Chris and Bessie. Thee were written during the war whilst Chris was based in North Africa, and Bessie was back in the UK. They are s series of raw. open and intimate love letters that reveal their growing love for each other and their fears of what might be during the war. It is a lovely way to add a change of pace to the book.
Garfield is a fine writer who manages to tease the most fascinating of details from the most mundane of subjects. He has a fine eye for detail and manages to keep the narrative moving swiftly on. More 3.5 stars, as it is not quite as good as Just My Type: A Book about Fonts, but well worth reading though.
There is a brief history of the postal service, after all you cannot send letters without it, and a couple of chapters on the growing market for correspondence to and from famous people and one one the advent of email and the subsequent fall in letter sending.
Interspersed throughout the book are a series of letters from a couple called Chris and Bessie. Thee were written during the war whilst Chris was based in North Africa, and Bessie was back in the UK. They are s series of raw. open and intimate love letters that reveal their growing love for each other and their fears of what might be during the war. It is a lovely way to add a change of pace to the book.
Garfield is a fine writer who manages to tease the most fascinating of details from the most mundane of subjects. He has a fine eye for detail and manages to keep the narrative moving swiftly on. More 3.5 stars, as it is not quite as good as Just My Type: A Book about Fonts, but well worth reading though.
January 21, 2017
4 stars!
In this book, Simon Garfield takes his readers on a beautiful journey through the lost world of letter writing. As a passionate snail mailer myself, I have highly enjoyed this book. It tells us about the development of the postal service, it offers us insights into the vital importance of letters in past times and it let us get a glimpse into very personal letters from a wide array of different personalities – philosophers, authors, kings and artist, but also ordinary people like you and me.
It was intriguing to disappear into a world of funny, emotional and inspirational aspects of letter writing and I really enjoyed most of the book. I however had a problem with the transition between chapters. The single aspects addressed sometimes felt unconnected to each other and it stopped me from getting into a balance reading flow. That’s why I’m rating this book with four stars!
In this book, Simon Garfield takes his readers on a beautiful journey through the lost world of letter writing. As a passionate snail mailer myself, I have highly enjoyed this book. It tells us about the development of the postal service, it offers us insights into the vital importance of letters in past times and it let us get a glimpse into very personal letters from a wide array of different personalities – philosophers, authors, kings and artist, but also ordinary people like you and me.
It was intriguing to disappear into a world of funny, emotional and inspirational aspects of letter writing and I really enjoyed most of the book. I however had a problem with the transition between chapters. The single aspects addressed sometimes felt unconnected to each other and it stopped me from getting into a balance reading flow. That’s why I’m rating this book with four stars!
April 30, 2014
I quite enjoyed On the Map and was looking for Just my Type but they had this instead. It looked interesting and appealed, as I used to be an avid letter writer (I used to have shoe-boxes of letters from my first serious girlfriend - we had continuous ongoing conversations in print for years before email took over).
Despite all that I didn't enjoy the book that much. Partly perhaps because I had a deadline to get it back to the library (though I read fast I never like having to) but mostly because of the scatter-shot approach he takes. I didn't mind that in On the Map but here it comes across as vague and ill structured. He doesn't have much of a point other than we should write more letters. I agree but it's not a book.
There are plenty of interesting anecdotes, letters (obviously) and insights in the lives of the famous and the more mundane. Plus, there are a few authors out there I need to look up and it made me want to find a good book on the history of the postal service. I also made me want to pick up my fountain pen, refill the ink and write a letter. Maybe I shall. If I do, the purpose of the book will be fulfilled.
I think an anthology of letters would probably be a better bet than this book. I'm still keen on Just my Type though. For fans.
Despite all that I didn't enjoy the book that much. Partly perhaps because I had a deadline to get it back to the library (though I read fast I never like having to) but mostly because of the scatter-shot approach he takes. I didn't mind that in On the Map but here it comes across as vague and ill structured. He doesn't have much of a point other than we should write more letters. I agree but it's not a book.
There are plenty of interesting anecdotes, letters (obviously) and insights in the lives of the famous and the more mundane. Plus, there are a few authors out there I need to look up and it made me want to find a good book on the history of the postal service. I also made me want to pick up my fountain pen, refill the ink and write a letter. Maybe I shall. If I do, the purpose of the book will be fulfilled.
I think an anthology of letters would probably be a better bet than this book. I'm still keen on Just my Type though. For fans.
March 9, 2017
Thought this was lovely - a warm and nostalgic look at the history of the letter and what it has meant over the years. Primarily this book is really about love - the love of words and the bit of paper that holds them, of course, but more so about the love that is carried in those words and bits of paper.
Some chapters are a little on the dry side but overall it's fascinating and nicely illuminated by an excellent selection of letters - so many vivid, juicy letters - it's almost voyeuristic reading them at times. And the running thread of Chris & Bessie's fiery wartime correspondence is delicious.
(In the spirit of celebrating the physical paper form of things, I read this entirely in various libraries)
Some chapters are a little on the dry side but overall it's fascinating and nicely illuminated by an excellent selection of letters - so many vivid, juicy letters - it's almost voyeuristic reading them at times. And the running thread of Chris & Bessie's fiery wartime correspondence is delicious.
(In the spirit of celebrating the physical paper form of things, I read this entirely in various libraries)
September 8, 2018
When I stumbled upon a book about letters, I knew I had to buy and read it. As an old-school letter writing (and receiving) enthousiast, I must say that I enjoyed reading through this overview. It contains a lot of pointers to great letter writers throughout history and got me to look into for instance Mdme. De Sévigné's amusing writings. I do wish Simon also dedicated at least one chapter to ink and the writing instruments themselves. There's also little about the growing need to write in the World Wars (and the rise and fall of fountain pens that came with it). It's an excellent diving board into the more in-depth material I guess.
didn-t-finish
February 10, 2018This has been languishing in my pile of books for weeks now. Picked it up, put it down, read a little, skimmed a little, flipped through the rest of the pages in case something caught my eye. It has its interesting bits but it is TOO long for someone with only a casual and not a scholarly interest in letter-writing.
May 13, 2025
One of those books you hate to finish bc reading it is like sitting with a friend. This was informative and fun and a must-read for mail/letter nerds.
Want to read
November 16, 2013Having recently received a copy of a letter that my grandmother wrote to a local newspaper publisher in the 1952 - at his request, and fortuitously sent a carbon copy of to her sister (whose granddaughter sent it to my father's cousin, whose husband sent it to me), I am keenly aware of the value of letter writing. My grandmother wrote about the trip she took with my mother, her daughter-in-law, to Algiers to visit my mother's family. It is priceless and a piece of our family history captured nowhere else.
February 7, 2014
I love this author, he writes about what I'm most interested in! Who hasn't dreamed of working in the dead letter office. And while I probably knew this, I'm a tad bit afraid of the world once the last personal letter has been sent (Garfield claims it will be in our lifetime).
He also puts into words perfectly the difference between a mailed letter and email. With a letter, I know the journey. With email, I can't possibly understand the netherworld of server farms across the great Midwest plains.
