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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 818
EAN: 9780451530127
ISBN: 0451530128
Label: Signet Classics
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2006-04-04
Publisher: Signet Classics
Studio: Signet Classics

The creator of such quintessentially American fiction as "Rip Van Winkle," Irving earned his preeminence with the masterpieces in miniature collected here: dozens of short stories, travel essays, biographical discourses, and literary musings.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "Warm and cheerful pictures of English life"
Review: Washington Irving's "Sketch Book" is an eccentric mongrel of literary types that mingles travel writing, literary reflections, and tales (fiction and historical); it is most famous for "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In 1931, the literary critic Henry Seidel Canby remarked that "without the two Dutch stories, however, 'The Sketch Book' would not have worn so well. They are perfect examples of what Irving loved to do, and naturally he did them well."

Indeed, few readers ever encounter any of the other selections, except perhaps "The Spectre Bridegroom"--a comic tale of mystery and suspense. What may surprise many readers, however, is that nearly all of the book's remaining entries are about England--mostly about rural life and the landed gentry outside London, or (as described by William Cullen Bryant) "warm and cheerful pictures of English life."

Under the pen name of Geoffrey Crayon, Irving details his sea voyage to England, a comical fishing trip inspired by "The Compleat Angler," a walking excursion through Little Britain (a London neighborhood), and a visit to the library at the British Museum, where he "soon found that the library was a kind of literary 'preserve,' subject to game laws, and that no one must presume to hunt there without special license and permission." He attends a rural church service (during which he pays more attention to the congregants than the rites) and even crashes a funeral party. There are two essays on Shakespeare, a sequence of articles describing English Christmas customs, a biographical account of King James I of Scotland, and a tour of the tombs in Westminster Abbey.

From the safe distance of his exile in England, Irving hurls two essays describing sympathetically "the characters and habits of the North American savage." The phrase is jarring to 21st-century ears, but, while Irving repeatedly uses the unfortunate term, he simultaneously condemns that the "the appellations of savage and pagan were deemed sufficient to sanction the hostilities of both [colonists and writers]." Regardless of its bipolar sensitivity to language, the first essay is a rousing defense of Native Americans: "They cannot but be sensible that the white men are the usurpers of their ancient dominion, the cause of their degradation, and the gradual destroyers of their race." The second essay is a portrait of King Philip, or Metamocet of Pokanoket, the 17th-century chief of the Wampanoag tribe whose conflict with the New England settlers resulted in the near-eradication of his people.

Irving has a tendency to dilute his delight with an abundance of detail, but his mastery of the quip and his sarcasm--so abundant in his "History of New York"--is still on display throughout "The Sketch Book." Its unevenness, ponderousness, and lack of thematic coherence can be challenging, however, and those looking for fiction rather than "sketches" may prefer (as I did) Irving's "Tales of a Traveller," which is comprised entirely of ghost stories, pirate adventures, and tall tales.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Washington Irving slept for forty years
Review: My memories of reading ' The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and ' Rip Van Winkle ' in school are memories of vague misunderstanding, a haze of wondering what they were all about. This is especially true in regard the story of Rip Van Winkle.But there was nonetheless in the atmosphere of the stories, something of the feeling of old America, the Dutch- English America so present in the Renssaeleer County I grew up in. Later in life returning to Irving's work I read some of the Alhambra Tales and sketches. All the writing seemed to me to come of ' another world and time' a world and time much more leisurely and slow than the America which was to follow. It is hard to believe but it is little more than thirty- years between Washington Irving's gentelmanly meanderings, and the American Renaissance of Melville, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. Irving is the first American writer known to the world, but he does not really presage the great American creative outburst that is to follow him.
One more point. There is a story from the Talmud about Honi ha- Maagel who goes to sleep for a generation. And when he wakes up finds a wholly new world. He makes then the famous remarks ' Death is preferable to living without friends'. Perhaps Washington Irving too had a sense of being somewhere back in the past, far out of the time of present everyday America. And thus perhaps he suggests that if you sleep too long when you wake up your world is lost and it as if you are dead . i.e. it is as if you have not woken up at all.
Irving in this sense as a writer seems more some one read as a relic than one who gives the kind of inspiring fire his great American successors will provide.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Thoughtful collection of observations, essays, and stories.
Review: I must admit I bought this book solely out of a desire to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," probably the work Irving is most well-known for today. Every year on Halloween, when I was growing up, a small group of friends and I would watch the old Disney cartoon version of the story while we sorted through our candy. More recently, I fell in love with the 1999 live action adaptation "Sleepy Hollow" starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. I figured it was about time I read the original story to see how these two films stack up in comparison. The rest of the material in the book was of secondary interest to me in making my purchase, but having now read it I can say that, while it wasn't quite what I expected, it was well worthwhile.

The title is both apt and misleading by turns: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and other stories in the Sketch Book." The use of the term "other stories" led me to believe that it would be just that - a collection of short fiction stories. Not so. There are three pieces in the book which would fit this description - "Rip Van Winkle," "The Specter Bridegroom," and the aforementioned "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - but the rest is a conglomeration of various other types of writing. The title "Sketch Book" is very appropriate. Irving has, in essence, provided us with a series of short, literary "sketches" on a variety of subjects and in a variety of styles. The topics vary, but they are also arranged in such a way that one usually flows smoothly into the next, lending a sense of continuity despite the variability of material covered.

