An epistolatory novel is one written mainly in the form of letters, often presented by an anonymous editor, a form which flourished in England from the 1740s until the early 19th century.[1] More recent attempts at adopting the form include C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters1942 novel by C. S. Lewis, in the form of a series of letters between a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood, who is tasked with securing the damnation of a British man known only as the patient. (1942) and William Golding’s Rites of Passage (1980), which introduces a variation in the form of an epistolatory journal.[1]

The term is derived from the Latin epistola, meaning letter, or decree.[2]

References

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Bibliography

Drabble, Margaret, et al. “Epistolatory Novel.” Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2007, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199214921.001.0001/acref-9780199214921-e-2047.
OED. “Epistolatory, Adj.” Oxford English Dictionary, Online, Oxford  University Press, 2022, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/63561.