He also puts into words perfectly the difference between a mailed letter and email. With a letter, I know the journey. With email, I can't possibly understand the netherworld of server farms across the great Midwest plains.
January 4, 2023
I absolutely love snail mail; I am an avid post-crosser, and love writing letters when I can, it is a lost art. I was thoroughly looking forwards to reading this, however, I found the structure of the book to be poor and disjointed. There is some interesting chapters and then some not. A nice attempt but sadly not enjoyed on my part.
May 10, 2022
Recensione presente nel blog www.ragazzainrosso.wordpress.com
Prima dell’avvento delle mail scrivere una lettera rappresentava l’unico mezzo per poter comunicare con quanti erano fisicamente lontani. La lettera seguiva un iter ben preciso fatto di tempo e speranze, spesso capitava che non giungesse mai tra le mani del destinatario altre volte arrivava troppo tardi. In questo interessante saggio Simon Garfield ne ripercorre la genesi partendo dalla Grecia classica e dai primi ritrovamenti sino all’avvento della posta elettronica.
“Le lettere hanno il potere di donarci una vita più grande. Rivelano la motivazione e approfondiscono la comprensione. Sono elementi probatori. Una volta, il mondo ruotava intorno alla loro trasmissione; erano il lubrificante delle interazioni umane e la caduta libera delle idee, il tramite silenzioso di ciò che era importante e accessorio. Doveva sembrare impossibile che un giorno il loro valore sarebbe stato dato per scontato o messo da parte. Un mondo senza lettere sarebbe sicuramente stato un mondo senza ossigeno.”
Scrivere lettere può essere considerata una forma d’arte a tutti gli effetti. Non solo era necessario organizzare le idee e costruire un testo piuttosto breve che fosse di impatto, efficace e contenesse tutte le informazioni che si desiderava trasmettere ma era importante curare anche l’estetica del testo usando una calligrafia leggibile.
L’autore accompagna il lettore in un viaggio nel tempo seguendo il filo conduttore di questa tradizionale forma di corrispondenza. In ogni capitolo ci si focalizza su un’epoca storica attraverso sia una narrazione degli eventi sia servendosi delle testimonianze dell’epoca. A mio parere, consiste proprio in questo l’originalità dell’opera: l’autore si serve di un ricco apparato di fonti riprodotte nel volume inoltre cita corrispondenze celebri (Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Path solo per citarne alcune). Al termine di ogni capitolo si trovano alcune lettere scambiate tra Chris Barker e Bessie Moore ai tempi della Seconda guerra mondiale raccolte e citate nell’opera per volere del figlio Bernard.
Pagina dopo pagina emerge quanto le lettere abbiano contribuito a forgiare la nostra storia fino a condurre alla tecnologia moderna. Le mail hanno una trasmissione rapidissima, non necessitano di una grande cura “estetica” e non comportano una spesa economica, tuttavia non potranno mai eguagliare il fascino di una lettera e la trepidazione dell’attesa.
Lo stile del saggio semplice, scorrevole e immediato, permette al lettore di seguire con interesse gli avvenimenti narrati.
Un saggio che unisce sapientemente storia e letteratura. Una lettura affascinante e per nulla anacronistica.
Prima dell’avvento delle mail scrivere una lettera rappresentava l’unico mezzo per poter comunicare con quanti erano fisicamente lontani. La lettera seguiva un iter ben preciso fatto di tempo e speranze, spesso capitava che non giungesse mai tra le mani del destinatario altre volte arrivava troppo tardi. In questo interessante saggio Simon Garfield ne ripercorre la genesi partendo dalla Grecia classica e dai primi ritrovamenti sino all’avvento della posta elettronica.
“Le lettere hanno il potere di donarci una vita più grande. Rivelano la motivazione e approfondiscono la comprensione. Sono elementi probatori. Una volta, il mondo ruotava intorno alla loro trasmissione; erano il lubrificante delle interazioni umane e la caduta libera delle idee, il tramite silenzioso di ciò che era importante e accessorio. Doveva sembrare impossibile che un giorno il loro valore sarebbe stato dato per scontato o messo da parte. Un mondo senza lettere sarebbe sicuramente stato un mondo senza ossigeno.”
Scrivere lettere può essere considerata una forma d’arte a tutti gli effetti. Non solo era necessario organizzare le idee e costruire un testo piuttosto breve che fosse di impatto, efficace e contenesse tutte le informazioni che si desiderava trasmettere ma era importante curare anche l’estetica del testo usando una calligrafia leggibile.
L’autore accompagna il lettore in un viaggio nel tempo seguendo il filo conduttore di questa tradizionale forma di corrispondenza. In ogni capitolo ci si focalizza su un’epoca storica attraverso sia una narrazione degli eventi sia servendosi delle testimonianze dell’epoca. A mio parere, consiste proprio in questo l’originalità dell’opera: l’autore si serve di un ricco apparato di fonti riprodotte nel volume inoltre cita corrispondenze celebri (Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Path solo per citarne alcune). Al termine di ogni capitolo si trovano alcune lettere scambiate tra Chris Barker e Bessie Moore ai tempi della Seconda guerra mondiale raccolte e citate nell’opera per volere del figlio Bernard.
Pagina dopo pagina emerge quanto le lettere abbiano contribuito a forgiare la nostra storia fino a condurre alla tecnologia moderna. Le mail hanno una trasmissione rapidissima, non necessitano di una grande cura “estetica” e non comportano una spesa economica, tuttavia non potranno mai eguagliare il fascino di una lettera e la trepidazione dell’attesa.
Lo stile del saggio semplice, scorrevole e immediato, permette al lettore di seguire con interesse gli avvenimenti narrati.
Un saggio che unisce sapientemente storia e letteratura. Una lettura affascinante e per nulla anacronistica.
March 9, 2018
Overall, I enjoyed this fun and very thorough look into the history of letter writing. It's definitely a book that got better as it went along. Surprisingly, some of the historical bits got a little dry. The more ancient examples bored me but as the letter writing history became more modern, I became more intrigued.
The history of letter writing manuals was interesting, though I tend to agree with Montaigne that copying a prescribed style seems inauthentic. I also found it so interesting that people used to write on different parts of the paper, depending on their social status---or use crosshatches around their notes to make sure they weren't added to nefariously. Brilliant.
I thinks it's neat that finding letters can confirm history; such as the one confirming the 1914 Christmas truce football game. I'd read somewhere in the last few years that it was thought to have been legend---yet here we have a letter discussing it.
Naturally, in a book this long, I took offense at several parts. I disagree that the New Testament letters were merely "open letters" to a vague public. Each NT letter was written by someone who knew his recipients personally and felt a moral responsibility to them, as well as a deep friendship. These were letters from ones in relationships---much more than "unperformed speeches". Just because these are now used in sermons doesn't meant that was the original intent.
I also didn't appreciate his (seemingly ignorant) remarks against Jane Austen---for her sake, of course. She spent most of her time at home and interacted with the same people from week to week. What does he expect from her but "dull" notes about daily life? Also there is nothing wrong with crossed letters. I've written and received them on more than one occasion and they're not as difficult to read as one might assume. In fact, the middle and lower middle classes who were likely the main groups writing these probably thought them as fun and challenging to read as I do.