A large percentage of the book is devoted to the author's observations on life in England, himself, though an American, having spent 17 years there. Some are purely observational, and some have elements of fiction and imagination woven in, as is the case with "The Mutability of Literature," an interesting little piece in which Irving imagines a conversation between himself and an old book. Irving also occasionally ventures into the realm of satire. Other topics he explores include the differences between America and England, the role of women, English funeral traditions, Christmas, love, etc. He also did travel pieces, including the interesting "Stratford on Avon," which tells of his exploration of places connected with the life of William Shakespeare. Toward the end there are two pieces discussing the lot of Native Americans - not politically correct by today's standards, but offering an interesting insight on the mindsets of the time.

I should probably take a little time to discuss "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" itself, since it was my primary motivation for purchasing the book and, I suspect, will be what draws most other modern readers to it as well. If you've only seen the 1999 movie version, do NOT expect anything remotely similar. The old Disney cartoon is much more accurate. It is actually a very short story - about 32 pages in length. Ichabod Crane is a schoolmaster (not an investigator as in the 1999 movie) in the town of Sleepy Hollow, and falls for the young and lovely Katrina Van Tassel. Katrina, however, is also being courted by a rival suitor, Brom Van Brunt. Following a town "quilting frolic" at which many tales of local superstition are told, including that of the Headless Horesman, Ichabod sets out into the night alone, is beset by a headless rider before he reaches is destination, and is never seen in Sleepy Hollow again. It is left up to the reader to determine what happens to him.

The language of the book is antiquated, to be sure, having been composed in 1820, but it is not difficult to read. Irving's writing is very warm and inviting. He does tend to paint things rather romantically, and the England he shares with us is not the England of the Industrial Revolution during which the book was written, but this almost makes it more appealing as it opens up room for imagination. One must also remember that Irving wrote the pieces in "The Sketch Book" largely to combat his own depression, a condition he suffered from greatly, and he probably needed a cheerful outlet to distract him. We do, nevertheless, get a glimpse of his more melancholy thoughts in pieces like "The Widow and Her Son," "Rural Funerals," and "The Pride of the Village," all of which deal with death.

The last chapter of the book, "L'Envoi," is a closing piece that was included at the end of the second volume of the London edition. It is an interesting collection of the author's thoughts on and explanations for his own work. He makes an interesting note on the ecclectic nature of the book: "His [the author's] work being miscellaneous, and written for different humors, it could not be expected that anyone would be pleased with the whole, but that if it should contain something to suit each reader, his end would be completely answered. Few guests sit down to a varied table with an equal appetite for every dish" (362). Also included is an Afterword by Perry Miller, which offers observations and insights on Irving's life and career.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: "...bright gems of wisdom and golden veins of language."
Review: Not to be read quickly and to be savored like fine wine, Washington Irving's "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" is a matchless classic in American Literature. Written in 1820 and destined to become a true American literary pantheon (along with his preceeding work "Diedrich Knickerboker's History of New York), Irving introduces us to timeless observations and wit that ultimately become enduring discources defining early American Literature.

Irving's mantra with this work is a set of observations, indeed "sketches" of his many travels and musings while roaming through England and his home in upstate New York along the Hudson River. The eternal figures of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane are evoked in this tome and set a literary standard that others aspire to, but one that Irving effortlessly achieves time and again. Not only does this volume frame these two classics, "The Sketch Book" also contains other literary giants such as "The Angler", "John Bull", "Philip of Pokanoket", "The Specter Bridegroom", "The Mutability of Literature" and "The Art of Bookmaking" wherein the essence of Irving's literary style is neatly conveyed in the following:

"Being now in possesion of the secert, I sat down in a corner and watched the process of this book manufactory. I noticed one lean, bilious-looking wight, who sought none but the worst worm-eaten volumes, printed in black letter. He was evidentley constructing some work of profound erudition that would be purchased by every man who wished to be thought learned, placed upon a conspicuous shelf of his library, or laid upon his table, but never read. I observed him, now and then, draw a large fragment of biscuit out of his his pocket and gnaw; whether it was his dinner, or whether he was endeavoring to keep off that exhaustion of the stomach produced by much pondering over dry works, I leave to harder students than myself to determine."

With a style that has emitted diverse emotions (Lord Byron "unashamedly wept" over the melancholy pieces "The Broken Heart", "The Widow and her Son" and "The Rural Funerals") and having enjoyed over a century and a half of eminent popularity, Washington Irving's "aim in life is to escape 'from the commonplace realities of the present' and to lose himself 'among the shadowy grandeurs of the past' ". Readers tuned in to this philosophy continue to enjoy Irving's literary prose (by buying and re-reading his works), and also, by buying and reading, secure his reputation as a master in American Literature. When one has digested "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" and "Diedrich Knickerboker's History of New York", one has embraced the essential works of Washington Irving and most would then assuredly join me in saying that he rates eminately in American Literary standing.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: This book offers so much
Review: I was happily surprised by this book. I have only heard of Irving's ghost stories, which are great and why I purchased it. As I was reading the other stories, I was surprised to be reading of distant lands and historical sites as well. Normally, that would not interest me, but Irving's imagination is profound. He can turn a run down liabrary into a living soul who speaks and interacts with us humans. He can turn an ancient palace into a love story. The only thing I had a problem with was the old school language. It did make reading a little more difficult, however I plan on reading this book again, so I'm sure the second time around will be easier and I will be able to come back and turn the 4 stars into 5.

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