The varying letter lengths in Austen’s Lady Susan and Smith’s Desmond lead to two very different
reading experiences. While Austen keeps
the majority of letters in Lady Susan on
the shorter side, Smith does not hesitate to continue one letter for ten
pages. Austen’s work seems to progress
much more quickly, with differing characters and tones becoming evident to the
reader through the presentation of several letter writers and receivers within
the beginning of the work. Smith’s
longer letters read more like a traditional novel, allowing the reader to get
settled into one character’s voice and perspective before having to switch to
that of another. The shorter letter
lengths in Lady Susan contribute to
the overall theme of perspective and speculation by continually challenging the
reader’s assumptions about characters and motives. Austen makes the juxtaposition of characters more
obvious by forcing the rapid recognition of their differences through the
contrasting views and responses.
Agreed! However, after finishing Desmond I've found there's something weirdly impersonal at times about these long, long, long letters back and forth between characters. While there's plenty of room for personal thoughts and feelings (and they definitely appear), I found that the characters also fell into a pattern of pointing out impersonal actions from other people and then adding in a quick "which I didn't like at all!" at the end. There just isn't any way to keep a letter that personal for that amount of time without breaking from sentiment to elaborate on news.
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