Friendship In Death: In Twenty Letters From The Dead To The Living. To Which Are Added, Letters Moral & Entertaining

by Elizabeth Singer Rowe

Friendship In In Twenty Letters From The Dead To The Living. To Which Are Added, Letters Moral & Entertaining, In Prose & Verse. In Three Parts by Elizabeth Singer Rowe. This 18th?century collection blends epistolary fiction with devotional instruction, presenting imagined communications from deceased souls to the living that urge belief in an afterlife, virtue, and religious reform. The volume comprises two intertwined the Letters From The Dead To The Living, which dramatize immortality and moral consequences through dialogues between the dead and their contemporaries; and Letters Moral and Entertaining, a sequence of tales and poems in which virtuous lives are argued and celebrated, often with cautionary depictions of passion and folly. Framed by prefatory material on the life of the author, the work combines prose and verse to entertain while guiding readers toward piety, benevolence, and the hope of eternal life. It stands as a notable early exemplar of sentimental, religious epistolary writing in English literature.

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1973

About the author

1674-1737

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very old works of fiction tend to be terrible, to be honest; poor character development, flowery yet unhelpful setting descriptions, overwrought and over-emotional prose, either too little information or repetitive rambling, etc. This early attempt at fiction is actually rather above average. It is a lot of letters between strangers. We never get to know these various people very well, but a lot of the letters have a verisimilitude that I respect. Many of them read like real letters between people who genuinely knew each other, which could give readers the thrill of feeling like eavesdroppers or gossipers without actually becoming such in real life. As a theological argument, these tales are weak, being overly simplistic and presenting a foregone conclusion of the nature of the afterlife as some sort of proof of itself. It’s also repetitive, with different people making similar sorts of mistakes (largely sexual/romantic) as each other. Eventually, the author starts including poems that are just not as good as her prose and the letters get a bit dull and overworked. Overall, though, this is a pretty decent example of early fiction worth checking out.

[Emily Kassera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This text is from the 18th century, yet it is extremely poignant. I laughed, and cried, and did everything in between while making my way through these letters. Rowe's writing is brilliant–she is one of many 18th century female authors who do not deserve to be forgotten. If everyone viewed death as she did, no one would fear it.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes tedious prose can be confused with being accessible- this is not the case here. Sorry, Rowe, but your amethyst-littered Heaven bores me to death (will I receive a spooky letter too?)

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
beautiful prose!!!! poetic as fuck

[Lulu]

1728
many of the letters are reminiscent of moral essays, while others are closer to the situations depicted in novels

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, sad, beautiful and creepy. A collection of letters written from the dead to the living, to give family members, friends or lovers the chance at closure.