By: Gabriela Yareliz
Have you ever written a letter you never sent? Have you ever kept unsent letters?
I recently finished a book that relied heavily on preserved correspondence, and I have to admit, some of the most interesting correspondence was the stuff that was never sent.
The unsent letters can be the most unhinged, and also, the most honest. Sometimes, what remains unsent was always destined to be so. Sometimes, it’s a soul detox. Sometimes, it’s a double-down.
I like Janet Malcolm’s thoughts on unsent letters:
“The preservation of the unsent letter is its arresting feature. Neither the writing nor the not sending is remarkable (we often make drafts of letters and discard them), but the gesture of keeping the message we have no intention of sending is.
By saving the letter, we are in some sense ‘sending’ it after all. We are not relinquishing our idea or dismissing it as foolish or unworthy (as we do when we tear up a letter); on the contrary, we are giving it an extra vote of confidence.”
What would your unsent letters reveal about you? What has gotten your ‘extra vote of confidence’?
GABRIELA YARELIZ 