WASHINGTON%20IRVING%20(1783-1859)

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WASHINGTON IRVING(1783-1859)
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• He was born (April 3, 1783) in the city
  of York, in the family of a prosperous merchant
  who came to America from Scotland. He was brought
  in an easy carefree atmosphere.

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• Washington, the youngest of eleven
  children, being sickly in childhood, was not sent
  to school. His English-born mother had him
  educated at home.

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He was well-read in Chaucer Spencer, the
18th century English literature
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He was wandering around the country-side he
made himself familiar with places famous in
history legends.
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When he grew older, he longed to travel. Tales of
voyages became his passion.
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At 15 he tried his hands at writing but his
father wanted him to be a lawyer. At 17 he was
sent to study law. But Irving avoided a college
education, but studied law himself, mostly in the
office of Mr. Hoffman, with whose daughter he
soon fell in love.
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• In 1802 Irving produced a number of
  satirical essays under the signature of Jonathan
  Oldstyle, Gent. for the Morning Chronicle, made
  several trips up the Hudson, another into Canada
  for his health.

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In 1804, a journey to Europe undertaken for the
sake of his health, stimulated his interesting
foreign culture He visited many European
countries.
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In England he loved to wander among ruined
castles old abbeys.
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FRANCE
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In Paris he studied science at the university.
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SWEDEN HOLLAND
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ITALY
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• After 2 years of travelling he returned
  to the USA started a humorous periodical. The
  paper was popular for its good humour.

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He wrote A History of New York by Diedrich
Knickerbocker, a satire of the Dutch regime in
New York. The publication of this book was the
first step on the road to Romanticism. Later
Knickerbocker became a by-name for restaurants,
omnibuses, manufactured goods newspapers.
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This name was adopted for the first American
school of writers, the Knickerbocker Group,
with Irving as a leader.
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The 1st period of writing was humorous
satirical.

• A History of New York by Diedrich
  Knickerbocker.

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The grief over a sudden death of Matilda Hoffman
in April 1809 traumatized him.
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In 1815, after his mothers death, Irving went to
Liverpool to attend to the interests of his
brothers hardware firm.
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• It was during the European period of his
  life that Irving wrote books which brought him
  international acclaim. They were romances
  essays.

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The 2nd period. The European period of
his life includes essays romances

• Tales of a traveller
• The Devil Tom Walker
• Rip Van Winkle

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With the help of Walter Scott he published the
first collection of his writings

• The Sketch Book in 1819.
• Bracebridge Hall in 1822.
• Tales of a traveller in 1824.
• Rip Van Winkle ends this collection it
• is considered to be the first American short
  story .

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RIP VAN WINKLE

• The title character goes to sleep after a
  game of bowling much drinking in the mountains
  with a band of dwarves. He awakes 20 years later,
  an old man.

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• Back home, Rip finds that the world
  he knew has completely changed his wife is dead,
  his daughter is married, the American
  Revolution has taken place.

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The Statue of Rip Van Winkle
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The Legend of a Sleepy Hollow

• Its central character, Ichabod Crane, is a
  vain cowardly teacher the rival in love of
  Brom Bones. Bones terrorizes Crane by disguising
  himself as a legendary headless horseman.

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The Devil Tom Walker

• Its a story
  from the book Tales of a traveller. Its based
  on an old German legend about a man who has sold
  his soul to the devil. Other writers had used it
  in their works, among them the great German poet
  writer Goethe, who used this legend for his
  Faust.

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In 1826, he accepted an invitation to join the
American diplomatic mission in Spain.
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Irvings other works of his European period were
written in Spain. He wrote Columbus, the
conquest of Canada.

• These works were notable achievements as
  popular history written in fine prose.

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THE 3rd PERIOD OF WRITING
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After 17 years abroad, Irving returned to
America with a desire to portray his country.
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In A Tour of the Prairies he shows sympathy for
the Indians.
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Irving made his home at Sunnyside, a place in
his beloved valley of the Hudson River, in his
declining years wrote a biography of Oliver
Goldsmith Life of George Washington.
,
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• A Tour of the Prairies
• A Biography of Oliver Goldsmith
• The Life of George Washington

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He died in 1859.
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He introduced Romanticism as a literary trend in
America pointing out the way for Cooper later
Longfellow.
F.Cooper
H.Longfellow
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Both home abroad Washington Irving is
considered the truly American whose stories
entered school university curricula during his
lifetime.
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• Irving entered American literature
  mostly for his splendid short plots. The imagined
  presence of an audience outlines the spirit
  imagery of the story.

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He was famous for his quotations.

• A sharp tongue is the only edged tool
  that grows keener with constant use.
• Little minds are tamed subdued by
  misfortunate but great minds rise above it.

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W. Thackeray called Irving the first literary
envoy from the New World into the Old Europe.
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His best known first American short stories
The legend of a Sleeping Hollow Rap Van
Winkle are still among the favourite classics.