One of my favorite letters by Katherine Anne Porter is one to Paul Porter on page 283, where she deals with an issue all to familiar in our society. Like (I think it was Todd?) said that the issues and ideas that we deal with are nothing new to our generation. A common complaint of my own has been that people seem to not understand the initial purpose of free speech, and in fact take a mistaken advantage of it. Katherine's letters are remarkable to me because she talks about real topics in society, instead of some type of personal chit-chat. Sure, she does do this from time to time, naturally. But when was the last time you wrote an email to someone (or letter at that) and pondered about "our current situation"? Some of you may have, but I surely have not. Her letters are surprisingly conversation-like.
We had talked on Tuesday about how much design and thought goes into the structure of a letter. Of course, it varies depending on the person, but I really hadn't thought much about it until then. Obviously the process of a letter, much like this blog has been to me-is a bit less formal and deliberate than a short story or a paper. But instead of a meticulous outline, I can see through Katherine and Flannery O'Connor's letters that that writing becomes thinking about what they were writing a sentence maybe ahead. That not might make any sense-but I also see them writing their letters and thinking maybe in advance with a little short-term memory power to make the letter come around and cohere in some way.