I thought it must have been quite fun deciphering mail at the Dead Letter Office... I wonder when and if this has stopped being a thing?
The correspondence between Chris and Bessie sprinkled throughout was a great addition. I was hoping for a happy ending.
All in all, I'm glad I read this quite exhaustive tome. I love writing and receiving handwritten letters and keep correspondence with quite a few fellow letter-writers. In fact, I even run a letter writing group called The Victorian Letter Writers Guild---but you'll have to look me up by 21st century means to find out more!
The history of letter writing manuals was interesting, though I tend to agree with Montaigne that copying a prescribed style seems inauthentic. I also found it so interesting that people used to write on different parts of the paper, depending on their social status---or use crosshatches around their notes to make sure they weren't added to nefariously. Brilliant.
I thinks it's neat that finding letters can confirm history; such as the one confirming the 1914 Christmas truce football game. I'd read somewhere in the last few years that it was thought to have been legend---yet here we have a letter discussing it.
Naturally, in a book this long, I took offense at several parts. I disagree that the New Testament letters were merely "open letters" to a vague public. Each NT letter was written by someone who knew his recipients personally and felt a moral responsibility to them, as well as a deep friendship. These were letters from ones in relationships---much more than "unperformed speeches". Just because these are now used in sermons doesn't meant that was the original intent.
I also didn't appreciate his (seemingly ignorant) remarks against Jane Austen---for her sake, of course. She spent most of her time at home and interacted with the same people from week to week. What does he expect from her but "dull" notes about daily life? Also there is nothing wrong with crossed letters. I've written and received them on more than one occasion and they're not as difficult to read as one might assume. In fact, the middle and lower middle classes who were likely the main groups writing these probably thought them as fun and challenging to read as I do.
I thought it must have been quite fun deciphering mail at the Dead Letter Office... I wonder when and if this has stopped being a thing?
The correspondence between Chris and Bessie sprinkled throughout was a great addition. I was hoping for a happy ending.
All in all, I'm glad I read this quite exhaustive tome. I love writing and receiving handwritten letters and keep correspondence with quite a few fellow letter-writers. In fact, I even run a letter writing group called The Victorian Letter Writers Guild---but you'll have to look me up by 21st century means to find out more!
February 24, 2019
Nunca antes había escuchado mencionar a Simon Garfield. Simplemente, un día de octubre pasado que estaba curioseando en una librería encontré este libro. Me llamó la atención el diseño de su tapa, el cual simula el sobre del correo postal. Leí la contraportada y listo, me lo llevé a casa.
En el libro se desglosa un resumen acerca de la historia de la correspondencia desde sus etapas más incipientes; se comienza con la primera carta de la que se tiene noticia, la cual es ficticia y se menciona en la literatura: en "La Iliada", la carta que lleva a Belerofonte a tener que matar a la Quimera. Tomando tal acontecimiento como punto de partida, Garfield lo lleva a uno por las primeras manifestaciones de la correspondencia (en los romanos), pasando por personajes como Séneca, Emily Dickinson y Napoleón Bonaparte hasta llegar a Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac y otros personajes célebres que dejaron tras de sí cartas que aún se conservan. Varios de ellos nunca contemplaron el valor cultural que su correspondencia tendría años después.
El libro contiene muchas referencias culturales, las cuales hacen que uno termine aprendiendo más cosas que aquello que está siendo objeto principal de interés del libro. Además, Garfield tuvo el detalle de incluir entre capítulos la transcripción de parte de la correspondencia entre un soldado inglés destacado durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Chris Barker, y la que terminó siendo su esposa una vez que la distancia entre los dos se extinguió, Bessie Moore.
Es esa última correspondencia uno de los puntos más atractivos del libro; Garfield intenta demostrar a través del mismo cómo el escribir cartas constituye un arte que en épocas pasadas tuvo un rol crucial en la sociedad y cómo el mismo ha ido en decadencia desde la aparición del correo electrónico, un medio que, si bien es mucho más rápido y seguro (en principio), carece de la calidez, la intimidad y el tacto que supone el estar a la espera de una carta que se sabe en camino. Es por medio del extracto de la correspondencia de Chris y Bessie que eso se logra ejemplificar.
En cuanto a los personajes de interés a los que Garfield recurre, él comenta la correspondencia de ellos por una sencilla razón: de ella se extraen detalles acerca de la vida de ellos que simplemente no se pueden obtener de libros históricos o de sus eventuales autobiografías (es más: a veces es razonable concluir que la correspondencia termina siendo su mejor autobiografía).
Al final, el autor manifiesta que la última carta será probablemente enviada dentro de poco, un hecho que él lamenta profundamente, y propone al lector unirse a un club de correspondencia, y así, unirse al arte epistolar que ha imbuido la historia de la humanidad. A Garfield le apasiona el tema, y es algo que queda en franca evidencia a lo largo del libro.
En lo particular, yo he llegado a escribir algunas cartas (pocas, dicho sea de paso). Algunas las he entregado, otras no pasaron de ser un simple borrador que terminó en la basura, y la razón de esto último es evidente: la carta expone mucho a quien la escribe, por ende es sensato pensarlo dos veces antes de enviarla (o hasta más). He llegado a arrepentirme con el tiempo de haber entregado algunas de ellas, pero en fin, la carta es eso: es la prueba fehaciente de un momento dado entre remitente y destinatario. Parte de la historia.
Libro recomendado para toda aquella persona que pueda llegar a tener un interés en el tema. Es un libro realmente entretenido.
En el libro se desglosa un resumen acerca de la historia de la correspondencia desde sus etapas más incipientes; se comienza con la primera carta de la que se tiene noticia, la cual es ficticia y se menciona en la literatura: en "La Iliada", la carta que lleva a Belerofonte a tener que matar a la Quimera. Tomando tal acontecimiento como punto de partida, Garfield lo lleva a uno por las primeras manifestaciones de la correspondencia (en los romanos), pasando por personajes como Séneca, Emily Dickinson y Napoleón Bonaparte hasta llegar a Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac y otros personajes célebres que dejaron tras de sí cartas que aún se conservan. Varios de ellos nunca contemplaron el valor cultural que su correspondencia tendría años después.
El libro contiene muchas referencias culturales, las cuales hacen que uno termine aprendiendo más cosas que aquello que está siendo objeto principal de interés del libro. Además, Garfield tuvo el detalle de incluir entre capítulos la transcripción de parte de la correspondencia entre un soldado inglés destacado durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Chris Barker, y la que terminó siendo su esposa una vez que la distancia entre los dos se extinguió, Bessie Moore.
Es esa última correspondencia uno de los puntos más atractivos del libro; Garfield intenta demostrar a través del mismo cómo el escribir cartas constituye un arte que en épocas pasadas tuvo un rol crucial en la sociedad y cómo el mismo ha ido en decadencia desde la aparición del correo electrónico, un medio que, si bien es mucho más rápido y seguro (en principio), carece de la calidez, la intimidad y el tacto que supone el estar a la espera de una carta que se sabe en camino. Es por medio del extracto de la correspondencia de Chris y Bessie que eso se logra ejemplificar.
