The Search for America in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollo

The Search for the States in bloodline Van Winkle and The Legend of sleepyheaded gob In the early to mid-1800s, Washington Irving was an immensely popular writer announce as one of the great American writers. Irvings importance lies especially in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy unearth, the sketches in which he creates the visual modality of the alternate America(n). His critique of American golf-club through his main characters-Rip and Ichabod-and the towns in which they live gives shape to an America not usually acknowledged by his contemporaries, and thus crucial to American literary studies today. J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur, who created the almost definitive statement of American circa Irvings time, certainly would not. Indeed, it is Crevecoeurs type of America that Irving opposes. When viewed against the scope of Crevecoeurs definition of America, Irvings sketches portray a very different America-the other America. Irving leave behind be compared with Crevecoeur in five main sections Building the europiuman, in which Crevecoeur claims that traces of Europe can be found throughout American society The dissolve Pot, in which Crevecoeur states that the European influences are assimilated into an American whole, and creating a new society The American Stranger, in which Crevecoeur claims that no one is a stranger in America American Industry, which looks at the spirit of industry found in Americans and finally, People of the Soil, which deals with Americans ties with the land. In all of these sections, Crevecoeurs mainstream view of American will look to show Irvings unique America. I. Building on the European When defining American, Crevecoeur is fast(a) to point out ... ...ary on the Works of Washington Irving, 1860-1974. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown, NY Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 330-42. Pochmann, Henry A. Irvings German Tour and its Influence on His Tales. PMLA 45 (1930) 1150-87. Ringe, Donald A. wise Yor k and New England Irvings Criticism of American Society. American Literature 38 (1967) 455-67. Rpt. in A Century of Commentary on the Works of Washington Irving, 1860-1974. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown, NY Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 398-411. Rourke, Constance. American Humor A Study of the National Character. tend City, NY Doubleday, 1931. Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. The Value of Storytelling Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the Context of The brief Book. Modern Philology 82 (1985) 393-406.