Thursday, September 26, 2004: Washington Irving, 2071-72; “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” 2081-2112.

Reader: Jessica Lightle

Objective 2

To study the movement of “Romanticism,” the narrative genre of “romance,” and the related styles of “gothic” and “the sublime.”

Washington Irving’s work is riddled with two conflicting styles that produce an eerie, shocking effect of introducing the supernatural into realistic scenery.  In “Rip Van Winkle”, Irving describes a town that epitomizes the word normal.  Everybody does their work and socializes, even gossip, laziness, and nagging make an appearance as Irving describes the characters in depth.  This sense of stability is quite shaken when Rip encounters strange beings and awakens to have missed twenty years of time.

 There are obvious turning points in Irving’s stories where “Romanticism” leads into the “gothic” style. 

Example p. 2085   “He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands.

            On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun.”

Washington Irving used the same effect in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.  As Irving describes individual character traits, scenery, and history of the town Sleepy Hollow, he counters his work to create a pleasant atmosphere by mixing in bits of the supernatural.

Example p. 2106  “ There was the story of Doffue Martling…There were several more that had been equally great in the field, not one of whom but was persuaded that he had a considerable hand in bringing the war to a happy termination.

            But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded.”

Question 1:  What does Irving do to make this transition in “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”?

Question 2:  What does Irving do differently in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” concerning his infusion of the supernatural?

Objective 3

To use literature as a basis for discussing representative problems and subjects of American culture (New Historicism), such as equality; race, gender, class; modernization and tradition; the family; the individual and the community; nature; the writer’s conflicted presence in an anti-intellectual society.

Washington Irving is known for his use of satire.  Although not a main element in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, satire makes a subtle appearance.  One of the strongest uses Irving makes of his wit is in the catalyst of his main characters’ experience with the paranormal.  In “Rip Van Winkle”, Rip is harassed by his wife into leaving his home and encountering the strange beings.  In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” it is Ichabod’s rejection by his love interest that leads to his encounter with the Headless Horseman.  Whether these storylines are truly Irving’s comment on the effects that women have on men is up for debate but the subtle use of satire throughout Irving’s work is prevalent.

Queston 3:  What are some other examples of satire, and perhaps even social comment throughout “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”?