II. Representative writers:

1. Washington Irving

Washington Irving (1783

—

1859)

Irving

’

s position in American Literature

    One of the first American writers to earn an international reputation.

an early Romantic writer in the American literary history.

Father of the American short stories. His writing marked the beginning of American Romanticism.

Literary Achievements

   

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent

(1819 — 1820) As a historian and biographer, his works are:

A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of Dutch Dynasty,

by Diedrich Knickerboker (1809)

A History of the Life and Voyages of

Christopher Columbus (828)

Themes of

Rip Van Winkle

    man having difficulties in facing advancing age against work (objection to work) escape of responsibility or duty loss of identity

Irving’s Contribution to American Literature  Irving is the first belletrist in American literature, writing for pleasure at a time when writing was practical and for useful purposes.    He is the first American literary humorist.

He has written the first modern short stories. He is the first to write history and biography as entertainment.   He introduced the nonfiction prose as a literary genre.

His use of the gothic looks forward to Poe. (from Perkins, et. al.

The American Tradition in Literature.

6th Ed. One Volume )

His Style

   Humor Vivid and true description Language is musical and finished.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

   The story based on German folktale — the headless horseman The tale was filmed as the second half of Disney's animated movie The

Adventures of Ichabold and Mr. Toad

(1949). Tim Burton: Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Elements of Fiction—A Brief Introduction

 Plot –the sequence of events or incidents of which the story is composed.   Character: protagonist/antagonist; flat/round Characterization: Direct presentation: the author tells us straight out, by exposition or analysis, or through another character. Indirect presentation : the author shows us the character in action.

Points Of View

   First person— “I” : major participant, minor participant, a story in which the and uninvolved character.

Send person (you)—occurs only when speaker has more authority on a character’s action than the character himself or herself.

Third person (“she”, “he” , “it”, “they”): omniscient: omniscient sees all, reports all, knows the inner working minds of characters. Limited omniscient: action is focused on one major character.

Dramatic or third-person objective: speaker reports only actions and speeches. Thoughts of characters can be expressed only as dialogue.

Setting: the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs.

 The Functions of setting:  setting as a background for action.

 Setting as antagonist  Setting as a means of creating appropriate atmosphere ( ambiance) .

 Setting as a means of revealing character.

 Setting as a means of reinforce the theme.

Sleepy Hollow