This week we focused on epistolary fiction, which is when a story is told through different forms of written communication like letters or diary entries. This idea was new to me so I was interested to see how authors would turn other people’s letters into their own story.
One story, Address Unknown by Katherine Kressmann Taylor, details the journey that two men go through during the rise of Nazi Germany. They start off as two friends and business partners who share the same ideals and interests, but end up as strangers on two different sides of history. One maintains his own beliefs and stays away from the ideas that Hitler pushes onto society, while the other praises the new Nazi Germany and views Jews as a threat.
It is important to remember that one man is Jewish and one is not. Because Martin is not Jewish, I think that its easier for him to side with people that have a hatred for Jews. He understands their ideas more and eventually becomes one of them. This is unusual for me to understand because I cant imagine sharing the same beliefs as someone that torments and kills people that my friend calls family. However, these letters were written under completely different circumstances from where I am, making it hard to understand where Martin may have been coming from. This is why I have a new liking towards epistolary fiction. It brings you into a different world using communication from people that actually experienced these situations and that have different point of views.
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