Washington Irving: History, Tales & Sketches (LOA #16): The Sketch Book / A History of New York / Salmagundi / Letters of Jonat

Description

Washington Irving's career as a writer began obscurely at age seventeen, when his brother's newspaper published his series of comic reports on the theater, theater-goers, fashions, balls, courtships, duels, and marriages of his contemporary New York, calledLetters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. Written in the persona of an elderly gentleman of the old school, these letters captured his fellow townsmen at play in their most incongruous attitudes of simple sophistication. Irving's next work,Salmagundi, written in collaboration with his brother William and James Kirke Paulding, and published at irregular intervals in 1805-06, continued this roguish style of satire and burlesque. A History of New York, publicized by an elaborate hoax in the local newspapers concerning the disappearance of the elderly "Diedrich Knickerbocker," turned out to be a wild and hilarious spoof that combined real New York history with political satire. Quickly reprinted in England, it was admired by Walter Scott and Charles Dickens (who carried his copy in his pocket). In later years, as Irving revised and re-revised his History, he softened his gibes at Thomas Jefferson, the Dutch, and the Yankees of New England; this Library of America volume presents the work in its original, exuberant, robust, and unexpurgated form, giving modern readers a chance to enjoy the version that brought him immediate international acclaim. The Sketch Bookcontains Irving's two best-loved stories, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." It also includes many sketches of English country and city life, as well as nostalgic portraits of vanishing traditions, like the old celebrations of Christmas. A writer of great urbanity and poise, acutely sensitive to the nostalgia of a passing age, Washington Irving was a central figure in America's emergence on the international scene. LIBRARY OF AMERICAis an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Best known for such classic tales as "Rip Van Wrinkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,"Washington Irving, (1783-1859) was America's first internationally recognized man of letters. James W. Tuttleton(1902-1996), volume editor, was chairman of the Department of English at New York University and a co-editor ofThe Gotham Library. His books on American literature includeThe Novel of Manners in AmericaandThomas Wentworth Higginson.

"The Library of America has published a volume of Washington Irving, and though I never intended to read it, I did glance through, and discovered the story of Rip Van Winkle. Rip sits down for a drink, and lo, next thing he knows, 20 years have passed. Just so with a reviewer who sits down for a glance at Washington Irving. One glance leads to several. Chapters slip past, then whole books (four of them appear in this volume), and finally the reviewer limps back to town, beard grown, hair wild, mumbling a crazily antiquated piece of news: Washington Irving is wonderful." - Voice Literary Supplement