Washington Irving

One of the most beloved and influential American writers during the nineteenth century, Irving is remembered today for having written "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."In these stories, as well as in Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York, Irving celebrated the folkways of New York's Dutch settlers.

Fascinated by European culture, Irving travelled to England in 1815, where he produced The Sketch Book, a collection of sentimental and satiric sketches and stories narrated by Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman. Following the great success of The Sketch Book, Irving decided to devote himself to authorship and produced a number of histories, travel narratives, and sketches through the rest of his career.

Esteemed as an important "literary personage," Irving served as ambassador to Spain. He finally retired to his pastoral retreat Sunnyside in the 1840s, where he received frequent visitations from fellow writers and fans.  Achievements:

1. Irving is the first belletrist in American literature, writing for pleasure at a time when writing was practical and for useful purposes.
2. He is the first American literary humorist.
3. He has written the first modern short stories.
4. He is the first to write history and biography as entertainment.
5. He introduced the non-fiction prose as a literary genre.
6. His use of the gothic looks forward to Poe.

Zsoldos Szilárd