Desmond and Lady Susan were my first experiences reading epistolary form and the most interesting part of the experience concerned the issue of trust. After our discussion last class about the conditions of reading a story through letters, I approached the novels with caution. I was preoccupied with trusting what the characters were saying. I had to keep in mind motives and audiences. What really concerned me was trusting dialogue that characters recounted. Although the motives, audiences and personality of the writer were critical in forming an opinion about the letters, I was really focused on the pretty basic concept of the validity of memory. In letters in both Lady Susan and Desmond characters were recounting conversations word for word, and I had trouble believing anything in quotation marks. Mrs. Vernon gave her mother detailed conversations between herself and Frederica, and at first, since it was dialogue, I trusted it, but then I realized that motives and memory had to play an even bigger role. Words could be taken out of context and memory could falter and so I had to be even more wary of dialogue than anything else.
Desmond and Lady Susan were my first experiences reading the epistolary form as well, and I also paid special attention after our first discussion to whom to trust in their series of letters. I struggled greatly also in believing the validity of the long passages of dialogue especially prevalent in the Desmond letters. I came to the conclusion that though these recollections may have not been word for word correct, they most likely encompassed the ideas of what the various speakers had said. What was more unsettling to me was the way Desmond in particular would frame his speakers in such a way that I unknowingly entered dialogue with preconceived notions about the speakers .For example, the doctor is initially described as esteeming himself very highly, leading me to dislike him before his discussion began. In addition, I found it suspicious and odd that after pages of observed dialogue, Desmond would succinctly end the letter without giving any opinions or thoughts of his own on the conversation he witnessed. It seems to me that if he had spent all the time writing out these lengthy dialogues without summarization, he would want to tell Mr. Bethel his views on the conversation he so meticulously copied.
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