En cuanto a los personajes de interés a los que Garfield recurre, él comenta la correspondencia de ellos por una sencilla razón: de ella se extraen detalles acerca de la vida de ellos que simplemente no se pueden obtener de libros históricos o de sus eventuales autobiografías (es más: a veces es razonable concluir que la correspondencia termina siendo su mejor autobiografía).
Al final, el autor manifiesta que la última carta será probablemente enviada dentro de poco, un hecho que él lamenta profundamente, y propone al lector unirse a un club de correspondencia, y así, unirse al arte epistolar que ha imbuido la historia de la humanidad. A Garfield le apasiona el tema, y es algo que queda en franca evidencia a lo largo del libro.
En lo particular, yo he llegado a escribir algunas cartas (pocas, dicho sea de paso). Algunas las he entregado, otras no pasaron de ser un simple borrador que terminó en la basura, y la razón de esto último es evidente: la carta expone mucho a quien la escribe, por ende es sensato pensarlo dos veces antes de enviarla (o hasta más). He llegado a arrepentirme con el tiempo de haber entregado algunas de ellas, pero en fin, la carta es eso: es la prueba fehaciente de un momento dado entre remitente y destinatario. Parte de la historia.
Libro recomendado para toda aquella persona que pueda llegar a tener un interés en el tema. Es un libro realmente entretenido.
August 25, 2016
``Unnecessarily detailed histories of random things'' is quickly becoming one of my favourite genres, but To the Letter isn't one of those. Though Garfield does purport to describe the history of letters and the postal system, he is a Wikipedia historian at best, and covers only the most well-known facts without any attempt at synthesis or even truly niche knowledge.
He starts at Vindolanda, skips to a tiny subset of the letters by famous Romans any secondary school student will have translated (incidentally illustrating a paragraph of Seneca with a picture of a rather poor marble copy of the Pseudo-Seneca; how the hell does that even happen?), and then sweeps a full millennium under the table to get to Abélard, after which he never so much as pretends to talk about non-Anglo mail again.
Even the meagre information there is is poorly delivered, using vague or sensationalist wording to conceal uncertainty, because Garfield doesn't see the difference between the shameful ignorance of a hack writer too lazy to do his research properly and the more honourable ignorance of a science—even a softer science like history—at the cutting edge of its investigations.
The book quickly devolves into fragmentary transcripts of every letter you've ever heard of, and by the end, Garfield has given up on pretending the point of To the Letter is to present a history of letter-writing, claiming instead that it's to get people to write more letters now.
Even if you accept his questionable premise that letter-writing is a dying art (his evidence: mumble mumble e-mail *waves hands*), why anyone should be convinced by his defence isn't clear: Garfield shows himself to be a professional voyeur, whose only interest in letters is that they give him and other leering vultures the ability to pore over every aspect of a dead persons' private life with impunity.† I have, on occasion, written e-mails in the style of the traditional ``epistolary discourse''; if I have ever been tempted to move to a medium more likely to survive me and my correspondents, I'm certainly not now.
I really wish my bookseller's would clearly mark non-fiction written by journalists, so I could stop picking it up by accident.
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† One particularly blatant example: in one of her last letters before her suicide, Virginia Woolf asked her husband to destroy her papers. Garfield relates this as if it were merely a bit of amusing trivia, pretending that the fact that her husband didn't absolves him from any moral culpability in reprinting her private correspondence. Garfield is a revolting ghoul.
He starts at Vindolanda, skips to a tiny subset of the letters by famous Romans any secondary school student will have translated (incidentally illustrating a paragraph of Seneca with a picture of a rather poor marble copy of the Pseudo-Seneca; how the hell does that even happen?), and then sweeps a full millennium under the table to get to Abélard, after which he never so much as pretends to talk about non-Anglo mail again.
Even the meagre information there is is poorly delivered, using vague or sensationalist wording to conceal uncertainty, because Garfield doesn't see the difference between the shameful ignorance of a hack writer too lazy to do his research properly and the more honourable ignorance of a science—even a softer science like history—at the cutting edge of its investigations.
The book quickly devolves into fragmentary transcripts of every letter you've ever heard of, and by the end, Garfield has given up on pretending the point of To the Letter is to present a history of letter-writing, claiming instead that it's to get people to write more letters now.
Even if you accept his questionable premise that letter-writing is a dying art (his evidence: mumble mumble e-mail *waves hands*), why anyone should be convinced by his defence isn't clear: Garfield shows himself to be a professional voyeur, whose only interest in letters is that they give him and other leering vultures the ability to pore over every aspect of a dead persons' private life with impunity.† I have, on occasion, written e-mails in the style of the traditional ``epistolary discourse''; if I have ever been tempted to move to a medium more likely to survive me and my correspondents, I'm certainly not now.
I really wish my bookseller's would clearly mark non-fiction written by journalists, so I could stop picking it up by accident.
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† One particularly blatant example: in one of her last letters before her suicide, Virginia Woolf asked her husband to destroy her papers. Garfield relates this as if it were merely a bit of amusing trivia, pretending that the fact that her husband didn't absolves him from any moral culpability in reprinting her private correspondence. Garfield is a revolting ghoul.
November 11, 2017
This is a quirky book about the lost art of letter writing. I started writing letters again a few years ago, writing to family and later friends. My family and I still correspond but no friends ever returned a letter. One gentlemen did email me, saying he was pleasantly surprised to receive a handwritten letter, but that he used email these days. I have a letter waiting to go to my sister as I write this, and she will respond in kind. Garfield (his name was Garfunkel but this was changed by his forebears during the war; Simon Garfunkel would have been novel) touches on the re-emerging cult of letter writers, but begins at the beginning with the letters of Ancient Greece, and later Seneca et al., and mentions a number of famous authors and artists and their famous collections of letters that exist to this day. I did not know about Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, nor many other letter-writing stories of old. The book is cleverly punctuated with letter from a soldier to a woman who becomes his pen pal/girlfriend during the Second World War, and the story of their growing love unfolds as does the history of the letter (and to some extent, the post). I found myself wanting to finish each chapter to get to the love story. It has inspired me to tackle a few of the as yet unexplored volumes of letters I have in my library: The Letters of Ernest Hemingway (three volumes), George Orwell: A Life in Letters, The Letters of John Keats, and, although not strictly letters, but The Journal of Sir Walter Scott. Garfield's work is well-referenced and provides a stack of further reading. This book was a gift, and while I may not have chosen it myself, it was an enjoyable and enlightening read, both from a historical perspective and also as one who might consider letter-writing, at least to my family, a form of hobby. I was surprised by the number of typographical errors in this book, typically words missing the plural where it was required and other words repeated other words repeated (like that), and while it is understandable that almost all but the longest surviving (and therefore most edited) works will have some typos, there were quite a few here. Nevertheless, there were many snippets of history I was completely unaware of, and for that alone it was useful, but as a complete package, with the love story intertwined, this is a delightful book and I am pleased to now have it in my collection.
