An Author and his Story
Washington Irving was one of the first Americans to make a living with only his pen. The
stories he wrote created important characters such as the headless horsemen and Rip Van
Winkle. His first major achievement to fame was his story, "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey
Crayon". Throughout his life, he has written many successful story but one that stands out would
be his short story, "The Devil and Tom Walker". Washington Irving's life experiences allow the
reader to relate to his story "The Devil and Tom Walker". Although it is one on Washington
Irving's most famous pieces of work and many readers enjoy reading it, critics disagree and has
given it poor reviews yet some believed it was Irving's best work.
Before Washington Irving become successful, he faced many hardships throughout his
life which helped him become the brilliant writing he was. Irving was born on April 3, 1783 in
New York City and was the youngest child. His parents named him after the first president,
George Washington. Even though Irving only received standard education, he enjoyed writing,
reading, and traveling. In 1815, he sailed to England in the attempt to save his family's export
business. Even with Irving's help, the business failed and Irving decided to spend his time as a
full time writer. As a full time writer, he was able to reach his full potential and wrote "The
Sketch Book"; a 32 story collection containing two of Irving's most popular tales, "Rip Van
Winkle" and "A Legend of Sleepy Hollow". He also wrote "Tales of a Traveller" which included
one of his most famous stories, "The Devil and Tom Walker". On November
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28, 1859 , only a few months after writing "George...