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.