February 6, 2017
Only after finishing ‘To the Letter’ did I realise that I’d already read another book edited by the same author: Our Hidden Lives: The Remarkable Diaries of Post-War Britain, an anthology of diaries written for the Mass Observation Project. That was a charming and fascinating insight into the daily lives of ordinary people in the past, and so is this. Garfield recounts the history of popular letter writing, sprinkling the narrative with plenty of applicable examples as well as an ongoing exchange between a courting couple during the Second World War. I found the whole thing to be a lovely diversion during two more long train journeys. The author laments the decline of letter-writing as a consequence of email and I have sympathy with this. I still write the occasional letter and also have an email correspondence that is consciously structured after letter writing (emails of around 1,500 words every month or so). Garfield is right that browsing through old emails cannot replicate the charm of reading through a box of old letters, though browsing old emails can still be lovely. The extracts from letters by Napoleon, Ted Hughes, the late Queen Mother, and so on are a real highlight, often illustrated so that you can admire the handwriting. My favourite period covered was the somewhat chaotic development of postal systems and invention of stamps and post boxes. Less exciting were sections on the sale of famous people’s letters and archives.
I am too tired at the moment to have any further thoughts or feelings about this book, the latter 160 pages of which I read after five hours sleep. It was enjoyable and informative, without providing me with fundamentally new insights into the world. The kind of book that would make an excellent present for someone that you don’t want to scare by giving them Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future.
I am too tired at the moment to have any further thoughts or feelings about this book, the latter 160 pages of which I read after five hours sleep. It was enjoyable and informative, without providing me with fundamentally new insights into the world. The kind of book that would make an excellent present for someone that you don’t want to scare by giving them Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future.
December 6, 2015
The premise of this delightful book is rather contradictory. The author and many of the interview subjects within the book insist that the art of a well-written letter and the practice of sending letters by post is dead. Yet it lives despite changes in technology and habits of writing and communication generally (which are interrelated), and the privatization of postal services worldwide. (As I write, Royal Mail has been converted to a for-profit corporation, and the USPS is under attack in America.) And yet the book demonstrates (1) people have been declaring the letter dead for centuries and (2) the writing of letters survives in practice, there is an avid audience for reading them, their value as autobiographical material stands undenied, and several decades after the birth of email our relationship with letters has changed but not died.
Citing statistics compiled by the UK's Royal Mail, author Garfield notes that the number of non-parcel, personally addressed mail pieces (which it counts as letters) peaked in 2004-5 at over 20 billion. It has declined from then to some 13 or 14 billion in 2013. Certainly a decline, but hardly nothing.
This chit aside, it's a lovely book and a tribute to the personal letter as an art practiced by historical figures and ordinary persons alike, a conversational history of postal services, with photographs of some of literary figures known for their letters, envelopes and stamps (without going too deeply into philately - this is mainly about the practice of writing and reading letters), and how writing habits have changed through the centuries, all rendered mainly through anecdote and an amiable, conversational voice - not unlike a very long letter itself. Threaded throughout the book is an astonishing correspondence between a World War II soldier and his sweetheart, who were married soon after the war.
I start off with an interest in the subject, as I still prefer letters myself and write a great many, but I think even if I did not arrive with such interest this book would have been just as enjoyable.
Citing statistics compiled by the UK's Royal Mail, author Garfield notes that the number of non-parcel, personally addressed mail pieces (which it counts as letters) peaked in 2004-5 at over 20 billion. It has declined from then to some 13 or 14 billion in 2013. Certainly a decline, but hardly nothing.
This chit aside, it's a lovely book and a tribute to the personal letter as an art practiced by historical figures and ordinary persons alike, a conversational history of postal services, with photographs of some of literary figures known for their letters, envelopes and stamps (without going too deeply into philately - this is mainly about the practice of writing and reading letters), and how writing habits have changed through the centuries, all rendered mainly through anecdote and an amiable, conversational voice - not unlike a very long letter itself. Threaded throughout the book is an astonishing correspondence between a World War II soldier and his sweetheart, who were married soon after the war.
I start off with an interest in the subject, as I still prefer letters myself and write a great many, but I think even if I did not arrive with such interest this book would have been just as enjoyable.
September 10, 2015
Easy to enjoy book for anyone - especially baby boomers like myself - who remember a time when people communicated largely by letter and receiving one was a delight.
Garfield discusses the letters of celebrated persons through history and how some of them now fetch extraordinary prices among collectors. He also explains why some great writers were also great letter writers (John Keats, Barrett and Browning) and also that some great writers weren't great letter writers and why they weren't. (Jane Austin.)
Nearly each century produced at least a handful of "How to Write the Perfect Letter" manuals and each is an encapsulation of the manners and mores of their time. And times have changed: the advice on how to address a letter to a royal or a slave is, thankfully, no longer something we need to internalize.
The evolution of the postal service; the mysteries of postage tamp tilting - "upside down, top right corner," meant, at one time, ""write no more"; the meaning behind crazy WW2 acronyms - MALAYA stood for MY Ardent Lips Await Your Arrival; and the invention of the typewriter and then the computer and email - it's all here. It's all both fun and funny to read about.
Woven like a ribbon through all this is the remarkably lovely WW2 correspondence from British soldier Chris Barker to his sweetheart Bessie Moore. (There are fewer letter from Bessie to Chris because as he progressed through Europe, he destroyed them so they'd never fall into unfriendly hands.) The couple wrote often, later married, lived long and happily and the letters they shared seem as vibrant today as when the passionate young couple wrote them.
Read this book! And then, go out and write a letter.
Garfield discusses the letters of celebrated persons through history and how some of them now fetch extraordinary prices among collectors. He also explains why some great writers were also great letter writers (John Keats, Barrett and Browning) and also that some great writers weren't great letter writers and why they weren't. (Jane Austin.)
Nearly each century produced at least a handful of "How to Write the Perfect Letter" manuals and each is an encapsulation of the manners and mores of their time. And times have changed: the advice on how to address a letter to a royal or a slave is, thankfully, no longer something we need to internalize.
The evolution of the postal service; the mysteries of postage tamp tilting - "upside down, top right corner," meant, at one time, ""write no more"; the meaning behind crazy WW2 acronyms - MALAYA stood for MY Ardent Lips Await Your Arrival; and the invention of the typewriter and then the computer and email - it's all here. It's all both fun and funny to read about.
Woven like a ribbon through all this is the remarkably lovely WW2 correspondence from British soldier Chris Barker to his sweetheart Bessie Moore. (There are fewer letter from Bessie to Chris because as he progressed through Europe, he destroyed them so they'd never fall into unfriendly hands.) The couple wrote often, later married, lived long and happily and the letters they shared seem as vibrant today as when the passionate young couple wrote them.
Read this book! And then, go out and write a letter.
July 2, 2018
Outstanding! This is an extensively researched yet eminently readable story of the development (and now the decline) of the hand-written letter. Along the way there are lots of fascinating vignettes with historical figures (already I feel I know Napoleon FAR better than I ever would have, had I not read bits of his letters to Josephine) - many of them about love and/or war. The book itself is a love letter to the letter, but beyond nostalgia, it raises interesting questions about what the rise of email, texting, and social media mean for how we connect and communicate with other humans - and whether all that activity can ever be preserved and treasured by our descendants the way letters are.
