|
Washington Irving was a American writer, the first American author to achieve
international fame, who created the fictional characters Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod
Crane. The strict acceptance and standing popularity of Irving's tales involving these
characters proved the effectiveness of the short story in American literary form.
Irving was born in New York City, Irving studied law at private schools. After serving in
several law offices and traveling in Europe for his health from 1804 to 1806, he
eventually was amitted to the bar in 1806. His interest in the law was not deep or long
lasting, however, Irving began to give essays and sketches to New York newspapers as
early as 1802. And a group of these pieces, written from 1802 to 1803 and collected under
the title "Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle", won Irving his earliest literary recognition.
From 1807 to 1808, he was the leading person in a social group that included his brothers
William Irving and Peter Irving and William's brother-in-law James Kirke Paulding,
together they wrote "Salmagundi", or, the "Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot
Langstaff", and others, a series of essays and poems on New York society. Irving's
contributions to this thing established his reputation as an essayist and wit, and this
reputation was enhanced by his next work, "A History of New York" (1809), evidently
written by Irving's famous comic creation, the Dutch-American scholar Diedrich
Knickerbocker. The work is a account of New York State during the period of Dutch
occupation which was from (1609-1664). Irving's mocking tone and funny descriptions of
early American life offset the nationalism in much American writing of the time.
Generally considered the first important contribution to American comic literature, and a
great popular success from the start. The work brought Irving lots of fame and financial
reward.
In 1815 Irving went to Liverpool, England, as a silent partner in his brothers'
commercial firm. When, after a series of losses, the business went into bankruptcy in
1818, Irving returned to writing for a living. In England he became the good friend of
several leading men of letters, including Thomas Campbell, Sir Walter Scott, and Thomas
Moore. Under the alias of Geoffrey Crayon. Irving wrote the essays and short stories
collected in the Sketch Book in (1819-1820), his most popular work, which was widely
acclaimed in both England and the United States for its grace, and humor. The
collection's two most famous stories, both were based on German folktales, are Rip Van
Winkle, which was about a man who falls asleep in the woods for twenty years, and The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, about a schoolteacher's encounter with a legendary headless
horseman. Set in rural New York, the tales are considered classics in American
literature.
From 1826 until 1829 Irving was a member of the staff of the United States legation in
Madrid. During this time and after his return to England, he wrote several historical
works, the most popular of which was the History of Christopher Columbus in (1828).
Another well known work of this period was The "Alhambra" in (1832), a series of sketches
and stories based on Irving's life in 1829 in an ancient Moorish palace in Granada,
Spain. In 1832, after an he was gone for a time that lasted 17 years, he returned to the
United States, where he was welcomed as a person of international importance. Over the
next few years Irving traveled to the American West and wrote several books using the
West as their setting. These works include "A Tour on the Prairies" in (1835), "Astoria"
in (1836), and "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville", in U.S.A. (1837).
In 1842 Irving was appointed U.S. minister to Madrid, he lived there until 1846, going on
with his historical research and writing. He returned to the United States again in 1846
and settled at Sunnyside, his country home near Tarrytown, New York, where he lived until
his death. Irving's popular but elegant style, based on the styles of the British writers
Joseph Addison and Oliver Goldsmith, and the ease of his best work attracted an
international audience. To a extent his romantic attachment to Europe resulted in a
thinness of material. Much of his work deals directly with English life and customs, and
he never attempted to come to terms with the democratic American life of his time. But
also American writers were encouraged by Irving's example to look beyond the United
States for subject matter.
Irving's other works include "Bracebridge Hall" in (1822), "Tales of a Traveller" in
(1824), "A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada" in (1829), "Oliver Goldsmith" in (1849),
and "Life of Washington" (5 volumes, in 1855-1859).
|