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Washington Irving
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Washington Irving
American author
born April 3, 1783, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died Nov. 28, 1859, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Main
writer called the “first American man of letters.” He is best known for
the short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.”
The favourite and last of 11 children of an austere Presbyterian
father and a genial Anglican mother, young, frail Irving grew up in an
atmosphere of indulgence. He escaped a college education, which his
father required of his older sons, but read intermittently at the law,
notably in the office of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, with whose pretty
daughter Matilda he early fell in love. He wrote a series of whimsically
satirical essays over the signature of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.,
published in Peter Irving’s newspaper, the Morning Chronicle, in
1802–03. He made several trips up the Hudson, another into Canada for
his health, and took an extended tour of Europe in 1804–06.
On his return he passed the bar examination late in 1806 and soon set
up as a lawyer. But during 1807–08 his chief occupation was to
collaborate with his brother William and James K. Paulding in the
writing of a series of 20 periodical essays entitled Salmagundi.
Concerned primarily with passing phases of contemporary society, the
essays retain significance as an index to the social milieu.
His A History of New York . . . by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809) was
a comic history of the Dutch regime in New York, prefaced by a
mock-pedantic account of the world from creation onward. Its writing was
interrupted in April 1809 by the sudden death of Matilda Hoffman, as
grief incapacitated him. In 1811 he moved to Washington, D.C., as a
lobbyist for the Irving brothers’ hardware-importing firm, but his life
seemed aimless for some years. He prepared an American edition of Thomas
Campbell’s poems, edited the Analectic Magazine, and acquired a staff
colonelcy during the War of 1812. In 1815 he went to Liverpool to look
after the interests of his brothers’ firm. In London he met Sir Walter
Scott, who encouraged him to renewed effort. The result was The Sketch
Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (1819–20), a collection of stories and
essays that mix satire and whimsicality with fact and fiction. Most of
the book’s 30-odd pieces concern Irving’s impressions of England, but
six chapters deal with American subjects. Of these, the tales “The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” have been called the first
American short stories. They are both Americanized versions of German
folktales. The main character of “Rip Van Winkle” is a henpecked husband
who sleeps for 20 years and awakes as an old man to find his wife dead,
his daughter happily married, and America now an independent country.
The tremendous success of The Sketch Book in both England and the United
States assured Irving that he could live by his pen. In 1822 he produced
Bracebridge Hall, a sequel to The Sketch Book. He traveled in Germany,
Austria, France, Spain, the British Isles, and later in his own country.
Early in 1826 he accepted the invitation of Alexander H. Everett to
attach himself to the American legation in Spain, where he wrote his
Columbus (1828), followed by The Companions of Columbus (1831).
Meanwhile, Irving had become absorbed in the legends of the Moorish past
and wrote A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (1829) and The Alhambra
(1832), a Spanish counterpart of The Sketch Book.
After a 17-year absence Irving returned to New York in 1832, where he
was warmly received. He made a journey west and produced in rapid
succession A Tour of the Prairies (1835), Astoria (1836), and The
Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837). Except for four years (1842–46)
as minister to Spain, Irving spent the remainder of his life at his
home, “Sunnyside,” in Tarrytown, on the Hudson River, where he devoted
himself to literary pursuits.
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"THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW"
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Type of work: Tale
Author: Washington Irving (1783-1859)
Type of plot: Regional romance
Time of plot: Eighteenth century
Locale: New York State
First published: 1819-1820
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American literature's first great writer, Irving was responsible
for two trends in American letters: one toward local color and the
legendary tale, the other toward the historical novel. This tale belongs
to the first trend and has fascinated and delighted readers for almost
two hundred years.
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Principal Characters
Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster of Sleepy Hollow, near Tarry Town on the
Hudson. He dreams of a com-fortable marriage to Katrina. Because of his
belief in ghosts, he is frightened from the area by a ghostly rider.
Gunpowder, Ichabod's gaunt horse.
Katrina Van Tassel, a rosy-cheeked student in Icha-bod's singing
classes.
Mynheer Van Tassel, her wealthy farmer father.
The Headless Horseman, a legendary apparition, supposedly a Hessian
cavalryman whose head was shot off by a cannonball.
Abraham Van Brunt, called Brom Bones, who is in love with Katrina.
Disguised as the Headless Horseman, he pursues Ichabod and throws a
pumpkin at him. Ich-abod leaves Sleepy Hollow permanently.
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The Story
Near Tarry Town on the Hudson is a little valley which, years ago, was
the quietest place in the world. A drowsy influence hung over the place
and people so that the region was known as Sleepy Hollow, and the lads
were called Sleepy Hollow boys. Some said that the valley was bewitched.
It was true that marvelous stories were told there.
