Washington Irving's use of Dutch and German borrowed material in storytelling

¶ … Washington Irving uses borrowed material from the Dutch and German's to create stories of his own.

Washington Irving was born in the year that America became officially recognized by England as an independent country. He spent much of his life in Europe so it is not surprising that some of his greatest literary work should imitate the people and countries of the continent. Even so, much of his work also reflected his love for New York as well as the changing political and social era that he was born into. Irving's greatest and most memorable works include, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent" and though they are revered as American classics, they owe much of their storylines to European folklore and personas.

'The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent" established Irving as a respectable author both in the U.S. And in Europe. Published as the charming account of an Englishman's love for English landscape and counties, the book also reveals his anxiety about being dispossessed of home and security, the surface is famously genial and sentimental (Rubin-Dorsky 32-64). The book itself consists of 34 literary sketches, where four are about America, while the rest draws from Irving's own experiences and observations in England.

It was in this book, that the stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" appeared. Though they took place in America, and drew from events in American history (as in the case of Rip Van Winkle) the stories actually were more related to two German folktales, no doubt Irving had heard of during his travels in Europe.

Irving's interest in German folklore was sparked initially by his social soirees with British authors, in particular, Sir Walter Scott. They shared an enthusiasm for German literature, which Irving read in translation. He began an intensive study of German, making his own translation of the folktale "Peter Klaus the Goatherd" and other stories. Then Irving started "scribbling" original short prose tales based on his translations (Bedford/St. Martins, para2). This particular folktale was translated into the short story "Rip Van Winkle" where Irving used the Dutch community in America as the background for the title character.

Tarrytown and the real Sleepy Hollow were Dutch colonies, and it was probably easy for Irving to use what he knew of his beloved area in New York and correlate it with what he knew about Dutch customs through his travels in Europe.

In the story, Rip Van Winkle sleeps for 20-years, which includes the American Revolution. He awakens to find many things have changed including the image of George III at the tavern has changed to that of George Washington. His wife is also no longer a ball and chain around his neck, having died, thus he realizes that sleeping for 20-years has not only freed him of her tyrannous rule, but that of the English monarchy.

In the original story of "Peter Klaus the Goatherd," the author JCC Nachtigal does not go into the same amount of description of Peter's character as Irving did of Rip, and Irving also included a 'wife' for the lead character. Peter Klaus also disappeared for 30-years and returned to find his community and society had changed from what he had known.

While Nachtigal's story seems to reflect as Irving's did on the society and how it changed, Irving's appears to be more of one related to the Revolution and an allegory for the freedom found after the British lost the war as well as the removal of the political system under the monarchy. It is easy to acquaint the wife as the 'Monarchy' and realize that Rip falling asleep during the harsh rule of the English and waking up during the freedom of the Revolution that the story was more an allegory of the times than a simple tale of a man who has a long nap.

The story of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place in Sleepy Hollow, which is in the lower Hudson Valley, near Tarrytown in New York. Irving spent a lot of time in the area, so it was only fitting that he use these as settings for his stories. It is also where he is buried. Nevertheless, the story of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman is based on another German folktale.

The character Ichabod Crane was actually based on someone Irving knew in the military. The basis of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" can be traced back to the German folktale by Karl Musaus who introduced the image of the headless horseman. Musaus also wrote Christmas folktales and was a theologist.

In "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent," Irving wrote the part of the lead as a discerning English gentleman. In one particular 'sketch', Crayon finds himself in an inn listening to traveler's tales (The Inn Kitchen) and it is easy to see the similarities between Irving and Crayon in this regard. The Inn itself, "Pomme D'Or" is in Belgium and he remarks "Everyone that has traveled on the continent must know how favorite a resort the kitchen of a country inn is to the middle and inferior order of travelers; particularly in that equivocal kind of weather, when a fire becomes agreeable towards evening." (Irving, line8-9).

Irving Washington has become one of America's most beloved authors, creating characters that enchant and have transcended all forms of media and languages. Still, it is important to note that while he may have embellished on the originals, the basis of his most beloved stories lie in European folktales and the works of other authors that he may or may not have met in person, but became equally enchanted with the ideas and characters they had written of.