epistolary novel

Novel written as if it is a collection of letters, exchanged by characters in the story. It may be used as a literary device to persuade the reader that the events described are real.

The English writer Samuel Richardson popularized the epistolary novel with his books Pamela (1740-41) and Clarissa (1747-48). The epistolary device, as well as diary entries, were often used in the gothic novel to give credibility to the often fantastical story.