The main figure to haunt the valley was a headless horseman. Some said
the specter was the apparition of a Hessian horseman who had lost his
head from a cannon-ball, but, whatever it was, it was often seen in the
valley and adjacent countryside in the gloom of winter nights. The
specter was known to all as the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.
In the valley, years ago, there lived a schoolteacher called Ichabod
Crane. He looked like a scarecrow because of his long, skinny frame and
his snipelike nose. As was the custom in that fertile Dutch countryside,
he boarded with the parents of his pupils a week at a time. Fortunately
for him, the Dutch larders were full and the tables groaning with food,
for the schoolmaster had a wonderful appetite. He was always welcome in
the country homes because in small ways he made himself useful to the
farmers. He was patient with the children, and he loved to spend the
long winter nights with the families of his pupils, exchanging tales of
ghosts and haunted places while ruddy apples roasted on the hearths.
Ichabod believed heartily in ghosts, and his walks home after an evening
of tale-telling were often filled with fear. His only source of courage
at those times was his voice, loud and nasal as it made the night
resound with many a psalm tune.
The schoolteacher picked up a little odd change by holding singing
classes. In one of his classes, he first became aware of a plump and
rosycheeked girl named Katrina Van Tassel. She was the only child of a
very substantial farmer, and that fact added to her charms for the
ever-hungry Ichabod. Since she was not only beau¬tiful but also lively,
she was a great favorite among the lads in the neighborhood.
Abraham Van Brunt was Katrina's favorite squire. The Dutch first
shortened his name to Brom and then called him Brom Bones when he became
known for the tall and powerful frame of his body. He was a lively lad
with a fine sense of humor and a tremendous amount of energy. When other
suitors saw his horse hitched outside Katrina's house on a Sunday night,
they went on their way. Brom Bones was a formidable rival for the gaunt
and shaggy Ichabod. Brom would have liked to carry the battle into the
open, but the schoolteacher knew better than to tangle with him
physically. Brom Bones could do little but play practical jokes on lanky
Ichabod.
The whole countryside was invited one fall evening to a quilting frolic
at Mynheer Van Tassel's. For the occasion, Ichabod borrowed a horse from
the farmer with whom he was then living. The horse, called Gunpowder,
was as gaunt as Ichabod himself, but the steed still had a fair amount
of spirit. The two of them were a sight as they jogged happily along to
the party.
Ichabod was well pleased by every prospect he saw on the Van Tassel
farm, the most prosperous holding for miles around. Perhaps Ichabod
might be able to sell it and, with the proceeds, go farther west. It was
a pretty picture he saw as he passed fields full of shocks of corn and
pumpkins, granaries stuffed with grain, and meadows and barnlots filled
with sleek cattle and plump fowl.
The party was a merry one with many lively dances. Ichabod was at his
best when he danced with Katrina. After a time, he went out on the dark
porch with the men and exchanged more Sleepy Hollow ghost stories—but
the food was best of all. Ichabod did credit to all the cakes and pies,
meats and tea.
After the others left, he tarried to pay court to Katrina, but it was
not long before he started home crestfallen on the gaunt Gunpowder. All
the stories he had heard came back to him, and as he rode along in the
darkness, he became more dismal. He heard groans as the branches of the
famed Major Andre tree rubbed against one another. He even thought he
saw something moving beneath it.
When he came to the bridge over Wiley's Swamp, Gunpowder balked. The
harder Ichabod urged him on, the more the horse bucked. Then, on the
other side of the marsh, Ichabod saw something huge and misshapen.
The figure refused to answer him when he called. Ichabod's hair stood
straight on end. Because it was too late to turn back, however, the
schoolmaster kept to the road. The stranger—it looked like a headless
horseman, but it seemed to hold its head on the pommel—kept pace with
him, fast or slow. Ichabod could not stand going slowly, and he whipped
Gunpowder to a gallop. As his saddle loosened, he nearly lost his grip,
but he hugged the horse around the neck. He could not even sing a psalm
tune.
When he reached the church bridge, where by tradition the headless
specter would disappear in a flash of fire and brimstone, Ichabod heard
the horseman close in on him. As he turned to look, the spirit threw his
head at him. Ichabod tried to dodge, but the head tumbled him into the
dust.
In the morning, a shattered pumpkin was found near the bridge. Gunpowder
was grazing at the farmer's gate nearby. Ichabod, however, was never
seen in Sleepy Hollow again. In the valley, they say that Brom Bones,
long after he had married the buxom Katrina, laughed heartily whenever
the story was told of the horseman who had thrown his head at the
schoolteacher during that ghostly midnight pursuit.
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Critical Evaluation
Washington Irving was by inclination an amused observer of people and
customs. By birth, he was in a position to pursue that inclination. Son
of a New York merchant in good financial standing, he was the youngest
of eleven children, several of whom helped him to take prolonged trips
to Europe for his health and fancy. He was responsible for two trends in
American literature: one, toward the legendary tale, steeped in local
color; the other, toward the historical novel. "The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow" belongs to the first trend.
