The Art of Letter Writing

Whatever happened to the art of letter writing? There is something about putting pen to paper that just can't be replicated on a computer; something that inspires you to spill your heart out on the page, use ridiculously elaborate prose, and sign off with something poetic, like 'eternally thine, Hannah'.
I have a friend living in France at the moment, where she's teaching English in a small rural village just outside Nantes. She's asked everyone to write rather than email, and I understand the appeal; the immediacy of the internet might mean that you get quicker answers, but it doesn't inspire the almost poetic analysis of your correspondent's experiences that writing a letter does.
When I think about the great literature of our time, I don't think of someone sat at a lap top, but someone sat at a desk with some thick paper and a good pen (or a quill, come to think of it). So perhaps this generation needs to revive good-old snail mail?