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05.Washington Irving
a.Washington Irving was the "first American man of letters” and the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame. And he was called the “Father of American Literature.” He was also “the father of American short stories” and regarded as “ the American Goldsmith.”
i.Washington Irving brought to the new nation what its people desire most in a man of letters the respect of the Old World. Although greatly influenced by European literature, Irving gave his works distinctive American flavor.
b.Irving ’s fame mainly rests on his tales about America, particularly the Hudson River region. Irving’s contribution to American literature is unique in more than one way. He did several things that have been regarded as the first in America. He was also the first professional American writer and the first American Romantic writer.
c.Most of Irving's subject matter are borrowed heavily from European sources, which are chiefly Germanic. Irving's relationship with the Old World in terms of his literary imagination can hardly be ignored considering his success both abroad and at home.
d.His first successful work is “A History of New York” . It is a patchwork of references, echoes, and burlesques. He parodies or imitates Homer, Fielding, Swift and many other favorites of his. He was also absorbed in German Literature and got ideas from German legends for two of his famous stories “ Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
e.Washinaton Irving’s story as a genre in American literature probably began with his “The Sketch Book” , then Irving won a measure of international fame on both sides of the Atlantic. This book also marked the beginning of American Romanticism. And later in the hands of Hawthorne and Melville the short story attained a perfection.
i.The Sketch Book” contains familiar essays on the English life and Americanized versions of European folk tales like “ Rip Van Winkle and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” . These two stories are easily trigger off American imagination with their focus on American subjects landscapes, and, in Irving case, the legend of Hudson River region of the fresh land.
f.Irving’s style can only be described as beautiful though imitative. He was a highly skillful writer. The gentility, urbanity, and pleasantness of the man all seem to have adequate expression in his style. Washington Irving has always been regarded as a writer who perfected the best classic style that American Literature ever produced.
i.First, Irving avoids moralizing as much as possible; he writes to amuse and entertain. So we often find ourselves lost in a world that is permeated with a dreaming quality.
ii.His characters are vivid and true so that they tend to linger in the mind of the reader. We get a strong sense impression as we read him alone, since the language he used best reveals what a Romantic writer can do with words. We hear rather than read, for there is musicality in almost every line of his prose.
iii.The humor has built itself into the very texture of his writings. He is good at enveloping his stories in an atmosphere, the richness of which is often more than compensation for the slimness of plot.
iv.The Gothic elements and the supernatural atmosphere are manipulated in such a way that we could become so engaged and involved in what is happening in a seemingly exotic place. Yet Irving never forgets to associate a certain place with the inward movement of a person and to charge his sentences with emotion so as to create a true and vivid character.
v.He is worth the honor of being “the American Goldsmith” for his literary craftsmanship.
