Washington Irving, The Sketch Book

Sheldon Goldfarb (University of British Columbia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Jun 1819 - Sep 1820

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Essay Collection
Story Collection

Resources

Significance and Genre

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. contains two of the most famous pieces of American literature: “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, In them Washington Irving created two of the earliest examples of the American short story, and also two stories with lingering appeal to both critics and the general public, inspiring numerous adaptations on stage, in film, and on television, influencing later writers, and giving rise to a great deal of conflicting commentary among literary critics, who do not entirely agree on what Irving accomplished in these two stories, but do agree that they are his two masterpieces.

However, The Sketch Book contains more than thirty …

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2774 words

Citation: Goldfarb, Sheldon. "The Sketch Book". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 May 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7758, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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