We even owe our holiday celebrations to Irving, since it was he, along with Charles Dickens, who helped to make Christmas into the secular holiday of gift-giving and merry-making that it is today. Irving played a hand in the creation of Santa Claus, too, with a story about St. Nicholas in his first book. With his love of ghost stories, Irving is also one of the architects of Halloween—and thousands still make the pilgrimage to visit his tombstone in that ghoulish time of the year.
I cannot even escape his influence in Spain, since it was Irving who helped to spread the exotic, enchanted image of Andalusia, and who thus helped make Spain a tourist destination; and it was partly thanks to his book of stories about the Alhambra that people began taking an interest in restoring that old ruin. Washington Irving was named after George Washington, and was born just a few weeks before the Revolutionary War was officially concluded.
He was a new man for a new land. Whether it happened or not, the story seems symbolic of the role that Irving would play in American literature—exactly analogous to George Washington in politics—as a pioneering leader. For it was Washington Irving who was the first American writer to be respected by his English peers. He showed that these unruly savages overseas could aspire to eloquence too. The book, often merely called The Sketchbook , is a sort of parody of the sketchbooks that other wealthy American travelers made on their visits to Europe.
It is framed as a travel book, and contains many vignettes about places Irving visited. But Irving does not stick to this theme very diligently. The book also contains some short pieces about Native Americans; and the two most famous stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," are both set in New York, and purport to be found among the old papers of Diedrich Knickerbocker. Although the collection is miscellaneous, Irving was not a writer of great breadth, and his distinctive style is consistent throughout.
Thematically, Irving was a purebred Romantic. He has a taste for quaint customs, forgotten ruins, exotic places, and old yarns—in short, everything antique, out-of-the-way, and foreign, everything that allows his imagination to run wild with conjecture. These preoccupations lead him to investigate old English Christmas customs in the country, and to rail against their disappearance.
It also leads him to treat the Native Americans as noble savages, the pure emblems of a disappearing culture, as well as to focus his eye on the old Dutch lore lingering about his native New York. In truth there is not much substance to his writing. The closest he ever gets to philosophy is the Romantic, Ozymandian sentiment that all things yield to time. Rather, Irving is a stylist.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
His prose is fluent and easygoing—indeed, remarkably easy to read considering its age—so effortless that the prose practically reads itself. The subject-matter is usually a description of some kind—of what someone is wearing, of a farm or a tavern, of a funeral or a wedding—and he steers clear of all argument and dialogue, maintaining the fluid rhythm of his pen as it flies forward. But if Irving nowadays strikes one as lightweight and Romantic to the point of silliness, one should remember that he was a pioneer and an innovator—the first American man of letters, and one of the champions of Romanticism when that movement had hardly reached this country.
And if he seems more style than substance, one should also remember that Irving wrote to amuse, not to instruct; and it is by that goal that he should be measured. Even now, Irving is a champion amuser; and even if he has some unfashionable tastes, he it still fresh and good-natured after all these years: If, however, I can by any lucky chance, in these days of evil, rub out one wrinkle from the brow of care or beguile the heavy heart of one moment of sorrow; if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my reader more in good-humor with his fellow-beings and himself—surely, surely, I shall not then have written entirely in vain.
Surely, surely, he has not. As luck would have it, I was about to knock on the door just as the rector, Susan, was on her way out of the building. When I asked about Irving's pew, she very kindly gave me a quick tour. The old pew sits in a corner now, set aside to preserve it. View all 11 comments.
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When I was about 14 years old I went to the first slumber party of my life at a school friends'. It was Halloween and the large living room was greatly decorated which was gloriously exotic to me since Halloween, back then, was hardly known in Germany. I only remember one movie from that night; it was Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp. I remember lying on the carpet in front of the couch no idea why we didn't sit or lie on the couch but whatever , covered by blankets and with lots of pillows aro When I was about 14 years old I went to the first slumber party of my life at a school friends'.