I could have done without the interleaved letters between a WWII soldier in Italy and his sudden sweetheart (they fall in love through letters) at home in London. Sounds romantic, but the letters themselves are cringe-worthy. I think love letters often are sweet treasures for their intended recipients and pretty hard to stomach for everyone else :)
Some favorite quotes:
* Ted Hughes (poet laureate) on why he refused to type anything: "maybe the crucial element in handwriting is that the hand is simultaneously drawing."
* "... that "what we stole on our holidays" feeling you sometimes get from visiting the British Museum." That's exactly what gave me the creeps when I visited it! Thanks for putting this into words!
* Never read history without maps to hand. [Brilliant advice I will try to follow.]
I could have done without the interleaved letters between a WWII soldier in Italy and his sudden sweetheart (they fall in love through letters) at home in London. Sounds romantic, but the letters themselves are cringe-worthy. I think love letters often are sweet treasures for their intended recipients and pretty hard to stomach for everyone else :)
Some favorite quotes:
* Ted Hughes (poet laureate) on why he refused to type anything: "maybe the crucial element in handwriting is that the hand is simultaneously drawing."
* "... that "what we stole on our holidays" feeling you sometimes get from visiting the British Museum." That's exactly what gave me the creeps when I visited it! Thanks for putting this into words!
* Never read history without maps to hand. [Brilliant advice I will try to follow.]
January 6, 2014
Having had close to two dozen pen-pals (remember those?) in my youth, I bemoan the lost art of letter-writing and thoroughly enjoyed this history of the letter. There is an interesting little story-in-letters inserted into the body of the text: letters from a British WWII soldier to a girl who is a friend and who, over the course of the letters, becomes something more. As the history of letter-writing proceeds, so does their relationship. The texts of many letters, of the famous and of the unknown, illustrate Garfield's history. Some of the letters will give you pause, such as this:
"In the first century BC a letter from a man working away from his wife (whom he calls sister, a common convention), is both caring and nonchalantly heartless. 'Hilarion to his sister Alis, very many greetings--and to my respected Berous and Appolonarion. Know that we are still at this moment in Alexandria...I ask you and urge you, look after the child, and as soon as I receive my pay I will send it to you. If by any chance you give birth and it is male, let it live; if it is female, get rid of it. You said to Aphrodisias, 'Don't forget me'. How can I forget you? I ask you therefore not to be anxious." (p. 47)
Along with a history of letters, there is a history of mail delivery and of postage stamps. Such an interesting book!
"In the first century BC a letter from a man working away from his wife (whom he calls sister, a common convention), is both caring and nonchalantly heartless. 'Hilarion to his sister Alis, very many greetings--and to my respected Berous and Appolonarion. Know that we are still at this moment in Alexandria...I ask you and urge you, look after the child, and as soon as I receive my pay I will send it to you. If by any chance you give birth and it is male, let it live; if it is female, get rid of it. You said to Aphrodisias, 'Don't forget me'. How can I forget you? I ask you therefore not to be anxious." (p. 47)
Along with a history of letters, there is a history of mail delivery and of postage stamps. Such an interesting book!
February 19, 2018
Interesting but sometimes tedious. Letter writing goes back a long ways and we have examples at least from Roman times. Examples are given from both well known people (Cicero, Pliny, Jane Austen) and the unknown. Included are letters from a British soldier in World War II to an acquaintance who became his sweetheart and later his wife.
Chapters are: The magic of letters; From Vindolanda, greetings; The consolations of Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny the Younger; Love in its earliest form; How to write the perfect letter, part1; Neither snow nor rain, nor the flatness of Norfolk; How to write the perfect letter, part 2; Letters for sale; Why Jane Austen’s letters are so dull (and other postal problems solved); A letter feels like immortality; How to write the perfect letter, part 3; More letters for sale; Love in its later forms; The modern master; Inbox; Epilogue: Dear Reader. There's also a bibliography.
This might encourage people to write some real letters instead of just email or texting. Letters let you wax poetic and can be much more descriptive than most people put into email. At least people should write real letters for thank you notes, even if they're short. And love letters are something you can keep. Email just sort of disappears.
Chapters are: The magic of letters; From Vindolanda, greetings; The consolations of Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny the Younger; Love in its earliest form; How to write the perfect letter, part1; Neither snow nor rain, nor the flatness of Norfolk; How to write the perfect letter, part 2; Letters for sale; Why Jane Austen’s letters are so dull (and other postal problems solved); A letter feels like immortality; How to write the perfect letter, part 3; More letters for sale; Love in its later forms; The modern master; Inbox; Epilogue: Dear Reader. There's also a bibliography.
This might encourage people to write some real letters instead of just email or texting. Letters let you wax poetic and can be much more descriptive than most people put into email. At least people should write real letters for thank you notes, even if they're short. And love letters are something you can keep. Email just sort of disappears.
August 6, 2020
Tra le tante "arti" che sembrano essere destinate a scomparire con l'evoluzione dei tempi e della tecnologia, quella di scrivere lettere è la più diffusa se non la più amata. Eppure le lettere scritte a mano, di proprio pugno continuano a suscitare tanto fascino nell'epoca del trionfo di Internet, della posta elettronica e della messaggistica digitale. Leggere le lettere scritte a mano, per ricostruire i retroscena della vita di ogni essere umano, può essere considerata una forma di voyeurismo intellettuale, oppure anche il modo migliore per coglierne la vita personale e interiore pur senza violarne l'intimità.
Per millenni le lettere hanno plasmato la storia e l'esistenza degli individui: la digitalizzazione della comunicazione e l'avvento delle e-mail hanno cancellato la vitalità e l'autenticità di un semplice foglio scritto a mano, con una penna/pennino bagnati in un calamaio pieno di nero inchiostro, oppure vergato da una più moderna penna biro, e poi infilato in una busta affrancata.
Non intendo qui di certo lanciare una crociata contro il progresso tecnologico-informatico. Non rispetterei le mie origini, erede e figlio di una famiglia di tipografi stampatori post gutenberghiani, ed anche genitore di un figlio erede, quotidianamente collegato ad una realtà di lavoro che della connectografia ha fatto il suo ambiente di lavoro.
Desidero, piuttosto, in questo mio "amarcord" postale, riaffermare "il romanticismo della posta", in epoche in cui gli scambi epistolari fornivano "il tramite silenzioso di ciò che era importante e accessorio", "descrivevano le gioie e le sofferenze più intense dell'amore". Così Simon Garfield, in un suo libro su questo argomento. Egli prefigura un mondo senza lettere e francobolli, e al tempo stesso celebra un aspetto centrale del nostro passato, una modalità di scambio basata sulla riflessione e il rispetto.
Storia, aneddotica e curiosità si intrecciano in un racconto venato di erudizione e ironia, dalle tavolette anonime della Britannia romana fino ai nostri giorni: i capolavori di Cicerone e Seneca, le passioni che infuocavano Anna Bolena e Napoleone, l'anonima vita quotidiana di Jane Austen, l'incontenibile esuberanza epistolare di Madame de Sévigné.
