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The Age of Romanticism was a short yet meaningful period in American literature. American literature developed in dramatic ways during this age. Moving away from their European roots American writers started composing more and more articles unique to American culture. For the next two decades, American writers such as Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, produced scores of essays, nonfiction narratives, poems, short stories, and novels that formed a distinctive American literature.
WASHINGTON IRVING
(1783-1859)
"I am always at a loss to know how much to believe of my own stories."
Washington Irving was born in New York City, the youngest of 11 children. His father, William Irving, was a wealthy merchant, born in the Orkney Islands. Sarah, his mother, was the granddaughter of an English clergyman. According to a story, George Washington met Irving in 1789 in a shop, and gave his blessing on his namesake. Irving never forgot the moment. In the years to come he would write one of his greatest works, The Life of George Washington (1855-59).
Early in his life Irving developed a passion for books. He read Robinson Crusoe, Sinbad the Sailor. From 1804 to 1806 he travelled widely Europe. After return to the United States, Irving was admitted to New York bar in 1806. He was a partner with his brothers in the family hardware business, New York and Liverpool, England, and representative of the business in England until it collapsed in 1818. During the war of 1812 Irving served as a military aide to New York Governor Tompkins in the U.S. Army.
Irving's career as a writer started in journals and newspapers. He contributed to Morning Chronicle (1802-03), which was edited by his brother Peter, and published Salmagundi (1807-08), writing in collaboration with his brother William and James Kirke Paulding. From 1812 to 1814 he was an editor of Analetic magazine in Philadelphia and New York.
Irving's success in social life and literature was shadowed by a personal tragedy. He was engaged to be married to Matilda Hoffman, who died at the age of seventeen, in 1809. Later he wrote in a private letter: "For years I could not talk on the subject of this hopeless regret; I could not even mention her name; but her image was continually before me, and I dreamt of her incessantly."
Irving's comic history of the Dutch regime in New York, A History of New York (1809), was published under the name of the imaginary 'Dietrich Knickerbocker', who was supposed to be an eccentric Dutch-American scholar. It was one of the earliest fantasies of history. The name Knickerbocker was later used to identify the first American school of writers, the Knickerbocker Group, of which Irving was a leading figure. The book became part of New York folklore, and eventually the word Knickerbocker was also used to describe any New Yorker who could trace one's family to the original Dutch settlers. Irving's success continued with “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon”, Gent. (1819-20), a collection of stories, which allowed him to become a full-time writer. The stories were heavily influenced by the German folktales. In Bracebridge Hall (1822), the sequel of The Sketch Book, Irving invites the reader to ramble gently with him at the Hall, stating that "I am not writing a novel, and have nothing of intricate plot, or marvelous adventure, to promise the reader."
After the death of his mother, Irving decided to stay in Europe, where he remained for seventeen years, from 1815 to 1832. He lived in Dresden (1822-23), London (1824) and Paris (1825). During his stay in Spain, he wrote "The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus"(1828), “Conquest of Granada”(1829), and “The Companions of Columbus” (1831), all based on careful historical research. In 1829 he moved to London and published “Alhambra” (1832), concerning the history and the legends of Moorish Spain. Among his literary friends were Mary Shelley and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
In 1832 Irving returned to New York to an enthusiastic welcome as the first American author to have achieved international fame. He toured the southern and western United States and wrote “The Cayon Miscellany” (1835) and “A Tour on the Prairies” (1835)
Irving spent the last years of his life in Tarrytown. In spite of his success, money remained a constant worry and his family members lost much of his earnings in poor investments. From 1848 to 1859 he was President of Astor Library, later New York Public Library. Irving's later publications include “Mahomet and His Successors” (1850), a carefull presentation of the life, beliefs, and character of Mohammed, “Wolfert's Roost” (1855), and his five-volume “The Life of George Washington”. Irving died in Tarrytown on November 28, 1859.
Irving's best-known story, 'Rip Van Winkle,' was included in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. It was based on a German folktale, set in the Dutch culture of Pre-Revolutionary War in New York State. Rip Van Winkle is a farmer who wanders into the Catskill Mountains. He meets there a group of dwarfs playing ninepipes. Rip helps a dwarf and is rewarded with a draught of liquor. He falls into an enchanted sleep. When he awakens, 20 years later, the world has changed. He is an old man with a long, white beard. Rip goes into town and finds everything changed. His wife is dead, his children are grown. The old man entertains the people with tales of the old days and his encounter with the dwarfs. The theme of Irving's story derives from Diogenes Laertius, Epimenides, in which Epimenides is sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep; he lays down in a cave and sleeps fifty-seven years. When awake, he goes on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short snap.
Irving also used other German folktales in his short stories, among them “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.The headless horseman was often seen here. An old man who did not believe in ghosts told of meeting the headless horseman coming from his trip into the Hollow. The horseman made him climb up behind. They rode over bushes, hills, and swamps. When they reached the bridge, the horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton. He threw the old man into the brook and sprang away over the treetops with a clap of thunder."
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