I remember lying on the carpet in front of the couch no idea why we didn't sit or lie on the couch but whatever , covered by blankets and with lots of pillows around us. I remember using those pillows frequently so as not to see all of the movie because I thought it creepy as fuck. D Recently, I've seen the movie again and it was so NOT scary in any way and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why past me was so scared. However, while it wasn't all that good and not scary at all, the movie had a pretty good atmosphere when portraying Sleepy Hollow, the woods around it and the fog Therefore, it was only a matter of time before I finally read the book too.
The story is a classic ghost story taking place in America in D As with many classic horror stories, it's not "shocking horror" like we know it from modern movies. Instead, it relies on conveying some sense of being remote and shut off from the world, invoking the fog to wrap the reader up and transport one into the story, calling up a sense of dread while in this particular case, there is also a fine humour threading through the pages.
What stood out here was that when I compared this almost years old story to other horror classics of the era, this one not only stood its ground but was actually better than some. I really like Irving's writing style. The story is not as elaborate as others, maybe, nor is the writing style as poetic - but in its simplicity it is easily accessible and very entertaining.
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I listened to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but my printed book has other tales by the author in it as well just like in the original publication in One of those stories, for example, was about a man sleeping for twenty years to wake up in a world forever changed. The stories' themes, therefore, are often of cultural change and of the people who are lost in that change.
All of the stories included in this book have the same easily accessible writing style, great descriptions of where they are taking place and a slight layer of humour to keep the mood seemingly light while actually telling a creepy tale. Below, I have included a picture of the inside of my book's cover by the way just so you can see how lovely the Word Cloud Classics editions are: View all 5 comments.
Feb 22, Murat S. A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail, or tapping of a woodpecker, is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquility. Although not a scary read by any means, I enjoyed it. I like Washington's writing style and the way he ended this story. Easy to understand why this is a classic. Oct 31, Robin Bonne rated it really liked it Shelves: Irving was a bit of a windy fellow, but I enjoyed the stories nonetheless.
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories! I didn't love The Devil and Tom Walker, but all the others were spooky fun that I really enjoyed reading the source material of! Don't get me wrong, the language is very lush and evocative, but the constant narration and lack of dialogue was a little hard to get behind. Also, Book Ichabod is such a douchelord.
I much prefer Johnny Depp Ichabod. I'll include more thoughts in my Ominous October wrap up video. View all 3 comments. Jul 10, Robert added it Shelves: I was a victim of marketing with this book: However, I could not miss out on the book holding Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, two stories whose fame outstrips that of their author by a few miles at least in Britain. Everyone should read Irving's stories. The travel essays, on the other hand, were nothing but snooze-worthy.
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They were so bad and so numerous that they overbalanced the stories for me and threw my overall rating of the book to only two stars. Washington Irving was one of the writers who provided a literary voice to America after the American Revolution. Imagine being in his position as a writer - American publishers before copyright laws reprinted English literary works with no royalty payments to the authors, and sold them to the American public very cheaply. An American writer like Irving not only had to combat this, but he also had to make himself a name in the English critical circles in order to get American readers to read an Washington Irving was one of the writers who provided a literary voice to America after the American Revolution.
Irving transcended these obstacles by producing lasting stories - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow , and Rip Van Winkle being the most famous. These stories are Americana and will forevermore be entrenched in our culture and society. I recommend Washington Irving and particularly this collection of his stories in order to experience a formative American author.
Ugh to the ugh, this was wretched. I know that I'm not a fan of classics for the most part I don't enjoy the writing style but I thought this would be a perfect Spookathon and Halloween time read. I was so epically wrong. I wanted it to be so much more than wh Ugh to the ugh, this was wretched. I wanted it to be so much more than what it was. I could have gotten over the writing style if it had been gripping or atmospheric and it wasn't.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Definitely not a fan. He is called "America's first man of letters," one of the first American writers to separate literary fiction from public discourse; playing mentor to the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allen Poe. There are a lot of reasons I admire Irving's writings. One reason is I respect the tenacious writer, Irving, who only wanted to be left alone to write. He wasn't afraid to tell his family this after their firm collapsed, or to tell it to the editors who offered him jobs instea He is called "America's first man of letters," one of the first American writers to separate literary fiction from public discourse; playing mentor to the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allen Poe.
