Is the letter now ‘dead’, in terminal decline because of the impact of newdigital technologies? Such arguments raise interesting and importantpoints. However, they fail to distinguish between prevailing conventionsabout letter-writing in particular time-periods, and the underpinningfundamentals of ‘epistolary intent’ and ‘letterness’, and so they overstatethe newness of the features discussed. Examples of departures from ‘theletter’ but which display clear epistolary intent and inventive letterness arediscussed in support, including the letters of Olive Schreiner, St Paul’sletters, Roman legionary letters, World War 2 love letters, letters betweenmathematicians, and student emails
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