Studies the history, elements, techniques of presentation, and main characteristics of Thai epistolary novels. The researcher has defined the scope of criteria of the epistolary novel, and found that the first Thai epistolary novel is Chotmai Changwang Ram, which is modeled from Letters from a Self-made Merchant to His Son by George Horace Lorimer. Eleven Thai epistolary novels are studied in terms of theme, plot, character, dialogue, as well as setting, In addition, four techniques of presentation, namely narrative technique, characterization, technique of verisimilitude, and technique of creating titles, are examined. Owing to the combination of the characteristics of the novel and the letter, some elements and techniques of presentation of Thai epistolary novels are evidently different from ordinary novels. That is to say, the situation of letter writing is added to the plot of the novel while the dialogue and the setting are presented in two dimensions. The first-person point of view is used as narrative techniques with a specific audience. Thai epistolary novels have four main characteristics. First, the use of letters as a form of narration is maintained throughout the story. The novel is narrated only from the first-person point of view of the sender with the recipient as the specific audience. The letters which are themselves the main dialogues between the senders and the recipients are interwoven with the novel dialogues. Lastly, the setting in the epistolary novel is a blend of the present setting in which the characters compose letters and the past setting in which the narratives took place. Moreover, the effects of the combination between the characteristics of the novel and those of the letter may occur when one of them dominates the other.