Una celebrazione piuttosto grande, sia nel tempo che nello spazio. Per quanto mi riguarda anche io posso dire di averne occupato parecchio sia dell'uno che dell'altro. I ricordi possono avere inizio, guarda caso, dalle "lettere", non quelle di cui stiamo parlando in termini di corrispondenza, ma in senso di lettere dell'alfabeto, quei caratteri mobili che caratterizzavano la stampa fino a qualche anno fa. Non dimentico mai di avere imparato a leggere e scrivere mettendo in fila quei caratteri sul compositore aiutato da mio padre. Caratteri di piombo e di legno che davano vita alla "forma" che poi facevano poi nascere la "pagina" stampata.
Ma qui si parla delle "lettere" sul foglio scritto a mano, estensioni fisiche e mentali, sostituite oggi dalle lettere/caratteri sulla tastiera del pc o del cellulare, diventati estensioni del nostro corpo. Sono ancora ripieni di una sterminata corrispondenza cartacea i cassetti delle mie diverse librerie che raccolgono le tracce di un tempo che ritrovo su questi fogli. Non mi piace aprirli questi cassetti, sfilare quelle buste, aprire e leggere quei fogli, interpretare quelle scritture, mettere in moto la macchina dei ricordi, ritrovare un tempo irrimediabilmente perduto.
Ricordo ancora oggi la voce del postino, quando arrivava alle prime ore del mattino, in quel grande cortile al numero 14 di Via Fabricatore, nella città di Sarno. Si chiamava Alfredo, la sua voce risuonava sul vasto piazzale con il nome del destinatario e sapevi che c'era posta per te: Gallo, Abenante, Squitieri, Sirica, Cristiano ... Sapevi chi aveva ricevuto una lettera quel giorno.
C'è stato un tempo della mia fanciullezza, quel periodo così evanescente della vita umana, compreso più o meno fra il 6° e l'11° anno, e quindi intermedio tra l'infanzia e l'adolescenza, caratterizzato sul piano dell'evoluzione psicologica, durante il quale si formano ricordi che presto svaniscono ma che poi, stranamente, ricompaiono quando invecchi.
Fu in quegli anni che, dopo di avere imparato a leggere e scrivere le "lettere" della tipografia, cominciai a scrivere vere e proprie lettere di mio pugno. In quello stesso portone, allo stesso numero di quella strada c'era anche un'edicola in embrione, quella dei mitici Ciro e Angelina ('Ngiulina & Giritiello). Era iniziata l'era dei fumetti, dei giornali confidenziali e proibiti.
Era cominciata l'epoca della corrispondenza. Potevi trovare su quella stampa indirizzi di tutti i tipi ai quali scrivere per iniziare qualsiasi forma di corrispondenza. Era il tempo dei "Grand Hotel", delle "Confidenze", "Le Ore", "Crimen", "Sogno", "Bolero", "Domenica del Corriere", "Tribuna Illustrata" ...
Abbondavano le lettere con le richieste di corrispondenza. C'erano organizzazioni "Pen Friend" che fornivano indirizzi per ogni tipo di esigenza comunicativa. Le occasioni per scrivere lettere di certo non mancavano. Anche io ne scrivevo molte invece di studiare. Un modo ed una ragione per cercare di evadere da una realtà che poteva essere davvero soffocante.
Giorni fa, ho incontrato il figlio di Alfredo, il portalettere di cui ho detto innanzi. Anche lui postino, che prese il posto del padre. Ci siamo incontrati, guarda caso davanti al microscopico ufficio postale della frazione di Episcopio di Poste Italiane a Sarno. Sotto il sole infuocato di luglio, in piena pandemia, abbiamo fatto la fila per oltre un'ora per ritirare una raccomandata. Non vi dico quello che ci siamo detti a proposito di Poste Italiane, del tempo perduto, di come funzionava una volta il servizio postale.
Abbiamo constatato che si stava meglio quando si stava peggio. Per protestare volevo scrivere una lettera alla direzione di Poste Italiane. L'ho scritta a mano e messa in una busta. Ho vagato per tutto il paese in cerca di un tabaccaio per un francobollo. Non l'ho trovato. Non esistono più i francobolli. Devi fare la fila di oltre un'ora e ritornare all'ufficio postale. Ho rinunciato e ho deciso di inviare un bel "vaffa" a Poste Italiane e a chi so io ...
Per millenni le lettere hanno plasmato la storia e l'esistenza degli individui: la digitalizzazione della comunicazione e l'avvento delle e-mail hanno cancellato la vitalità e l'autenticità di un semplice foglio scritto a mano, con una penna/pennino bagnati in un calamaio pieno di nero inchiostro, oppure vergato da una più moderna penna biro, e poi infilato in una busta affrancata.
Non intendo qui di certo lanciare una crociata contro il progresso tecnologico-informatico. Non rispetterei le mie origini, erede e figlio di una famiglia di tipografi stampatori post gutenberghiani, ed anche genitore di un figlio erede, quotidianamente collegato ad una realtà di lavoro che della connectografia ha fatto il suo ambiente di lavoro.
Desidero, piuttosto, in questo mio "amarcord" postale, riaffermare "il romanticismo della posta", in epoche in cui gli scambi epistolari fornivano "il tramite silenzioso di ciò che era importante e accessorio", "descrivevano le gioie e le sofferenze più intense dell'amore". Così Simon Garfield, in un suo libro su questo argomento. Egli prefigura un mondo senza lettere e francobolli, e al tempo stesso celebra un aspetto centrale del nostro passato, una modalità di scambio basata sulla riflessione e il rispetto.
Storia, aneddotica e curiosità si intrecciano in un racconto venato di erudizione e ironia, dalle tavolette anonime della Britannia romana fino ai nostri giorni: i capolavori di Cicerone e Seneca, le passioni che infuocavano Anna Bolena e Napoleone, l'anonima vita quotidiana di Jane Austen, l'incontenibile esuberanza epistolare di Madame de Sévigné.
Una celebrazione piuttosto grande, sia nel tempo che nello spazio. Per quanto mi riguarda anche io posso dire di averne occupato parecchio sia dell'uno che dell'altro. I ricordi possono avere inizio, guarda caso, dalle "lettere", non quelle di cui stiamo parlando in termini di corrispondenza, ma in senso di lettere dell'alfabeto, quei caratteri mobili che caratterizzavano la stampa fino a qualche anno fa. Non dimentico mai di avere imparato a leggere e scrivere mettendo in fila quei caratteri sul compositore aiutato da mio padre. Caratteri di piombo e di legno che davano vita alla "forma" che poi facevano poi nascere la "pagina" stampata.
Ma qui si parla delle "lettere" sul foglio scritto a mano, estensioni fisiche e mentali, sostituite oggi dalle lettere/caratteri sulla tastiera del pc o del cellulare, diventati estensioni del nostro corpo. Sono ancora ripieni di una sterminata corrispondenza cartacea i cassetti delle mie diverse librerie che raccolgono le tracce di un tempo che ritrovo su questi fogli. Non mi piace aprirli questi cassetti, sfilare quelle buste, aprire e leggere quei fogli, interpretare quelle scritture, mettere in moto la macchina dei ricordi, ritrovare un tempo irrimediabilmente perduto.
