Dear Father: A Memoir on Love, Family, and a Complicated Paternity

Abstract

The epistolary form provides a unique way for the author to shorten the narrative distance by creating a level of intimacy with the reader that one can’t quite achieve with other forms. By using this form, the author allows the audience to peer into the world they are painting in a such a way that removes the veil of distance and invites the reader to fully submerse themselves within the text, the subtext, and the story itself. Dear Father addresses a complex relationship between a daughter and her adoptive father, while using the epistolary form to create a certain intimacy that would be difficult to achieve otherwise.