Washington Irving, oil on canvas by Daniel Huntington, c. 1840
Born April 3, 1783 in New York, Washington Irving was the youngest (and favorite) of 11 children. He was a frail child, but was well taken care of and indulged by his parents. Though he didn’t attend college, he studied at the law, passed the bar in 1806, and set up office as a lawyer. However, his primary pursuit was writing.
Together with his brother William and associate James K. Paulding, Irving penned a series of 20 periodical essays examinging the phases of contemporary society titled Salmagundi.
in 1809, he was working on a satire titled A History of New York…by Diedrich Knickerbocker, when tragedy struck. His much beloved fiancée, Matilda Hoffman, suddenly fell ill and rapidly deteriorated, dying of consumption and sending Irving into a tailspin of grief that lasted for years. He kept her prayer book and bible under his pillow afterward, and took them on his travels throughout his life.
Sarah Matilda Hoffman
In 1815, he met Sir Walter Scott when in Liverpool on business with his brothers’ firm. Scott encouraged Irving to rededicate himself to his writing. In 1818, when the family business went bankrupt, Irving began studying popular tastes and learning how to temper his satire into a more pallitable form and to focus on romanicism and its subgenre sentamentalism.
In 1819–20, he published his most famous book, a collections of 34 satirical and whimsical essays and works that blended fact and fiction, called The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. It was in this collection that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle were first published. Both are based on German folktales, and their adaptation into Americanized stories have led them to be considered the first American short stories.
The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane by John Quidor, 1858
He continued to write throughout his life, mostly from his home “Sunnyside” he purchased in Tarrytown. Though he spent four years (1842–6) as minister to Spain, he spent the remainder of his time at Sunnyside. He served as the President of Astor Library, which later became the New York Public Library, from 1849–1859.
Irving passed away on November 28, 1859. It is said he never got over losing Matilda, and after his passing, his relatives opened the box he aways carefully guarded and to which he held the only key. Inside was a paper on which “Matilda Hoffman” was written, as well as a lock of fair hair and a minature portrait.
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