Ricordo ancora oggi la voce del postino, quando arrivava alle prime ore del mattino, in quel grande cortile al numero 14 di Via Fabricatore, nella città di Sarno. Si chiamava Alfredo, la sua voce risuonava sul vasto piazzale con il nome del destinatario e sapevi che c'era posta per te: Gallo, Abenante, Squitieri, Sirica, Cristiano ... Sapevi chi aveva ricevuto una lettera quel giorno.
C'è stato un tempo della mia fanciullezza, quel periodo così evanescente della vita umana, compreso più o meno fra il 6° e l'11° anno, e quindi intermedio tra l'infanzia e l'adolescenza, caratterizzato sul piano dell'evoluzione psicologica, durante il quale si formano ricordi che presto svaniscono ma che poi, stranamente, ricompaiono quando invecchi.
Fu in quegli anni che, dopo di avere imparato a leggere e scrivere le "lettere" della tipografia, cominciai a scrivere vere e proprie lettere di mio pugno. In quello stesso portone, allo stesso numero di quella strada c'era anche un'edicola in embrione, quella dei mitici Ciro e Angelina ('Ngiulina & Giritiello). Era iniziata l'era dei fumetti, dei giornali confidenziali e proibiti.
Era cominciata l'epoca della corrispondenza. Potevi trovare su quella stampa indirizzi di tutti i tipi ai quali scrivere per iniziare qualsiasi forma di corrispondenza. Era il tempo dei "Grand Hotel", delle "Confidenze", "Le Ore", "Crimen", "Sogno", "Bolero", "Domenica del Corriere", "Tribuna Illustrata" ...
Abbondavano le lettere con le richieste di corrispondenza. C'erano organizzazioni "Pen Friend" che fornivano indirizzi per ogni tipo di esigenza comunicativa. Le occasioni per scrivere lettere di certo non mancavano. Anche io ne scrivevo molte invece di studiare. Un modo ed una ragione per cercare di evadere da una realtà che poteva essere davvero soffocante.
Giorni fa, ho incontrato il figlio di Alfredo, il portalettere di cui ho detto innanzi. Anche lui postino, che prese il posto del padre. Ci siamo incontrati, guarda caso davanti al microscopico ufficio postale della frazione di Episcopio di Poste Italiane a Sarno. Sotto il sole infuocato di luglio, in piena pandemia, abbiamo fatto la fila per oltre un'ora per ritirare una raccomandata. Non vi dico quello che ci siamo detti a proposito di Poste Italiane, del tempo perduto, di come funzionava una volta il servizio postale.
Abbiamo constatato che si stava meglio quando si stava peggio. Per protestare volevo scrivere una lettera alla direzione di Poste Italiane. L'ho scritta a mano e messa in una busta. Ho vagato per tutto il paese in cerca di un tabaccaio per un francobollo. Non l'ho trovato. Non esistono più i francobolli. Devi fare la fila di oltre un'ora e ritornare all'ufficio postale. Ho rinunciato e ho deciso di inviare un bel "vaffa" a Poste Italiane e a chi so io ...
May 13, 2014
This book, about the lost art of letter writing, is more than just a non-fiction book describing letters. To the Letter is about romance, about history, and it's like an anthology of memoirs or biographies; it's about human lives and relationships. It's about the interconnectedness that we all share.
Garfield writes about the history of letter writing, the history of letter sending (the postal service, etc.) and about the fascinating people who wrote and left a legacy of letters.
As I read, each chapter brought out more and more of my curiosity about the lives and relationships described and defined in this tome. I now want to search out and read the letters of Seneca, and those of Madam DeSevigne. I want to read the letters of Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, and the other letters and letter-writers that Garfield so aptly wrote about in this book.
Garfield has a smooth and friendly style of writing which flows fast.
I recommend this book highly to anyone who is interested in reading about the lives of others.
Garfield writes about the history of letter writing, the history of letter sending (the postal service, etc.) and about the fascinating people who wrote and left a legacy of letters.
As I read, each chapter brought out more and more of my curiosity about the lives and relationships described and defined in this tome. I now want to search out and read the letters of Seneca, and those of Madam DeSevigne. I want to read the letters of Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, and the other letters and letter-writers that Garfield so aptly wrote about in this book.
Garfield has a smooth and friendly style of writing which flows fast.
I recommend this book highly to anyone who is interested in reading about the lives of others.
October 26, 2019
An exhaustive history of letters, letter writing, letter technology, and the history of postal systems, written in a casual, chatty style with frequent illustrations throughout. The sheer amount of information in the absence of a plotline made this exhausting reading for me, until it suddenly picked up at page 360 with an extremely well-done chapter on Hughes and Plath, followed by another on the man who chose the @ sign for email, Ray Tomlinson. Garfield's tone makes it clear that he didn't set out to write a reference book, but the sheer volume of information makes it one for me: too valuable not to have a permanent place on my shelf, but too voluminous and discursive to recommend as reading for pleasure.
January 4, 2018
Simon Garfield, un británico que ha escrito varios bestsellers, hizo un trabajo fenomenal en este libro. No me queda la menor duda que estas páginas verdaderamente son una celebración del arte de escribir cartas.
Tras la lectura de más de 400 páginas sobre cómo las cartas reflejan los tiempos y personalidad de quienes las escriben, no puedo evitar lamentarme, al igual que Garfield, del pequeño número de cartas personales que se elaboran ahora. Lo único criticable del libro es que, en ocasiones, se pierde la idea de un fuerte hilo conductor.
Supongo que las cartas deben lograr lo mismo que este libro: dar un placer inmenso al lector y hacerle saber que no está solo.
Ojalá recuperemos el arte perdido de escribir cartas.
"So tinkety tonk old fruit, and down with the Nazis forever. It's been a pleasure writing to you."
A.
Tras la lectura de más de 400 páginas sobre cómo las cartas reflejan los tiempos y personalidad de quienes las escriben, no puedo evitar lamentarme, al igual que Garfield, del pequeño número de cartas personales que se elaboran ahora. Lo único criticable del libro es que, en ocasiones, se pierde la idea de un fuerte hilo conductor.
Supongo que las cartas deben lograr lo mismo que este libro: dar un placer inmenso al lector y hacerle saber que no está solo.
Ojalá recuperemos el arte perdido de escribir cartas.
"So tinkety tonk old fruit, and down with the Nazis forever. It's been a pleasure writing to you."
A.
May 27, 2016
"There isn't a shadow of doubt that we are both in the same mutually approving mood, and that if we were within smiling distance of each other, we should soon be doing rather more than that.
You fascinate and weaken me, and make me feel strong.
How impossible to sleep with thought and wonder of you hot within me."
You fascinate and weaken me, and make me feel strong.
How impossible to sleep with thought and wonder of you hot within me."
February 2, 2014
Garfield's exploration of letter writing is educational and also fun, each chapter of the book built rather like a series of letters themselves. Full of writing prompts for those who participate in letter-writing circles.
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