1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In this article, I argue that love letters written by everyday writers in a context of international migration are extraordinary historical documents. These cultural artefacts offer a plethora of insights on transnational communication, the romantic love that infused such epistolary narratives, the challenges that ordinary lovers faced in their separation, and how letter-writing helped them to negotiate a lover’s absence.» (p. 91)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«How did a lover’s letter help to negotiate physical absence, separation, and migration? How can words of romantic love and yearning contribute to historians’ understanding of amour-passion, letter-writing, and transnational relationships? And, finally, what do they tell us about ordinary lives and migration experiences?» (p. 91)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The author uses 160 «[l]etters written by women and men in the context of Italian postwar migration to Canada are employed to illustrate my points.» (p. 91)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«In this article, through the use of three letter collections created in the context of Italian postwar migration to Canada, I have presented the love letter and described some of the more prominent themes that are discussed in letters written by three couples separated in the postwar years as a result of international migration. Secondly, I have discussed the challenges that the lovers/writers encountered as they attempted to reconfigure their relationships from a formerly held face-to-face relationship to a romantic love nurtured on paper. Finally, I have discussed ways in which these lovers negotiated distance and separation in their letters to each other. As I have attempted to show, a reading of love letters conceived by women and men engaged in international migration provides a constellation of insights on human mobility, transnational relationships, romantic love, and the history of emotions. However, further investigations are needed, especially across temporal and geographic spaces, ethnicities, and disciplines.» (p. 104)
Note : Plusieurs lettres étudiées sont reliées à la communauté italiennes de Montréal.