Washington Irving

1783-1859

Washington Irving was born in New York City into a wealthy merchant family. He was educated privately for the law. But after his return from his first journey abroad he abandoned his halfhearted study of the law and for almost a decade was variously engaged, in the family business, as staff officer in the War of 1812 (a war between the United States and Great Britain from 1812 to 1815), as a contributor to newspapers and magazines, and also tried himself as a writer. The first highly civilized satire in American literature, "Salmagundi", was written by Irving together with J.K. Paulding and several other young men. That series of essays appeared in print in 1807 and enjoyed a good deal of popularity. Next he threw himself into the completion of his History of New York, told under the name of Knickerbocker. Published in 1809 it gave him a reputation of a humourist.

When Irving sailed again in 1815 for England on business, he was to remain for seventeen years. After the family business failed, he devoted himself to writing, and the first result was "The Sketch Book of Geoffray Crayon, Gent." issued in seven parts between 1819 and 1820. Many of the sketches are impressions of English scenes, but six have an American setting, and of these the two best are "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

After the publication of "The Sketch Book" and "Bracebridge Hall", a continuation of "The Sketch Book" style Irving made friends with Walter Scott, Thomas Moore, and others in the English literary set. He then lived in different European countries, he learned and travelled much, observing characters and habits, and took part in public life. [60]

While serving as an American attache in Spain, Irving produced several works with a Spanish subject or background, for example "The Alhambra", his last volume of tales. After "The Alhambra" he turned to history, biography, and travel. In 1832 Irving went back to America where, apart from four years in Europe (1842-1846), he spent the rest of his life.

Although Irving wrote no fiction after 1832, his contributions to the development of the American short tale were of great importance; he lent it style, skill, and atmosphere, and both Рое and Hawthorne owed much to his beginnings. Irving is generally considered the "father of the American short story " and America's first internationally-acclaimed man of letters.