Paulette Ramsay's Aunt Jen - The Epistolary Novel Form
Paulette Ramsay grew up in the parish of Hanover, Jamaica. She studied at the University of the West Indies where she obtained her Ph.D degree in Spanish. Her debut novel, Aunt Jen, is a coming of age novel which centers around a young Jamaican girl named Sunshine. This literary work focuses extensively on the relationship dynamics between mothers and daughters.
The novel is an epistolary novel. The adjective epistolary comes from the novel epistle which is a synonym for the word letter. Therefore, an epistolary novel is one which is written as a collection or series of letters between characters in the literary world of the work. The letters create the very plot of the prose fiction and the world itself is created through the reported incidents detailed in the letters.
One major benefit of this novel form is that it is easier to read. It also shows how artistic beauty can be seen even in mundane and ordinary things. The form also makes it possible for stream of consciousness technique to be use easily which makes it a popular choice in many modernist and post modernist pieces of fiction. A disadvantage is the fact that the narrator can be seen as unreliable and oftentimes, the reading audience is limited to see, hear, feel and think what the narrator does.
It is important to note that letters are included in many prose works but it takes a certain level of skill to craft an engaging tale using solely letters. The most popular epistolary novel I can think of is Alice Walker's The Colour Purple. In that novel, readers can peruse the letters that Celie wrote to her sister but were never mailed and the letters her sister sent to her but that she was never given to read. In Aunt Jen, on the other hand, Sunshine's letters create the entire work. Usually, readers are shown response letters but this is not the case in Ramsay's text. This unique feature sets it apart from other writers and also sets her apart as a female author who is not afraid to experiment with the novel form.
CAPE Literatures in English Unit One students who get the opportunity to study Ramsay's Aunt Jen are in for a fast paced and engaging story. It is an easy read since it is a collection of letters. The story is also so common across the Caribbean region that students can easily connect with the story especially with the repeated motif of combing hair. The work has a strong underlying feminist schematic which tackles themes like family relationships, migration, the presentation of women, marriage, neo-colonialism and gender dynamics which are common in all texts studied in Unit One.
The novel is an epistolary novel. The adjective epistolary comes from the novel epistle which is a synonym for the word letter. Therefore, an epistolary novel is one which is written as a collection or series of letters between characters in the literary world of the work. The letters create the very plot of the prose fiction and the world itself is created through the reported incidents detailed in the letters.
One major benefit of this novel form is that it is easier to read. It also shows how artistic beauty can be seen even in mundane and ordinary things. The form also makes it possible for stream of consciousness technique to be use easily which makes it a popular choice in many modernist and post modernist pieces of fiction. A disadvantage is the fact that the narrator can be seen as unreliable and oftentimes, the reading audience is limited to see, hear, feel and think what the narrator does.
It is important to note that letters are included in many prose works but it takes a certain level of skill to craft an engaging tale using solely letters. The most popular epistolary novel I can think of is Alice Walker's The Colour Purple. In that novel, readers can peruse the letters that Celie wrote to her sister but were never mailed and the letters her sister sent to her but that she was never given to read. In Aunt Jen, on the other hand, Sunshine's letters create the entire work. Usually, readers are shown response letters but this is not the case in Ramsay's text. This unique feature sets it apart from other writers and also sets her apart as a female author who is not afraid to experiment with the novel form.
CAPE Literatures in English Unit One students who get the opportunity to study Ramsay's Aunt Jen are in for a fast paced and engaging story. It is an easy read since it is a collection of letters. The story is also so common across the Caribbean region that students can easily connect with the story especially with the repeated motif of combing hair. The work has a strong underlying feminist schematic which tackles themes like family relationships, migration, the presentation of women, marriage, neo-colonialism and gender dynamics which are common in all texts studied in Unit One.
Thanks Scott. This will prove very helpful for my upcoming exam
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