What’s left of handwriting? Maybe a few draft pages, a “Bon pour accord”, a “Bonjour” in a Vinted parcel… The French are sending fewer and fewer letters. Five per year in 2021, against 45 in 2008, according to figures from La Poste. To remedy, Epistolia offers to put strangers in touch with each other free of charge who wish to start a handwritten correspondence (by choosing or not the criteria of age and sex). Founded in 2019, the site has just over 3,000 members, two-thirds of whom are under 35. “A pen and a paper, it feels good! »summarizes Marie Gallien, 24 years old.
This work-study student in pro digital and management masters in Lyon recently invested in colored envelopes and flowery stamps to pamper her correspondent, Aurore, a 26-year-old Parisian who works in the audiovisual recording of plays. For six months, the young women have been writing to each other regularly. As soon as Marie receives a letter, she takes her ballpoint pen and sits down at her desk, while Aurore lets two or three days pass before settling down in a café to reply.
“It’s nice to give each other timesays Mary. The handwritten letter is also more engaging. For example, I read myself, which I never do by email, and I go to the post office ten minutes walk from my house. Beyond the fact that writing to a stranger is liberating, the letter contrasts with what I experience every day. It’s an unusual experience, just like spending the night in a hut. » As with dried flowers, Marie keeps all her letters in a book. She chose lonely lovesby Morgane Ortin (Albin Michel, 2018), a novel made from 278 love texts.
Find the right words, for others
Marie and Aurore owe their calligraphic adventure to Léa Faytre, a 31-year-old public writer, instigator of Epistolia. “The idea came to me when a friend from CE2, lost sight of for twenty-five years, told me of her wish to maintain a correspondence with me. It has been a great pleasure to rediscover the child she was and the woman she has become., explains Léa Faytre. In order not to break the magic of our relationship, we romanticize our future reunion. We imagine them in a cabin in the forest or near a river. This adds to the epistolary suspense and contributes to the same pleasure as waiting for the development of photos of disposable cameras, which are very successful today. »
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