Washington Irving
Young Washington Irving
General Biography
The career of Washington Irving, b. New York City, Apr. 3, 1783, d. Nov. 28, 1859, America's first successful professional man of letters, coincided with the early development of a distinctive national literature. Although he was influenced by such English models as Joseph Addison, Oliver Goldsmith, and Sir Walter Scott, Irving won an international reputation as a distinctively American prose stylist and helped promote the literary efforts of his compatriots both at home and in Europe. In light of his cosmopolitan achievements, William Makepeace Thackeray described him as "the first ambassador sent by "the new world of letters to the old" In an attempt to restore his failing health and also to further his education, Irving traveled in Europe from 1804 to 1806. Upon his return to New York he resumed his study of law, but his interest in it waned as he devoted himself increasingly to literature. His youthful comic talents were best expressed in the sprightly Salmagundi Papers (1807-08) and in A History of New York (1809), the latter purporting to be the work of Diedrich Knickerbocker
In 1815, Irving sailed again for Europe and began a 17-year sojourn, during which he gained international prominence. The Sketch-Book (1819-20), which he signed with the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, was an immediate popular and critical success. Its calculatedly miscellaneous contents included essays and sketches about the countryside and folk customs of England, two essays about the American Indian, and two American tales--"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "RIP VAN WINKLE." The Sketch-Book revealed glimpses of Irving's inclination to satire, but its humor was predominantly playful and gentle, and its tone reflective and sentimental. Like its successors, Bracebridge Hall (1822) and Tales of a Traveller (1824), it was light literature, written mainly for amusement.
Seeking to broaden his reputation, Irving took up residence (1826) in Spain, where he wrote his History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828) and A Chronicle of Granada (1829). This three-year interlude in Spain also bore fruit in The Alhambra (1832), an evocative collection of legends and sketches.
Upon his return (1832) to the United States, Irving was tumultuously welcomed by his compatriots, and for the rest of his career he enjoyed their virtually unanimous esteem. He contributed a series of distinctly indigenous works to the national literature: A Tour on the Prairies (1835), an autobiographical account; Astoria (1836), a narrative about John Jacob Astor's ill-fated commercial enterprise on the northwest Pacific Coast; and The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A. (1837).
Irving never married, but in 1834 he purchased the nucleus of Sunnyside, a small estate on the Hudson River, and made it a place of resort for members of his extensive family. Here he began work on The Life of George Washington, which he regarded as the crowning achievement of his literary career. This work was interrupted when he was appointed (1842) U.S. minister to Spain, an office in which he served with distinction for four years. Upon his return to Sunnyside, Irving devoted himself primarily to work on Washington, which was published in five volumes between 1855 and 1859. Sustained effort on this task seriously undermined Irving's health, and he died only a few months after its completion.
Source: Grolier's Encyclopedia, 1993 ed. CD-ROM. Groliers, 1993. (Used with permission)
Link to Archive.org for complete text, Adobe PDF format, of Washington Irving's work.
The career of Washington Irving, b. New York City, Apr. 3, 1783, d. Nov. 28, 1859, America's first successful professional man of letters, coincided with the early development of a distinctive national literature. Although he was influenced by such English models as Joseph Addison, Oliver Goldsmith, and Sir Walter Scott, Irving won an international reputation as a distinctively American prose stylist and helped promote the literary efforts of his compatriots both at home and in Europe. In light of his cosmopolitan achievements, William Makepeace Thackeray described him as "the first ambassador sent by "the new world of letters to the old" In an attempt to restore his failing health and also to further his education, Irving traveled in Europe from 1804 to 1806. Upon his return to New York he resumed his study of law, but his interest in it waned as he devoted himself increasingly to literature. His youthful comic talents were best expressed in the sprightly Salmagundi Papers (1807-08) and in A History of New York (1809), the latter purporting to be the work of Diedrich Knickerbocker
In 1815, Irving sailed again for Europe and began a 17-year sojourn, during which he gained international prominence. The Sketch-Book (1819-20), which he signed with the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, was an immediate popular and critical success. Its calculatedly miscellaneous contents included essays and sketches about the countryside and folk customs of England, two essays about the American Indian, and two American tales--"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "RIP VAN WINKLE." The Sketch-Book revealed glimpses of Irving's inclination to satire, but its humor was predominantly playful and gentle, and its tone reflective and sentimental. Like its successors, Bracebridge Hall (1822) and Tales of a Traveller (1824), it was light literature, written mainly for amusement.
Seeking to broaden his reputation, Irving took up residence (1826) in Spain, where he wrote his History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828) and A Chronicle of Granada (1829). This three-year interlude in Spain also bore fruit in The Alhambra (1832), an evocative collection of legends and sketches.
Upon his return (1832) to the United States, Irving was tumultuously welcomed by his compatriots, and for the rest of his career he enjoyed their virtually unanimous esteem. He contributed a series of distinctly indigenous works to the national literature: A Tour on the Prairies (1835), an autobiographical account; Astoria (1836), a narrative about John Jacob Astor's ill-fated commercial enterprise on the northwest Pacific Coast; and The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A. (1837).
Irving never married, but in 1834 he purchased the nucleus of Sunnyside, a small estate on the Hudson River, and made it a place of resort for members of his extensive family. Here he began work on The Life of George Washington, which he regarded as the crowning achievement of his literary career. This work was interrupted when he was appointed (1842) U.S. minister to Spain, an office in which he served with distinction for four years. Upon his return to Sunnyside, Irving devoted himself primarily to work on Washington, which was published in five volumes between 1855 and 1859. Sustained effort on this task seriously undermined Irving's health, and he died only a few months after its completion.
Source: Grolier's Encyclopedia, 1993 ed. CD-ROM. Groliers, 1993. (Used with permission)
Link to Archive.org for complete text, Adobe PDF format, of Washington Irving's work.