Meet the Author
Washington Irving
American · 1783–1859 · Short-story writer, essayist, and historian
Portrait: Attributed to Charles Robert Leslie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
One of the first American writers to win fame abroad, and the creator of Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman.
3 StoryBites Editions3 Short stories
Why read Washington Irving?
Irving turned local legends of the Hudson Valley and New England into stories that are funny, spooky, and gently satirical. He helped prove that American places and folklore could be the stuff of literature. Read him for tall tales told with a wink.
A life in six dates
- 1783Born in New York City
- 1809A History of New York, written as Diedrich Knickerbocker
- 1819The Sketch Book begins publication, with Rip Van Winkle
- 1824Tales of a Traveller, with The Devil and Tom Walker
- 1842Appointed United States Minister to Spain
- 1859Dies at Sunnyside, his home in Tarrytown, New York
Themes across the collection
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
Early American literatureIrving showed that an American writer could build an international readership.
FolkloreHe adapted old legends, including European ones, to American settings.
RomanticismHis interest in the past, the supernatural, and the picturesque reflects the Romantic age.
Influence
Echoes of Washington Irving run through Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, among many others.