I'm currently reading a book where at the start of some of the chapters is a (fictional) letter from a school or social services to kick start a new theme or move the plot along. It's a device I'm considering trying in some of my own writing where I think it could be useful. I wonder if there is a name for this kind of thing? Or if anybody else has used this technique?
I start my chapters with newspaper headers that update the goings in the world. I'm also interested if there's an official name for this tool.
It's called epistolary, when you insert letters, diary entries, articles and the like in a story. epistolary 1: of, relating to, or suitable to a letter 2: contained in or carried on by letters—an endless sequence of … epistolary love affairs— The Times Literary Supplement (London) 3: written in the form of a series of letters—an epistolary novel Adjective Epistolary was formed from the noun epistle, which refers to a composition written in the form of a letter to a particular person or group. In its original sense, epistle refers to one of the 21 letters (such as those from the apostle Paul) found in the New Testament. Dating from the 13th century, epistle came to English via Anglo-French and Latin from the Greek noun epistolē, meaning "message" or "letter." Epistolē, in turn, came from the verb epistellein, meaning "to send" to or "to send from." Epistolary appeared in English four centuries after epistle and can be used to describe something related to or contained in a letter (as in "epistolary greetings") or composed of letters (as in "an epistolary novel"). From Merriam-Webster.com
Hold on, that might be wrong. An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. That's from Wikipedia, but reading on, it sounds like a true epistolary novel consists only of letters or other documents (like Dracula). If some are just inserted here and there, I don't think the name applies. But I do believe the individual documents would be called epistles.
I'm currently reading 'Dune' and each chapter begins with an excerpt from some tome of knowledge, and a web search revealed this is called an epigraph. But I'm not sure if this would only apply to partial passages and maybe a full letter opening a chapter should be considered an 'epistle' (like in the bible) as you suggest. Either way, we see a pattern from the Latin, whatever is the proper term, it probably starts with the epi- root. Edit: apparently epi- is Greek, not Latin.
Or an Epilady or Epipen... Epi a prefix occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “upon,” “on,” “over,” “near,” “at,” “before,” “after” (epicedium; epidermis; epigene; epitome); on this model, used in the formation of new compound words (epicardium; epinephrine). From medical definition: As in epicanthal fold (a fold of skin that comes down across the inner angle, the canthus, of the eye; epicardium (a layer of fibrous tissue that surrounds the heart and the roots of the great blood vessels); episclera (a thin membrane on top of the sclera, the white of the eye); epidural anesthetic (an anesthetic injected into the epidural space surrounding the fluid-filled sac, called the dura, around the spine which partially numbs the abdomen and legs); etc.
an inscription on a building, statue, or coin. a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme. Bingo!
I'm going to refer to all epigraphs as either gooch, grundle, or taint going foward. "How's that book you're reading?" "I could do without the grundles."
I've nearly always found these chapter header snippets annoying. They often seem to contribute little - or worse still too much. With my favourite genre, Crime mystery, I hate it when there is an italic section that is from the killer's past. It is often boring and/or reveals the killer before the plot has been fully developed. So, whatever they may be called I for sure will not be using them. Rant over. I've been stuck on a plot issue for some hours so am in a bad mood. Now I'm going to take the dog for a walk. When I come back all will be well.
