Washington Irving
Irving was the first American writer to achieve an international literary reputation. He was a Romantic with a great sense of tradition, looking to the old world (Europe) for models.
A History of New York The book was launched by a charming publicity campaign. First, a newspaper noted the disappearance of a “small, elderly gentleman, dressed in an old black coat and cocked hat, by the name of “Knickerbocker,” There were “some reasons for believing he is not entirely in his right mind.”
Excerpt from A History… Chapter V. In which the Author puts a mighty Question to the rout, by the assistance of the Man in the Moon -- which not only delivers thousands of people from great embarrassment, but likewise concludes this introductory book.
Cont…. And at this moment a gigantic question has started up, which I must take by the beard and utterly subdue, before I can advance another step in my historick undertaking -- but I trust this will be the last adversary I shall have to contend with, and that in the next book, I shall be enabled to conduct my readers in triumph into the body of my work. The question which has thus suddenly arisen, is, what right had the first discoverers of America to land, and take possession of a country, without asking the consent of its inhabitants, or yielding them an adequate compensation for their territory?
Framing Device After further “news” items, the old man’s fictitious landlord announced that he had found in Knickerbocker’s room a “very curious kind of written book” which he intended to dispose of to pay the bill that was owed him, and the book at last appeared, ascribed to Diedrich Knickerbocker. With its publication, Irving became an American celebrity.
The Sketch Book While working on this book, Irving met the famous English writer Sir Walter Scott, who directed Irving’s attention to the wealth of unused literary material in German folktales. There Irving found the source for “Rip Van Winkle.” For this book, Irving adopted the new pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon. The book included “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Irving’s Contributions to the Short Story Form From F.L. Pattee’s essay on Irving in Development of American Short Story (Pattee is considered the first “American Literature Professor”,1888)
1. He made short fiction popular. After the sensational triumph of The Sketch Book, a success that stirred greatly the imagination of the younger seekers for literary recognition, sketches and tales became the literary fashion in America. The various popular magazines that sprang up in the 1830’s and 1840’s were indirectly the fruit of Irving’s success as a sketch writer.
2. He was the first prominent writer to strip the prose tale of its moral and didactic elements and to make it solely for entertainment. “I have preferred addressing myself to the feeling and fancy of the reader more than to his judgment.... My writings, therefore, may appear light and trifling to our country of philosophers and politicians.”
3. He added definite locality, actual American scenery and people. He was a pioneer in that new school which demanded an American literature, an art that would work in native materials in an original manner.
4. He was original. He constantly avoided, as he expressed it, the “commonplace of the day.”
6. His characters are always definite individuals and not types or symbols.
Edgar Allan Poe was powerless in the 1830’s and 1840’s in his attempts to change the technique of Irving’s form. Poe’s careful analysis was either unread by his generation or else unheeded because it was a revolt from Irving.
Irving’s influence Irving introduced to American literature the form that has become its most distinctive literary product, the short story. As schoolboys, Hawthorne and Longfellow were inspired by the success of The Sketch Book. Irving was generous to younger writers all his life, supervising the London publication of William Cullen Bryant’s poems in Twain learned from him that realistic details of rural life in America could be worked memorably into fiction.