Washington Irving – “The Godfather” (1783 – 1859)
- Before Irving and Cooper, the bestselling authors in America were all British (Dickens, Scott, Shelley, Keats, Byran)
- In early 1800s, we were still a little backwater. Greatest writers of Revolutionary era all had other jobs (Jefferson, Franklin, etc)
- Until 1891, American printers would steal books by English authors and reprint them cheap, because there were no international copyright laws. This meant books by American authors were more expensive because those American authors wanted to get paid. Dickens didn’t know about all the money he was missing out on.
- Why do we care? Because Irving changed it all…
- Born in NYC, youngest of 11 kids (he probably never got new clothes.)
- People thought he was dumb as a kid, but he was smart enough to do written homework for friends in exchange for math homework (do not get any ideas…)
- Tried to run away to be a sailor at 14, but his plans were stymied by his parents, who made him stay in school until 16, then go study law
- Passed the bar in 1806 and had a little job at VP Aaron Burr’s trial (he’s the guy that shot Alex Hamilton)
- Around the same time, Irv’s older brother started a satirical magazine (this was really common back then) and asked Irv to write for it
- That lasted about a year
- 1809 – A History of New York. Very funny spoof of well known people (T.J.) that he launched with one of the best hoaxes in history:
- He got the Evening Post to publish and article about a guy who disappeared named Knickerbocker, who may or may not have been crazy. Three months later, there was another article that Knick’s landlord had found a book with his stuff and was going to publish it to get money on rent he was owed.
- The book was a huge hit and made him a celebrity here and across the pond.
- Irv didn’t realize that he was a big deal and spent the next 11 years working at the family hardware store.
- When the business closed in 1818, he became a writer to make money
- He used old German folk tales to write a collection of stories, including “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
- He moved to Spain for 17 years and wrote a bunch of stuff there too. He moved back for ten years or so, but got bored so he moved back to Spain as a diplomat, then came back after four years, wrote a bio of George Washington, and died. Go team.
- His literature was completely American – set here, but more importantly, dealt with stuff that Americans were thinking about: dealing with rapid change, physical uprooting, sense of underachievement and failure. Success of living life on own terms.
- He proved that good fiction could feature American settings and American people.
Proof that he was a big deal:
- Inspired Longfellow and Hawthorne
- Hermie Melville paid homage to him in a poem
- Dickens and Sir Walter Scott both publicly acknowledged several times that he was an inspiration to them
- Taught Mark Twain how to use realistic details of rural life in America
- Started a literary movement: “Local Color” school of fiction