There was a very funny SF short story, where computers completely controlled the justice system, such that an overdue library book (“Kidnapped”, by Rudyard Kipling) ended up with the person being executed, because the computer thought that a R. Kipling had been kidnapped. Consisted entirely of letters and missives being sent back and forth.
The Conspiracy by John Hershey tells the story of the Pisonian conspiracy against Emperor Nero through a series of letters written by the head of Nero’s security.
Similarly, Augustus by John Edward Williams tells the story of Augustus Caesar’s life through a series of fictional letters, memoirs, journal entries, etc.
Les Lettres persanes is a critique of French society written by Montesquieu in the form of letters, supposedly penned by a visiting Persian prince. While it’s mostly critique, there are a number of story lines that run throughout the letters. If I recall correctly, the letters were originally published serially in a newspaper, but I may be wrong.
Closer to what the OP asked, I’d recommend Up the Down Staircase, which was already mentioned above.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and the Adrian Mole triology are both both through diary entries.
I haven’t read the book yet, but I believe Ella Minnow Pea is told through letters.
I think I remember this one, is it told from the point of view of officials in the alternate timeline?
Why isn’t it what the OP is looking for?
-FrL-
Yes it is. They are truly disturbed by this guy, because even though he can’t be whom he claims to be, he seems so rational and the documents he carries so authentic(better than the average forger’s work)
I mean, they know that the* real* Benjamin Bathurst is governor of the Crown Colony of Georgia, and so on. The split in the timeline is so recent, about thirty years back, that there exist “doubles” in some cases of people mentioned in those obviously false papers.
Is it too “GD” of me to suggest The Bible?
So I’ll throw in “Letters from the Earth” by Mark Twain. Same kind of thing.
His short story “Survivor Type” (surely the grossest thing ever written) is a journey of diary entries.
Bugger! I was beaten to Griffin and Sabine. My husband encouraged me to read this when we were first dating, and I loved it. Haven’t read the other two, however.
I seem to recall there was also a Vampire the Masquerade book that did this, with letters and poems and diary entries and such. Don’t remember the name of it though.
Heinrich Böll’s Group Portrait With Lady is a fantastic story describing the experiences of ordinary Germans during WW2 by fleshing out the life of what would otherwise by thought of as a very ordinary woman by other people’s descriptions of her (and surrounding life).
I reread it again recently, and it is really one of the best books I’ve ever read.
Came in to mention this one. I loved how she could have the story develop so well through letters.
The Missing Piece by Antoine Bello is a fairly recent murder mystery about the world of competitive jigsaw-puzzle solving, and is told entirely through newspaper articles, press releases, emails, advertisments, and a few letters. They don’t appear in chronological order, so you need to put that together yourself (get it? like puzzle pieces?) It’s not bad, but I felt the mystery story suffered a little because the structure was so elaborate.
The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder, with some possible exceptions. There is one spot that is an excerpt from an alleged comedy relevant to the immediate subject. It’s been years since I read it, so even that one may have been framed as a report to Caesar from his secret police. There may be two or three other spots that don’t strictly qualify as documents/letters/diaries.
I remember reading an episitlatory story back in elementary school, that was a series of letters between a writer of science fiction, and the editors of at least one of the pulps, perhaps more. It seemed that every story the author tried to sell was a word-for-word copy of something published back in the 1920s. Finally, in desperation, the author gathers the letters together, including his theory that maybe he’d been the victim of a time-travelling plagiarist, and tries to sell it as an epistlatory story.
Only to be told that it was a word-for-word copy of another one of the guy’s stories.
Can anyone ID this story beyond that for me?
I remember that story, too, OtakuLoki, but the author and title escape me. For some reason I want to say I read it in Asimov’s magazine, although I’m also thinking of an anthology it might have appeared in. Unfortunately, I’m still unpacking my library, so I can’t check it out.
There’s Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff, by Jennifer Holm. It’s made of notes, IMs, receipts, bank statements, prescriptions, report cards, etc.
The short story “The Screwfly Solution” by Alice (“Raccoona”) Sheldon tells the story through the letters between a wife and her husband.