A biography of washington irving

They married in while William was serving as a petty officer in the British Navy.

Irvington, New York American author Considered the first professional distinguished writer in the United States with short stories like "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Washington Irving was influential in the development of the short story form and helped to gain international respect for American literature.

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Childhood Washington Irving was born and raised in New York City, the youngest of eleven children of a prosperous merchant family.

Named after President George Washington —Irving was fascinated by the upper class of New York City and would often sneak out of family prayer meetings to attend the local theatre. A dreamy and uninspired student, Irving apprenticed worked to gain experience in a trade himself in a law office rather than follow his elder brothers to nearby Columbia College.

In his free time, he read avidly and wandered when he could around the misty, rolling Hudson River Valley.

This area just north of New York City was steeped in local folklore and legend and served as an inspiration for his later writings. Begins writing career As a nineteen-year-old, Irving began contributing letters under the pseudonym assumed name Jonathan Oldstyle to a news-paper owned by his A biography of washington irving Peter.

His first book, Salmagundi —08was a collaboration with another brother, William, and their friend James Kirke Paulding. This highly popular collection of short pieces poked fun at the political, social, and cultural life of the city.

Irving enjoyed a second success in with A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, a comical and purposefully inaccurate account of New York's Dutch colonization settlement by a foreign nation narrated by another pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, a Dutch American.

For the next several years he floundered, wavering between a legal and writing career. Life in England In Irving moved to England to work in the failing Liverpool branch of the family import-export business.

Within three years the company was bankrupt, and, finding himself at age thirty-five without means of support, Irving decided that he would earn his living by writing. He began recording the impressions, thoughts, and descriptions, which he reworked several times.

These became the pieces that make up The Sketch Book. The volume was introduced under the pseudonym of Geoffrey Crayon.

The Sketch Book comprises some thirty parts: Irving found himself America's first international literary celebrity. In addition, the book's considerable profits allowed Irving to devote himself full time to writing.

Remaining in Europe for more than a decade after the appearance of The Sketch Book, Irving wrote steadily, and soon published Bracebridge Hall; or, the Humorists: After Irving increasingly turned his attention from fiction and descriptive writing toward history and biography.

Irving served as secretary to the American embassy in London from untilwhen he returned to the United States. An American celebrity After receiving warm praise from the literary and academic communities, Irving set out on a tour of the rugged western part of the country, which took him as far as Oklahoma.

The expedition resulted in three books about the region, notably A Tour on the Prairieswhich provided easterners with their first description of life out west by a well-known author. Among the notable works of Irving's later years is an extensive biography of George Washington —which he worked on determinedly, despite ill health, from the early s until a few months before his death in As America's first literary star with stories like "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Irving established an artistic standard and model for later generations of American short story writers.

The Grolier Club, The Life and Letters of Washington Irving. University of Minnesota Press, The Life of Washington Irving. Oxford University Press, Washington Irving is located in the Tenth District, represented by Councilmember Herb J.

Wesson, Jr. Washington Irving was born and raised in New York City, the youngest of eleven children of a prosperous merchant family. Named after President George Washington (–), Irving was fascinated by the upper class of New York City and would often sneak out of Died: Nov 28, Compare A Short Biography Of Washington Irving Hardcover prices online with PriceCheck.

Found 1 store. Lowest price R Details A Short Biography Of Washington Irving Hardcover. The Irving family settled in Manhattan, New York and was part of the city's small, vibrant merchant class when Washington Irving was born on April 3, , the same week New York City residents learned of the British ceasefire that ended the American Revolution; Irving's mother named him after the hero of the revolution, George Washington.

Washington Irving Biography Writer (–) Famed 19th century American author Washington Irving is known for his biographical works and such stories as 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Legend of Born: Apr 03, You can read Oliver Goldsmith, a Biography by Washington Irving, Gilbert Sykes Blakely in our library for absolutely free.

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