«El mejor retrato de cada uno» la materialidad de la escritura epistolar en la sociedad hispana de los siglos XVI y XVII

Abstract

Epistolary writing reached a remarkable diffusion in Hispanic society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was one of the most significant forms of writing, and its social extension was also extraordinary. This has been shown in a number of different studies and editions are profuse. However, in many of those works the study of the meanings and functions of this epistolary writing is extremely limited. On the basis of some previous reflections on epistolary discourse, I attempt here to analyze the material characteristics of epistolary testimonies, the distinction between letters and billets, the formal constitution of both, and the relations between the social conditions of the people and their written production (from the literati to inexpert writers). Finally, I will address the particularities that each act of writing involved in terms of the dialectic tension between the concrete norms and their appropriation in a certain society.