Strange's Venetian letters

From The Library at Hurtfew
Jump to navigation Jump to search
These letters were written by Jonathan Strange during December of 1816, and were addressed predominantly to Henry Woodhope. In them, Strange relates his discovery that Arabella Strange had not actually died, but was a prisoner in a brugh. However, during this time, Strange was under the influence of his tincture of madness; as a result, his letters were not always comprehensible, and large sections of them were often expunged. Strange also burned many of the letters instead of sending them, but was unable to recall which letters he had sent, and therefore occasionally referred to passages from the destroyed letters[57].

A collection of Strange's letters to Woodhope was published in January 1817 under the name The Black Letters, and Strange's Venetian letters were afterwards known by this name. However, according to Woodhope, who did not give permission for the 1817 publication, the letters in this volume had been altered in such a way as to cast the most sinister doubts on Strange's character and conduct towards his wife[58]. To correct any misapprehension John Segundus and Woodhope published the originals of Strange's Venetian letters in The Life of Jonathan Strange in 1820[57].

See also The Black Letters.