FRtR > Outlines > American Literature > Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers, 1776-1820 > Washington Irving (1789-1859)
An Outline of American Literature
by Kathryn VanSpanckeren
Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers, 1776-1820: Washington Irving (1789-1859)
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The youngest of 11 children born to a well-to-do New York
merchant family, Washington Irving became a cultural and
diplomatic ambassador to Europe, like Benjamin Franklin and
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Despite his talent, he probably would not
have become a full-time professional writer, given the lack of
financial rewards, if a series of fortuitous incidents had not
thrust writing as a profession upon him. Through friends, he was
able to publish his Sketch Book (1819-1820) simultaneously
in
England and America, obtaining copyrights and payment in both
countries.
The Sketch Book of Geoffrye Crayon (Irving's pseudonym)
contains his two best remembered stories, "Rip Van Winkle" and
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." "Sketch" aptly describes Irving's
delicate, elegant, yet seemingly casual style, and "crayon"
suggests his ability as a colorist or creator of rich, nuanced
tones and emotional effects. In the Sketch Book, Irving
transforms the Catskill Mountains along the Hudson River north of
New York City into a fabulous, magical region.
American readers gratefully accepted Irving's imagined
"history" of the Catskills, despite the fact (unknown to them)
that he had adapted his stories from a German source. Irving gave
America something it badly needed in the brash, materialistic
early years: an imaginative way of relating to the new land.
No writer was as successful as Irving at humanizing the
land, endowing it with a name and a face and a set of legends.
The story of "Rip Van Winkle," who slept for 20 years, waking to
find the colonies had become independent, eventually became
folklore. It was adapted for the stage, went into the oral
tradition, and was gradually accepted as authentic American
legend by generations of Americans.
Irving discovered and helped satisfy the raw new nation's
sense of history. His numerous works may be seen as his devoted
attempts to build the new nation's soul by recreating history and
giving it living, breathing, imaginative life. For subjects, he
chose the most dramatic aspects of American history: the
discovery of the New World, the first president and national
hero, and the westward exploration. His earliest work was a
sparkling, satirical History of New York (1809) under the
Dutch,
ostensibly written by Diedrich Knickerbocker (hence the name of
Irving's friends and New York writers of the day, the
"Knickerbocker School").
Available on the Internet
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