Travel narratives and the familiar letter form in the mid-eighteenth century

The epistolary form in travel literature was regarded as a letter by readers in the mid-18th century. This is contrary to the common view that there is no distinction between first-person travel narratives and novels told in letters. Travel letters written in the form of a familiar letter and read as a private letter made readers more receptive to the personal detail therein. This emphasizes the essence of epistolarity as well as the response it elicits from the reader and raises questions on the appropriateness of autobiographical materials in a travel narrative.