Epistolary connection. The history of the origin of the genre and the essence of the concept

In modern conditions, the genre of writing has almost lost its relevance. The rhythm of life accelerated, people have no time to pore over paper, writing messages to each other. It's much faster and easier to come to visit or just briefly talk about your affairs on social networks.

The relevance of written speech today

And yet, despite everything, the epistolary connection is still alive, but it continues to exist in a somewhat simplified form, having lost its artistic value. Some still continue to use this way of communication. This can be associated with the old age, when a person ceases to be flexible and receptive to the new and it is much easier for him to do everything the old way.
In another case, it can be some kind of a stylized antiquated and romanticized communication between lovers. Also, not everywhere and not always there is an opportunity to write SMS or socialize on social networks (the computer does not work, the Internet is not connected, etc.), so there is nothing left to do to go to the store behind the envelope.

Epistolary connection. What does it mean? The essence of the concept, the history of origin

In ancient times, there was a culture of artistic writing. It is known that a literate and beautiful written speech was then taught specially in the relevant educational institutions. Written speech was regarded as an object of epistolary genre and represented a very real craft. But what does the word "epistolary" mean? Since this art originated in ancient Greece, the term also has a corresponding origin: in Greek, "epistol" means "letter". In general, the genre, being part of the verbal art, was built on the laws of rhetoric and was subject to its stylistic norms. For example, according to such rules, letters were divided into topics for all occasions, and for each of them there was a certain scheme, a certain outline of the presentation, whether it was a friendly message, an ironic letter, a laudatory speech, and much more. It was in Ancient Greece that the most everyday everyday correspondence was turned into a real work of art. In the main, the epistolary connection was used in the journalistic genre, as well as in the philosophical messages of the ancient Greek sages to each other. Often, because of the complexity of writing such texts, people turned to scribes for help - people with the necessary skills and talent in the field of the epistolary genre. Business letters were created by government officials of the Imperial Chancery.

Writing as a way of communication in the modern world

A feature of the modern epistolary genre is its extreme simplicity and artistic minimalism. A letter in our time is first and foremost a part of the spoken language, designed accordingly. Epistolary communication can have business features, have a journalistic character or take the form of a friendly conversation. The main purpose of the letter is to transfer information to the addressee. If the speech is informal, it usually carries a certain emotional coloring, which characterizes the mood of the author at the moment.

Epistolary connection in the literature

To date, there are quite a lot of copyright works, built exactly on this genre. A striking example of this is the literature of the nineteenth century. It is interesting that in a purely artistic context the epistolary connection is (in another way - the epistle) nothing more than a literary work in the form of a message, a letter. This genre was especially popular among poets. For example, all the well-known work of Alexander Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin", namely Tatyana's letter, is exactly the same epistol. The characteristic features of a literary epistle in the form of a letter include the trusted style of presentation in the form of a dialogue or a monologue with the obligatory indication of the addressee. An important element of this speech is the combination of spoken and literary language, which gives the text a personal and romantic character. It was this style of conversation that was popular at that time. The speech was florid, complex, heaped up with various epithets and metaphors, which, in fact, was reflected in literary works of Pushkin's time.