He wasn't afraid to tell his family this after their firm collapsed, or to tell it to the editors who offered him jobs instead of publishing deals: I am unfitted for any periodically recurring task, or any stipulated labor of body or mind. I have no command of my talents, such as they are, and have to watch the varyings of my mind as I would those of a weather cock. Practice and training may bring me more into rule; but at present I am useless for regular service I must, therefore, keep on pretty much as I have begun; writing when I can, not when I would Slow-clap for that kind of wherewithal.
The best part of this collection is the selection. Peter Norberg chose works from three of Irving's collections: And selections from other writings: I remembered reading, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" a while back. Reading it again, I imagined I would be enthralled, since it is a legend and all. The selections from The Sketch-Book and Tales of a Traveller however, were my favorites--character sketches in confessional and story-telling form, with a hint of Gothic.
Irving was very observant when he wrote, so much so that some of his fiction even sounds like personal essays. His ardent descriptions of characters placed me deep into the story , setting, and the characters' innermost thoughts. And while reading his exhaustive landscape observations, I felt as though I were on a journey through Europe and America--no wonder why his work was considered travel literature.
It's the strangest thing. I read most of Irving's stories as a kid, and loved them. I thought his prose was brilliant. As an adult, I'm sitting here reaching the end of a sentence and wondering what the hell the beginning of the sentence said. His words run on and on. I'll try again, on a day when my attention span is feeling a less For that story, I give a full five stars--the prose, imagery, and even the ending which gives you pause--causing you to second guess what might otherwise seem to be the "obvious" conclusion.
As for the other tales, many I remembered reading years before, but there were some that were completely new to me. Sleepy hollow was only 29 pages but I liked it, a little different than I was expecting. The other 32 stories were okay, a few i didn't really care for much, some I rather liked. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Kindle Edition , pages.
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Oct 29, Kristen Coffin rated it liked it Shelves: But I was pleasantly surprised here with Irving. The works here are all short stories or letters, some only a page long, none longer than maybe 30 pages. Irving's narrator concludes, however, by stating that the old Dutch wives continue to promote the belief that Ichabod was "spirited away by supernatural means", and a legend develops around his disappearance and sightings of his melancholy spirit.
Irving wrote The Sketch Book during a tour of Europe, and parts of the tale may also be traced to European origins. Headless horsemen were staples of Northern European storytelling, featuring in German, Irish e. Usually viewed as omens of ill-fortune for those who chose to disregard their apparitions, these specters found their victims in proud, scheming persons and characters with hubris and arrogance. During the height of the American Revolutionary War , Irving writes that the country surrounding Tarry Town "was one of those highly-favored places which abound with chronicle and great men.
The British and American line had run near it during the war; it had, therefore, been the scene of marauding, and infested with refugees, cow-boys, and all kinds of border chivalry. The Americans were fortified north of Peekskill , leaving Westchester County a mile stretch of scorched and desolated no-man's land, vulnerable to outlaws, raiders, and vigilantes. Irving, while he was an aide-de-camp to New York Gov. Tompkins , met an army captain named Ichabod Crane in Sackets Harbor, New York during an inspection tour of fortifications in Irving may have patterned the character in "The Legend" after Jesse Merwin , who taught at the local schoolhouse in Kinderhook , further north along the Hudson River , where Irving spent several months in Washington Irving stayed with her family for a short time, and asked permission to use her name, and loosely base the character on her.
He told her and her family he liked to give his characters the names of people he had met. Both stories are often paired together in books and other representations, and both are included in surveys of early American literature and Romanticism. There is a stop located either side of the road so that North- and South-bound traffic is able to stop. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The short story read by Chip from the LibriVox project.
This article appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, using references to reliable sources , rather than simply listing appearances. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. The New York Times. Retrieved 27 October