Epistolography: genesis of work, genesis of self

Abstract

This article uses the epistolary genre to suggest the possibility of a broader understanding of creative processes in literature from the 19th century. The aim here is to systematize ways of perceiving, in letters, the initial stages of writing, work plans and the authors’ dilemmas over time. What stands out are the “hesitations”, the aesthetic horizons still in formation, the individual desires and ambitions; such dialogues, contained in the writer’s correspondence (Stendhal, Balzac, Sand, Musset, Flaubert, Zola, Mallarmé, Rimbaud etc.), emerge as an unavoidable element to understanding the writing processes and, consequently, the polyphonic space in that literary works are produced. The evolution of the epistolary genre also stands out here, as its ability to constitute the “writing laboratory” open for reading.