Irvings American Progeny Essay -- essays papers

Irvings American Progeny majuscule Irving had the unique opportunity of aid a new nation forge its own identity. America, fresh out of the revolution, looked for an author to take charge and create something that seemed to be missing from the newly born(p) 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 many Europeans who believed an American could never lift literature with such a strong English foundation. Although Irving relied heavily on European influence, he drew distinct lines between the American and the European and his while lines illustrate the struggle between the United States and England. This amazing period in the nations history provided an excellent backdrop for Irvings work. T he Legend of sleepyheaded Hollow (is)a celebration of the bounty of the United States, (Bowden, 72). This bounty fueled the fire of social change that was burning in the U.S. at the time. If we ever had a period during which social progress was not retarded then it was exactly the period rent slept through. In that generation we were transformed from a group of loosely bound and often provincial colonies into a cocky and independent republic with a new kind of government andas the story itself makes clear passablea 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 first wrote the Legend of Rip Van Winkle,... ...59) 137-149. Rpt. in A Century of description on the works on Washington Irving. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 330-342.Roth, Martin, Comedy and America. Port Washington Kennidat, 1976.Snell, George, W ashington 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, Fallen From Time Rip Van Winkle. Kenyon Review, Vol. XXII (1960) 547-73. 457-479.