Washington Irving
Who was Washington Irving?
American writer, historian and diplomat (1783-1859)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Washington Irving (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat. His work helped create a distinctly American literary style in the early nineteenth century. Born in New York City to a merchant family with Scottish and English roots, Irving grew up in Manhattan during the early years of the United States. He was named after General George Washington, whom his mother briefly introduced him to as a child, a meeting Irving valued throughout his life. He became one of the most celebrated American writers of his time, earning international recognition when few American authors were noted abroad.
Irving started his literary career in 1802 with a series of observational letters in the Morning Chronicle under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. His early career also involved writing satire for Salmagundi, a periodical he co-authored with his brother William and James Kirke Paulding. In 1809, he published A History of New-York, a comic history narrated by the fictional Dutchman Diedrich Knickerbocker, which was his first major success and gave rise to the Knickerbocker name associated with New York culture. After traveling to Europe for the family business in 1815, Irving stayed abroad and drew inspiration from England's literary and cultural circles, befriending writers like Walter Scott and Thomas Campbell.
His most famous works came from this time in Europe. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., serialized in 1819 and 1820, included 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' stories that made Irving widely admired on both sides of the Atlantic. He followed this with Bracebridge Hall (1822) and Tales of a Traveller (1824), before focusing on Spain, where he lived for several years and wrote Tales of the Alhambra (1832) and several historical pieces on Christopher Columbus and the Moorish kingdoms.
Irving's diplomatic career coincided with his literary work. He was the secretary to the American legation in London in the early 1830s and the United States Ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846, which brought him back to the country that fascinated him. After returning to the United States, he settled at Sunnyside, his estate in Tarrytown, New York, where he spent his final years. Despite his advancing age, he worked on a five-volume biography of George Washington, finishing it just eight months before he died on November 28, 1859, at seventy-six.
Before Fame
Washington Irving grew up in post-Revolutionary New York City, the youngest of eleven kids in a wealthy merchant family. His father, William Irving Sr., was a strict Presbyterian from Scotland, while his mother, Sarah Sanders, was of English background. When Irving was young, the city was growing quickly and had a lively cultural scene, which he absorbed despite having poor health that disrupted his education. He was a wide reader and traveled through the Hudson Valley and upstate New York as a young man, experiences that would later influence his most famous stories.
Instead of finishing formal schooling, Irving studied law under Josiah Ogden Hoffman and was admitted to the New York bar in 1806, though he never practiced seriously. His true passion was writing and observing society, and he thrived in New York's literary community. Early anonymous journalism honed his satirical skills, and a European trip from 1804 to 1806 for his health introduced him to European culture, history, and storytelling, which shaped his later writing style.
Key Achievements
- Authored 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' two of the most enduring works of American fiction
- Became one of the first American writers to achieve sustained literary fame in Europe
- Served as United States Ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846
- Completed a five-volume biography of George Washington, a monumental work of American historical writing
- Helped legitimize professional authorship in America and championed stronger copyright protections for writers
Did You Know?
- 01.Irving coined or popularized the nickname 'Gotham' for New York City in his satirical periodical Salmagundi, a name that has stuck to the city ever since.
- 02.The term 'Knickerbocker' as a shorthand for old New York culture derives directly from Irving's fictional narrator Diedrich Knickerbocker, invented for his 1809 comic history of New York.
- 03.Irving was offered several significant political positions he declined, including a seat in Congress, the position of Secretary of the Navy under President Van Buren, and the mayoralty of New York City.
- 04.He never married; his engagement to Matilda Hoffman, daughter of his law mentor, ended with her death from tuberculosis in 1809, and Irving remained a bachelor for the rest of his life.
- 05.Irving personally befriended both Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, and Scott later credited Irving's early encouragement as influential on his own career decisions.