A collection of holiday letters is analyzed using the grounded theory method to generate a matrix of relationships among descriptive categories and conceptual dimensions of this epistolary genre. The final step of the grounded theory protocol analyzes holiday letters as a genre of writing that conveys personal stories set within a bracketed period to achieve ongoing autobiographies. The narratives create positive identities for the writer and his or her intimates, and depict those autobiographies as progressing toward the good and the preferred in the dominant culture. Discussion focuses on the ways in which holiday letters manage the dialectics of contradictions between modernist sensibilities, desires, and selfhood, and the postmodern social conditions in which they are written.
Allen, M. A. (1990, December). Publish the ultimate holiday newsletter. Writer's Digest, 40-42.
2.
Altman, I. , & Gauvain, M. (1981). A cross-cultural and dialectic analysis of homes. In L. Liben, A. Patterson, & N. Newcombe (Eds.), Spatial representation and behavior across the lifespan (pp. 283-320). New York: Academic Press.
3.
Barrett, T. (1996). Criticizing photographs: An introduction to understanding images, 2nd ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.
4.
Baugh, L. S. (1991). Handbook for practical letter writing. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group.
5.
Baugh, L. S. , Fryar, M., & Thomas, D. (1994). Handbook for business writing. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.
6.
Baxter, L. A. , & Montgomery, B. M. (1992). Relating: Dialogues and dialectics. New York: Guilford Press.
7.
Bochner, A. P. (1994). Perspectives on inquiry II: Theories and stories. In M. Knapp & G. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication, 2nd ed. (pp. 21-41). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
8.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste (R. Nice trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
9.
Clayton, J. (1994). The narrative turn in minority fiction. In J. Carlyle & D. R. Schwartz (Eds.), Narrative and culture (pp. 58-76). Athens: The University of Georgia Press.
10.
Collier, M. J. , & Thomas, M. (1988). Cultural identity: An interpretive perspective. In Y. Y. Kim & W. B. Gudykunst (Eds.), Theories in intercultural communication (pp. 99-122). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
11.
Eco, U. (1986). Travels in hyperreality. New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich.
12.
Faircloth, N. (1989). Language and power. London: Longman.
13.
Faircloth, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.
14.
Fisher, W. A. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value, and action. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
15.
Fruehling, R. T. , & Oldham, N. B. (1988). Write to the point: Letters, memos, and reports that get results. New York: McGraw-Hill.
16.
Gergen, K. J. (1991). The saturated self: Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. New York: Basic Books.
17.
Giles, H. , Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991). Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence. In H. Giles, J. Coupland, & N. Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics (pp. 1-68). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Giles, H. , & Johnson, P. (1987). Ethnolinguistic identity theory: A social psychological approach to language maintenance. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 68, 66-99.
19.
Giles, H. , & Smith, P. M. (1979). Accommodation theory: Optimal levels of convergence. In H. Giles & R. St. Clair (Eds.), Language and social psychology (pp. 45-65). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
20.
Glaser, B. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
21.
Goldsmith, E. C. (1989). Authority, authenticity, and the publication of letters by women. In E. C. Goldsmith (Ed.), Writing the female voice: Essays on epistolary literature (pp. 46-59). Boston: Northeastern University Press.
22.
Grodin, D. (1996). The self and mediated communication. In D. Grodin & T. R. Lindlof (Eds.), Constructing the self in a mediated world (pp. 3-11). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
23.
Hammer, L. (1997). Useless concentration: Life and work in Elizabeth Bishop's letters and poems. American Literary History, 9(1), 162-181.
24.
Hecht, M. L. (1993). 2002 - A research odyssey: Toward the development of a communication theory of identity. Communication Monographs, 60, 76-82.
25.
Hecht, M. L. , Collier, M. J., & Ribeau, S. A. (1993). African American communication: Ethnic identity and cultural interpretation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
26.
Hecht, M. L. , & Ribeau, S. A. (1987). Afro-American identity labels and communicative effectiveness. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 6, 319-326.
27.
It's In the Mail (1996, February 10). America, 174(4), 4-6.
28.
Jacques, F. (1991). Difference and subjectivity: Dialogue and personal identity. New Haven, CT: Yale.
29.
Kauffman, L. (1986). Discourses of desire: Gender, genre, and epistolary fictions. New York: Cornell University Press.
30.
Kirk, J. , & Miller, M. L. (1986). Reliability and validity in qualitative research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
31.
Langellier, K. (1989). Personal narratives: Perspectives on theory and research. Text and Performance Quarterly, 9, 243-276.
32.
Luborsky, M. R. (1994). The identification and analysis of themes and patterns. In J. F. Gubrium & A. Sankar (Eds.), Qualitative methods in aging research (pp. 189-210). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
33.
Lyons, J. O. (1978). The invention of the self: The hinge of consciousness in the eighteenth century. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
34.
Lyotard, J.-F. (1997). Postmodern fables (G. Van Den Abbeele, trans). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
35.
Maines, D. R. (1989). Further dialectics: Strangers, friends, and historical transformations. Communication Yearbook, 12,190-202.
36.
McNamee, S. (1996). Therapy and identity construction in a postmodern world. In D. Grodin & T. R. Lindlof (Eds.), Constructing the self in a mediated world (pp. 141-155). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
37.
Messaris, P. (1994). Visual `literacy': Image, mind, and reality. Boulder, CO:Westview.
38.
Meyer, H. E. (1983). Lifetime encyclopedia of letters. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc..
39.
Perrault, W. D. Jr. , & Leigh, L. E. (1989). Reliability of nominal data based on qualitative judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 24, 135-148.
40.
Rawlins, W. K. (1989). A dialectical analysis of the tensions, functions, and strategic challenges of communication in young adult friendships. In J. A. Anderson (Ed.), Communication yearbook 12 (pp. 157-189). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
41.
Richardson, L. (1995). Narrative and sociology. In J. Van Maanen (Ed.), Representation in ethnography (pp. 198-221). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
42.
Robbins, D. D. (1997). Personal and cultural transformation: Letter writing in Lee Smith's `Fair and Tender ladies.'Critique: Studies In Contemporary Fiction, 38(2), 135-144.
43.
Scott, C. R. , Corman, S. R., & Cheney, G. (1998). Development of a structurational model of identification in the organization. Communication Theory, 8, 298-336.
44.
Stahl, S. D. (1989). Literary folkloristics and the personal narrative. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
45.
Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York: Cambridge University Press.
46.
Strauss, A. , & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative rearch: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
47.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self. The making of modern identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
48.
Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster.
49.
Venolia, T. (1982). Better letters: A handbook of business and personal correspondence. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
50.
Walton, V. (1988, December 19). And to all, a form letter. Newsweek, 10.
51.
Wiliams, C. (1989). 'Trying to do Without God': The revision of epistolary address in The Color Purple. In E. C. Goldsmith (Ed.), Writing the female voice: Essays on epistolary literature (pp. 273-286). Boston: Northeastern University Press.