The two best-known of Irving's stories are "Rip Van Winkle" and "The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow," both of which appeared originally in The
Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., a collection of tales and
familiar essays. Both stories are based on German folklore, which Irving
adapted to a lower New York State setting peopled with Dutch farmers.
In "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," the Dutch farmers make up most of the
folkloric elements, for Ichabod Crane is an outsider, a Yankee
schoolmaster among the canny Dutch settlers. As an outsider, and a
peculiarlooking one at that, Ichabod Crane becomes the butt of local
humor and the natural victim for Brom Bones's practical jokes. Most of
the humorous sallies of the Sleepy Hollow boys are in the vein of
good-natured ribbing. Yet Brom Bones's practical jokes are somewhat more
serious because of the rather unequal rivalry between Brom and Ichabod
for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel. It is in the relationship between
Brom and Ichabod that the common folk theme of the scapegoat is most
clearly seen.
Other folk themes appear in the story as well. Among them is the belief
that one can ward off evil spirits with religious symbols; thus, Ichabod
sings psalms on his fearfilled homeward treks after evenings of
storytelling. The distinction of having a special ghost—one with a
definite identity—to haunt a specific locality is a matter of honor and
prestige, highly respected as a folkloric theme. Here, the putative
Hessian, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, fills the role with
grace, wit, and style. The character of the comely wench, over whose
favors men wrangle, dispute, and plot, is as common a catalyst in
folklore as in life; hence, Katrina Van Tassel functions as fulcrum and
folk theme in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
These and other themes from folklore and legend appear in "The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow" as well as other tales by Washington Irving, for
legendary material was one of Irving's two major interests, the other
being history, a closely related field. As far as Irving's work is
concerned, the two interests seem to feed upon each other to the mutual
benefit of both: his historical writings are enlivened by his cultural
perceptions, and his stories are made more vivid by his knowledge of
history. One of the first professional writers in America, and among the
first to exercise a significant influence in Great Britain and the
Continent, Irving has been called the father of American literature.
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"RIP VAN WINKLE"
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Тyре of work: Tale
Author: Washington Irving (1783-1859)
Type of plot: Regional romance
Time of plot: Eighteenth century
Locale: New York State
First published: 1819-1820
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Even though "Rip Van Winkle" was originally based on a Germanic
folk tale, it has become, since its first appearance in Irving's Sketch
Book, a basic American myth. The story of Rip's escape from his shrewish
wife and his domestic responsibilities into the mountains with his dog
and gun, and his subsequent return has been a popular favorite since its
publication.
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Principal Characters
Rip Van Winkle, who was born along the Hudson River, of an old Dutch
family. To get away from his wife he goes into the Kaatskill mountains,
where drink puts him to sleep for twenty years.
Dame Van Winkle, Rip's shrewish wife who is disgusted by Rip's lack of
energy and thrift. She dies of a stroke in the midst of a fit of anger
at a Yankee peddler.
Wolf, Rip's dog, chased with his master from the house by Dame Van
Winkle.
Judith Van Winkle, Rip's daughter, who fails to recognize him after
twenty years. Rip is relieved when she reports that Dame Van Winkle is
dead.
Hendrick Hudson, the leader of the Little Men who return once every
twenty years to bowl and drink. They provide Rip with liquor.
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The Story
Along the reaches of the Hudson, not far from the Kaatskill mountains,
there was a small, antique Dutch town. The mountains overshadowed the
town, and there were times when the good Dutch burghers could see a hood
of clouds hanging over the crests of the hills.
In that small town lived a man named Rip Van Winkle. He was beloved by
all his neighbors, by the children and the dogs, but at home his life
was made miserable by his shrewish wife. Though he was willing to help
anyone else at any odd job that might be necessary, it was impossible
for him to keep his own house or farm in repair. He was descended from a
good old Dutch family, but he had none of the fine Dutch traits of
thrift or energy.
He spent a great deal of his time at the village inn, under the sign of
King George III, until his wife chased him from there. Then he took his
gun and his dog Wolf and headed for the hills. Wolf was as happy as Rip
to get away from home. When Dame Van Winkle berated the two of them, Rip
raised his eyes silently to heaven, but Wolf tucked his tail between his
legs and slunk out of the house.
One fine day in autumn, Rip and Wolf walked high into the Kaatskills
after squirrels. As evening came on, he and his dog sat down to rest
awhile before starting home. When Rip started down the mountainside, he
heard his name called.
