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A Writer of “Firsts” first belletrist in American literature – belleslettres—”literature regarded as a fine art, esp. as having a purely aesthetic function”; Irving wrote for pleasure at a time when writing was pragmatic first American literary humorist first to write history and biography as entertainment introduced nonfiction prose as a literary genre
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Washington Irving
Irving as Early Romanticist• descriptions of Nature’s beauty• his utilization of gothic imagery– Gothic literature--poetry, short stories, or novels
designed to thrill readers by providing mystery, villainy, murder, and the supernatural
• belief that man was inherently good and would act nobly without incentive to do so
A Writer of “Firsts”
• first belletrist in American literature– belleslettres—”literature regarded as a fine art,
esp. as having a purely aesthetic function”; Irving wrote for pleasure at a time when writing was pragmatic
• first American literary humorist• first to write history and biography as
entertainment• introduced nonfiction prose as a literary genre
A Writer of “Firsts”
• First 19th century American writer to achieve international literary reputation
• First American writer to support himself solely through writing
A Writer of Pseudonyms
• Jonathan Oldstyle• Dietrich Knickerbocker• Geoffrey Crayon
Important Works
• Salgamundi (Papers)• A History of New York• The Sketch Book• A Tour of the Prairies
Hudson River School
• Themes in the art:– Discovery– Exploration– Settlement– Pastoral America
Thomas Cole—Landscape, 1825
John Frederick Kensett—Connecticut Shoreline in Autumn
Albert Bierstadt—Sierra Nevada Mountains
Asher Durand—Kindred Spirits
Rip van Winkle Themes
• Loss/discovery of identity• challenge to American values and work ethic• Anti-republicanism--George III vs. George
Washington