书写的艺术

By+Jennifer+Bragg

高科技當道的今日，你还会拿起笔写一封信吗？一笔一画写下的心意，似乎在快节奏的现代社会中销声匿迹。然而曾经，书信这一纯朴的交流方式不仅是必不可少的通信手段，也是一种塑造历史的力量。在没有互联网的时代，一封封信件远渡重洋，跨越文化与地理的障碍，传递了珍贵的情感，连接了不同的文明。现代社会固然多姿多彩，但用笔书写的悠悠岁月更加值得珍藏。

Long before the Internet， and even before the telephone， people relied on pen and paper to communicate. Its a lot different from writing an email because when you make a mistake， you cannot “backspace1”your errors away. You simply cross out your mistake with your pen and continue writing.

Letter writing was how I first traveled the world， before I could see it with my own eyes. When I was 11 years old， I lived in a small town in Maine2， the most northeast state in the U.S. My teacher told the class one day that each of the students was going to receive the name of a pen pal3 from another country. I had to submit my name and address along with one dollar. Two weeks later， I was given a piece of paper with my new pen pals information and wrote my first letter.

To be honest， I cant remember who my very first pen pal was， because I quickly accumulated many. Within a few years， I was writing to almost 20 dozen kids from faraway places like Brazil， Jamaica4， Austria and China. One girl was a triplet5 from Australia. Another pen pal was a boy from England who liked the same music as me： rock and roll. A girl from Belgium6 asked me about popular TV shows from the U.S. that were showing in her country at the time. Every day after school， I would hurry home and eagerly wait for the postman to deliver our mail. Nothing excited me more than seeing that distinctive “air mail”envelope with my name on it.

Letter writing has been a key means of communication for people throughout history. It played a crucial part in the exploration of the “New World”， as America was once known. Famous names like Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci graced my history textbooks growing up，7 with stories of their explorations. Much of what we know about them is through the letters they wrote to people back in Europe.

There were two main reasons why these early explorers wrote letters. One was to document for the people back home what they saw as they journeyed through the faraway， mysterious land. “The land in those parts is very fertile and pleasing， abounding in numerous hills and mountains， boundless valleys and mighty rivers，” Amerigo Vespucci wrote to a friend in Italy in the 1500s.8 “Many of these [trees] yield fruits delectable9 to the taste and beneficial to the human body.”endprint

Another reason for writing letters was to assure and update the people who financed their trips. These so-called investors were often monarchs10， noblemen or wealthy people who had a personal interest in world discoveries. Letters from explorers would raise hopes that new lands could bring more riches.

When the British began building colonies in America during the 17th Century， these lands were settled by people who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. The early settlers faced a lot of challenges in the unfamiliar environment. Their letters were mixed with news of illness as well as details of their exotic11 surroundings. Sometimes a man would go to America in search of prosperity， with plans to send for his wife and children later. Their longdistance correspondence was filled with descriptions of life on both sides of the ocean that would keep them together until they were reunited.12

400 years later， we dont really need to write letters anymore. With the advent of the Internet， the nuances of a persons handwriting are lost to the cold， typewritten script that comes with an email.13 A persons unique signature is reserved for signing a receipt for a credit card payment.

These days， its difficult for me to find anyone to write a letter anymore. There was a time， as an adult， when I would write to friends who lived in Europe and occasionally they would write me back. But with the technological advancements we have today， my list of eager letter recipients is ever dwindling.14

Sadly， I lost my favorite pen pal a few years ago： my grandmother. At the ripe old age15 of 96， my grandmother passed away while I was living in China. For years， whether I was in England， Germany， Laos16 or China， I would send her a letter. After my grandmother died， my uncle told me that when she received one of my letters from a far-flung place， she would pull out her atlas and see where I was.17

Once in a while， depending on where I was living， she would send me a letter back describing the goings-on in her small town or an update on her few remaining friends and siblings18. Sometimes she would include a newspaper clipping19 with a story that might interest me. One thing that was so special about my grandmother is that she never had a mobile phone， a computer， a tablet or any of the fancy gadgetry20 of today. And guess what？ She got along in life just fine. I had a lot of respect for that.endprint