A short, square little man with a grizzled beard had called Rip to help
carry a keg of liquor. The little man was dressed in antique Dutch
clothes. Although he accepted Rip's help in carrying the keg, he carried
on no conversation. As they ascended the mountain, Rip heard noises that
sounded like claps of thunder. When they reached a sort of amphitheater
near the top, Rip saw a band of little men, dressed and bearded like his
companion, playing ninepins. One stout old gentleman, who seemed to be
the leader, wore a laced doublet and a high-crowned hat with a feather.
The little men were no more companionable than the first one had been,
and Rip felt somewhat depressed. Because they seemed to enjoy the liquor
from the keg, Rip tasted it a few times while they were absorbed in
their game. Then he fell into a deep sleep.
On waking, he looked in vain for the stout old gentleman and his
companions. When he reached for his gun, he found only a rusty
flintlock. His dog did not answer his call. He tried to find the
amphitheater where the little men had played, but the way was blocked by
a rushing stream.
The people he saw as he walked into town were all strangers to him.
Since most of them, upon looking at him, stroked their chins, Rip
unconsciously stroked his and found that his beard had grown a foot
long.
The town itself looked different. At first, Rip thought the liquor from
the keg had addled his head, for he had a hard time finding his own
house. When he did locate it at last, he found it in a state of decay.
Even the sign over the inn had been changed to one carrying the name of
General Washington. The men gathered under the sign talked gibberish to
him, and they accused him of trying to stir up trouble by coming armed
to an election. When they let him ask for his old cronies, he named men
who the loungers told him had moved away, or else they had been dead
these twenty years.
Finally, an eager young woman pushed through the crowd to look at Rip.
Her voice started a train of thought, and he asked who she was and who
her father had been. When she claimed to be Rip Van Winkle's daughter
Judith, he asked one more question about her mother. Judith told him
that her mother had died after breaking a blood vessel in a fit of anger
at a Yankee peddler. Rip breathed more freely.
Although another old woman claimed that she recognized him, the men at
the inn only winked at his story until an old man, a descendant of the
village historian, vouched for Rip's tale. He assured the men that he
knew for a fact from his historian ancestor that Hendrick Hudson with
his crew came to the mountains every twenty years to visit the scene of
their exploits, and that the old historian had seen the crew in antique
Dutch garb playing at ninepins just as Rip had related.
Rip spent the rest of his life happily telling his story at the inn
until everyone knew it by heart. Even now when the inhabitants of the
village hear thunder in the Kaatskills, they say the Hendrick Hudson and
his crew are playing ninepins, and many a henpecked husband has wished
in vain for a draught of Rip Van Winkle's quieting brew.
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Critical Evaluation
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, made Washington Irving the
first American author to enjoy international fame. "Rip Van Winkle" is
perhaps the best example in the collection of Irving's artistic movement
away from the neoclassic cosmic interests of his earlier satirical
writing toward a localized and sentimental Romanticism. In a sense,
Irving's romanticism is more superficial than that of the great American
Romantics such as Emerson and Рое. Irving is concerned more with
capturing moods and emotions than with probing intro-spectively into
metaphysical states. Even his later writing follows his early stylistic
models, Addison and Goldsmith. Although he did not develop a style
peculiarly his own, Irving nonetheless wrote with undeniable clarity,
grace, and charm—making the "regional romance" a noteworthy and
enjoyable American genre.
The author's introductory note calls Rip's adventure "A Posthumous
Writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker," the imaginary historian Irving
invented earlier for his A History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker
(1809). The narrator's droll references to his own "scrupulous accuracy"
and "precise truth," as well as the "confirmation" provided by Peter
Vandervonk (a figure from the past parallel to the Dutchmen Rip meets in
the mountains), add subtlety to the humorous claim of veracity.
Nevertheless, the story clearly combines the literature of folk-fable
with that of antifeminism. Rip is depicted, almost heroically, as a kind
of Socrates: "a simple good-natured man," a great rationalizer, always
willing to help others (consequently henpecked, because unwilling to do
his own work), ever found at the inn—"a kind of perpetual club of the
sages." From this ironic realism basis the story leaps into myth, with
the appearance of the strange little man carrying the keg, whose
sullenness somehow enhances his mysterious character and the story's
naive credibility. When Rip awakens to present reality, himself now a
fabulous figure from the past, he finds things much the same as before.
Irving's satirical point is that political and social revolutions are
superficial. Change is a myth. Like many of Irving's tales, "Rip Van
Winkle" is said to be based on a common European legend. In adapting
this source, however, Irving did not simply change the setting; he gave
the story a distinctively American flavor. Americans are frequently
characterized as optimistic, pragmatic, future-oriented; and yet as this
story reveals, there is another strain in the national character. Here,
even at the very beginning of American literature, there is a powerful
undercurrent of nostalgia that plays against the story's ironic tone.
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Illustrations by Arthur Rackham
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