Notes from the Creative Literary Arts Editor

Letters to Dearest Mother

We lay aside a letter never to read it again and at last destroy them out of discretion, so dispense with the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life.

— Goethe

Dear Reader,

I am writing to you about the magic of letter writing from long ago, an art that has all but vanished—the art of taking pen to paper, and with reflection capturing innermost thoughts, raw and unedited, then sending them to another.

In this issue we will read fragments of correspondence by five brilliant authors as they write uncensored letters home to their mothers—speaking eloquently of simple everyday experiences as well as significant emotional moments. The letters reveal the intimate, complex relationships that these literary figures had with their mothers. George Sand responds to her mother’s harsh critique of her lifestyle. James Joyce speaks of his “villainous hunger” and the impoverished life of a writer. Also included are letters from Louisa May Alcott, and 19th-century feminist Margaret Fuller—as well as a letter from Colette’s mother to her daughter and son-in-law, explaining why she is unable to visit them. Some of the letters are loving, some angry, others convey disappointment at feeling unseen or unappreciated. Still others cause us to gasp at their audacity. Many of the emotions expressed have the intensity of an analytic session.

Until very recently, a letter writer would send her private thoughts on a time-consuming journey, even if the recipient was relatively close by. A note to a sweetheart, a message easing the worry of another, a chronicle of daily adventures, difficulties, illnesses, challenges, homesickness, or expressions from the heart—all took forever to arrive. Some letters wept, others laughed, or whispered inner secrets. Others professed an undying love, others animosity and ang