Washington Irving was an American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist. Irving has been called the father of the American short story. He is best known for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", in which the schoolmaster Ichabold Crane meets with a headless horseman, and "Rip Van Winkle. Washington Irving's life is in the beginning of national experience. His life is basically the light of the Romanticism. Irving is sensitive to aspects of the Romanticism, but he is not really a Romantic. He was interested in himself as a famous, intellectual, technically adapted writer. He was very productive, that is why he was able to live from his writing as a professional, and a very wealthy one. Washington Irving was an expert stylist and other writers took him as a model. He was accepted in the USA and also in the England.
"Rip Van Winkle" sets the terms for what was to come in the following years, especially for male writers. Most of female writers were dedicated to sentimental novels, but white male writers preferred gothic and historical themes. In a point, both themes were joined together: gothic-sentimental. The historical romance is found setting the masculine pattern: there is a masculine hero. In a very rare occasion we find in the 19th century a female protagonist. The exception to this statement is "The Scarlet Letter"
"Rip Van Winkle" means the beginning of American fiction with a narrative frame, an authorial duplicity and setting the masculine pattern. The pattern for masculine fiction is crystallized or expressed in "Rip Van Winkle" for the first time. It is also a reflection of people who lived in Europe and decided to leave to America, to the unknown land, to the savage side. Male protagonist can...
Rip Van Winkle
Yours is a good essay on Washington Irving's memorable story. I first read "Rip Van Winkle" as a child and didn't at first appreciate the richness of Irving's storytelling. It is not just another children's story and much is to be gained from a second reading when one becomes a little older. Great job!
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