Part 1. Washington Irving (1783--1859) Part 2. James Fennimore Cooper(1789-1851)

Part 2.Washington Irving (1783--1859): a classic writer The first successful man of letters in America

the first belletrist the first literary humorist the first modern short stories the first to write history and biography as entertainment the nonfiction prose as a literary genre the first American writer to gain international fame The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism.

life story Born into a wealthy merchant family in New York Read widely in English literature at home Studied law but had a greater interest in writing than in law Published his first book in 1809 Bought Sunnyside at fifty and spent the rest of his life there

Hudson River

Hudson River

Hudson River

Irving’s Home Sunnyside Hudson River and New York city

Major works A History of New York from the Beginning of the world to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrick Knickerbocker (1809) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gent (1819-1820) “Rip Van Winkle”, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus(1828) A Chronicle of the Conquest of the Granada(1829) The Alhambra(1832) Life of George Washington (1855-1859)

Major works: “Knickerbocker” works Rip Van Winkle The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Writing style beautiful, refined fluent, dignified imaginative humorous lucid

Setting: Rip Van Winkle time—5 or 6 years before the American Revolution and ends twenty years later place—a village in eastern New York, near the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains

Characters: Rip Van Winkle Dame Van Winkle Wolf Other minor characters

Plot: Theme: change with continuity and preservation of tradition the magic of the imagination Style: personification humorous in characterization beautiful in portraying the sceneries

Study Questions for Rip Van Winkle Even though he was a failure as a farmer, Rip Van Winkle was a success as a human being. What were the most praiseworthy qualities that he possessed? (para 5,6,7) In what way does Irving's portrayal of Dame Van Winkle help to illumine Rip's character?(5-16) If you fell asleep today and awakened 20 years from now, what questions would you ask the first person you saw? 

4. Please read paragraph 33 and 34 4. Please read paragraph 33 and 34. Pay attention to the village inn and the folks who gathered there. Find out the differences between the past and the present. Can you see rip’s political attitude indicated by these two paragraphs?

5. When Rip returns to his village, he learns that Dame Van Winkle has died and that his fellow Americans liberated themselves from English rule in a revolutionary war. What do the war and the death of Rip's wife have in common in terms of how Rip will live the rest of his life?

Questions for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow According to the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: What is the legend in the story? Name the main characters in the story. Give the physical descriptions of the main characters. Describe the three elements in the story—love, heroism and ghosts.

Part 3. James Fennimore Cooper(1789-1851)

Life story born in a rich family entered Yale at 13 expelled at 16 for careless attitude and practical jokes went to sea for 5 years a bet with his wife led him to literary career traveled to Europe, criticized by American press

Major works The Spy(1821) The “Leatherstocking Tales:” The Pioneer (1823) 4 The Last of the Mohicans (1826) 2 The Prairie (1827) 5 The Pathfinder (1840) 3 The Deerslayer (1841) 1

Natty Bumppo: Hawk-Eye, Pathfinder, Deerslayer A man with a sense of good and evil and right and wrong The ideal American embodiment of human virtues like innocence, simplicity, honesty and generosity Self-sufficient, mobile, free

Exercises 1. In the early 19th century, Washington Irving wrote ________ which became the first work by an American writer to win financial success on both sides of the Atlantic. The Sketch Book

A. Rip Van Winkle B. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 2. Washington Irving was best known for his famous short stories such as ____ and _____. A. Rip Van Winkle B. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow C. Life of Goldsmith D. Life of Washington 3. The central figure in the Leatherstocking Tales is _________, who goes by the various names of Leatherstocking, Deerslayer, Pathfinder and Hawkeye. (A, B) Natty Bumppo