Washington Irving (1783–1859) was an American writer, essayist and diplomat, one of the first American authors to win fame in Europe. His Sketch Book, with Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, gave the young United States its first classic tales.
Genres
novels and stories, essays
Works
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon
New York
Washington Irving was born in New York on 3 April 1783, the youngest of eleven children of a merchant, and named after George Washington. He studied law without enthusiasm and preferred to write humorous essays for newspapers.
In 1809 he published A History of New York, a comic history of Dutch New Amsterdam attributed to an eccentric old scholar, Diedrich Knickerbocker. It was a great success, and 'Knickerbocker' became a nickname for New Yorkers.
Europe
In 1815 Irving went to Liverpool to help the family business, which went bankrupt. He stayed in Europe for seventeen years and published The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819–1820), which made him famous on both sides of the Atlantic.
He lived in Spain, where he wrote a life of Columbus and Tales of the Alhambra (1832), having stayed in the palace in Granada, and served as secretary to the American legation in London.
Sunnyside
Back in America in 1832, he bought in 1835 a house on the Hudson near Tarrytown, which he named Sunnyside. He was United States minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
In his last years he wrote a five-volume Life of George Washington. He died at Sunnyside on 28 November 1859 and is buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Anecdotes
Knickerbocker
To promote his comic History of New York, Irving placed notices in newspapers in 1809 about a missing old gentleman called Diedrich Knickerbocker, who had left a manuscript at his inn. The hoax worked, and the name became part of New York culture.
Gotham
Irving was the first to call New York 'Gotham', in his satirical magazine Salmagundi in 1807, borrowing the name of an English village famous for its foolish inhabitants.
Frequently asked questions
What is The Sketch Book?
A collection of essays and stories published in 1819–1820, including Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Who is Diedrich Knickerbocker?
The imaginary old historian to whom Irving attributed his comic History of New York (1809).
Where did Washington Irving live?
In New York, then in England and Spain for many years, and finally at Sunnyside, his house on the Hudson.