Irvings American Progeny Essay -- essays papers

Irvings American ProgenyWashington Irving had the unique opportunity of back up a in the altogether nation forge its own identity. America, fresh come on of the revolution, looked for an author to take charge and create something that seemed to be missing from the impertinently born nation. He took this responsibility seriously and made a mythology that founded an American literary tradition. He took bits and pieces from the Old World and incorporated them into the New in such a manner that what he wrote appeared original, and yet tied into a tradition that was centuries old. He did this in a manner that astonished legion(predicate) Europeans who believed an American could never produce literature with such a unbendable English foundation. Although Irving relied heavily on European influence, he drew searching lines amid the American and the European and his plot lines illustrate the struggle between the United States and England. This amazing goal in the nations score prov ided an excellent backdrop for Irvings work. The Legend of sleepy Hollow (is)a celebration of the bounty of the United States, (Bowden, 72). This bounty fueled the fire of affectionate change that was burning in the U.S. at the time. If we ever had a arrest during which social progress was not retarded then it was exactly the period Rip slept through. In that generation we were transformed from a group of mostly bound and often provincial colonies into a cocky and independent land with a new kind of government andas the story itself makes adopt enougha whole new and new-fashioned spirit, (Young, 466). Irving took full advantage of the new scene around him, and immortalized himself by demonstrating the importance of what he saw. When I scratch wrote the Legend of Rip Van Winkle,... ...59) 137-149. Rpt. in A Century of commentary on the works on Washington Irving. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 330-342.Roth, Martin, frivolity and America. Po rt Washington Kennidat, 1976.Snell, George, Washington Irving A Revelation. The Shapers of American Fiction 1798-1947, (1947). 105-16. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 2. Detroit Gale, 1982. 382-383.Springer, Haskell. Introduction to Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (1974). Rpt. in A Century of Commentary on the works on Washington Irving. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 480-486.Wagenknecht, Edward, Washington Irving Moderation Displayed. New York Oxford UP, 1962.Young, Philip, travel From Time Rip Van Winkle. Kenyon Review, Vol. XXII (1960) 547-73. 457-479.