Washington Irving
Washington Irving (
April 3,
1783 -
November 28,
1859) was an
American author of the early
19th century.
He was born in
New York City.
A lawyer, he served as American ambassador to
Britain and later to
Spain. He spoke Spanish. He was a prolific essayist who wrote widely respected biographies of
George Washington and
Muhammad as well as other historical figures. He also wrote books on
15th Century Spain dealing with subjects such as
Columbus, the
Moors, and the
Alhambra.
Irving traveled on the Western frontier in the 1830s and was one of the few 19th Century figures to speak out against the mishandling of relations with the
Native American tribes by
Europeans.
He is said to have mentored authors such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and
Edgar Allan Poe.
\nIn 1819-1820 he published
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, which included his best known stories, "
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "
Rip van Winkle".
Rip Van Winkle is a man who sleeps for a hundred years and wakes in a world he cannot recognize. The name "Rip van Winkle" has gone into the language to describe people who awake and cannot recognize their surroundings. The story was written overnight, while staying with his sister, her husband,
Henry van Wart, and their two sons and two daughters, one of whom was his god- child, in
Birmingham,
England - a place which also inspired some of his other works.
Bracebridge Hall, or, The Humorists, A Medley is based on
Aston Hall, there.
One of the van Wart's children would later name his first- born
Washington Irving Van Wart (b. 1836), whose niece in turn was called
Rosalinda Irving Van Wart (b. 1874).
It is believed that the city of
Irving, Texas was named after him, as are Washington Street and Irving Street in Birmingham. His book
Bracebridge Hall was the inspiration for the naming of the
town of
Bracebridge, Ontario.
Biography
\n*The Life of Washington Irving, by Stanley T. Williams, 1935.
External links
Irving, Washington
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