Washington Irving : An American Study, 1802-1832 / / by William L. Hedges.

• Author: Hedges, William L.
• Language: English
• Series: Goucher College series.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (1 online resource (xiv, 274 pages).)
• Notes: Open access edition supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.; The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Originally published in 1965. Despite his prolificacy, Washington Irving remained an underexamined figure among literary scholars at the time William L. Hedges published his definitive study of the author in 1965. Most contemporary scholars believed that Irving's central contribution to the American literary tradition was that his work was "polished" and "suave." These scholars maintained that Irving's aristocratic sensibilities defined the stylistic choices of his literary works. To assume this, Hedges contends, is to "both let the man and the work slip beyond one's grasp." Hedges demonstrates that much of Irving's work can be understood in the context of his conflict between federalist and conservative politics. Irving, in other words, found himself incapable of committing to a coherent set of beliefs or attitudes, and this cultural uneasiness manifested itself in his early work. Washington Irving: An American Study, 1802-1832 tries to correct some of the misapprehension about Irving's place in nineteenth-century American literature.

Table of Contents

"Mr. Hedges sees Irving's work, including his nonsensical humor, as a response to the intellectual and cultural tensions of his period. From this point of view he attempts to explain the apparent contradictions in Irving's writing. There is a close analysis of Irving's major works, including 'Knickerbocker's history, ' 'The sketch book, ' 'Tales of a traveller, ' and 'Columbus.' Mr. Hedges is particularly concerned with the way in which Irving adapted conventional literary techniques and attitudes to the new conditions of American life"--From publisher description.