Washington Irving (1783-1859)

First American writer to achieve international fame

I. Beginning of career
a. Rich, dashing, young man—much leisure time
b. Began career with a series of newspaper essays (1802-03)
c. 1st major work—A History of New York (1809)
i. supposedly written by an old, eccentric historian named Deidrich
Knickerbocker
ii. mock history—comically treated the New York Dutch and their
tradition
iii. designed solely for entertainment
d. 1810—death of fiancé, demands of family cutlery business—went to
Washington to represent the business

II. Career shifted to Europe

a. 1815—went to Europe to represent the business
b. 1818—family business went bankrupt—turned to writing to support
himself and family
c. 1820—The Sketch Book
i. collection of essays (sketches)—mostly European in setting
ii. only 2 American setting short stories
1. “Rip Van Winkle”
2. “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

III. Returned to US (1832)

a. Encouraged other writers
b. Devoted himself to serious history and biography
i. George Washington
ii. Christopher Columbus

The Sketch Book

Pivotal work in his career
Only 4 selections are on genuinely American topics
Marks a clear break in American literature—goal no longer moral or religious
instruction but entertainment
Penname—Geoffrey Crayon
Landscape painting

Knickerbockers
Group of writers gathered in New York City
Named after Diedrich Knickerbocker
Included James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant
“Rip Van Winkle”

The first American short story

1. Contributed significantly to the development of the American short story—
particularly in setting and characterization
2. not purely original—based on an old German legend—original in his
Americanization of the tale
a. Geographical setting
b. Historical setting
c. Social setting

Characterization
1. Rip—well-developed “round character” (individual)
a. Simple, good-natured, neighborly, hen-pecked
b. A sympatheic rendering of his uniqueness
2. Perhaps he represents the often hidden universal human desire, when life
becomes too difficult, to escape to the simplicity and adventure of nature—to
sleep away one’s troubles

Theme
1. Mutibility (change)
2. The type will endure (Rip’s son) but circumstances and everything about life
will change (transcience of life)

Romantic Elements (all relative to transcendental four tenants)

1. central character—individualized common man—not the normal hero of the
classics
2. emotion—follows his feelings and instinct rather than reason
3. descriptive focus on external nature—nature serves as a comfort to Rip
4. setting remote in time and place—mythical past

Neoclassic Romantic Conflict

1. Rip represents Romanticism (see above)
2. Dame represents Neoclassicism
a. Focus on reason rather than emotion—she wants him to do the logical
thing
b. Focus on the family rather than the individual
c. She nags him morally—a romantic perspective of the Neoclassics
d. She has a practical view of nature
3. The solution to the conflict is time
a. Rip sleeps and Dame dies
b. Neoclassics will eventually die out and the Romantics will thrive
c. Rip doesn’t change—the village’s view of him changes
i. At the beginning he’s an oddity
ii. At the end he’s reverenced “as a patriarch of the village”