Wednesday, October 11, 2023
BY TIFFANI MARTINEZ
Washington Irving is an exceptional author and storyteller. He is able to illustrate fantastical worlds or “sketches” in such a way that readers feel immersed into the fictional worlds he creates. He also is known for his humor and satire, like in Salmagundi and in A History of New York.
Irving so wonderfully details and expands upon ideas in his writings, and he is not limited to one genre, but moves between them, often blurring the lines between fiction and reality, between love and heartbreak, and between comedy and tragedy. There is something for everybody in terms of his complete works, making him one of the most notable authors with an unparalleled, expansive repertoire.
Some of my favorite works by Irving are some of his more brazen pieces of satire, due to his refreshingly blunt view of society. His satire is doused in comedy with a very tongue-in-cheek nature, often poking fun at assumptions by the common people and caricatures of what they believe to be true.
For example, A History of New York is exactly the type of satire we can expect to find in Irving’s writings, due to the outright absurdity of the concept of telling the story of New York starting back at the beginning of time, literally. Typically, when one tries to read about the history of anything, a relevant point in time is chosen in which to begin an exposition for the sake of brevity. Irving takes this concept to a literal point and hilariously starts at the dawn of time, with an intentional disregard for succinctness. This comedic tinge is also present in some of his other stories, like “Rip Van Winkle.”
“Rip Van Winkle” is a great example of “everything in moderation,” as the main character, Rip, is a man who is depicted as drinking far more than he should. He has a wife that is a stereotypical “old-school” woman, as she nags and gets after him for his bad habit. In summation, Rip goes into the woods seeking reprieve, astonishingly accepts a drink from these fairy-type characters, and literally sleeps through the American Revolution.
The humor Irving laces into the story reads on a few levels because for one, a man drinks strange fluid from some unknown party, willingly and without question. Second, it is funny that once he wakes up he notices he has a long, gray beard and moseys on into town, thinking everything will be as it should, although it is quite apparent that a lot of time has passed since he had first fallen asleep.
The absurdity of the tale is what makes the story arguably about temperance, have comedic relief without being too “preachy.” It is masterfully done as the debate on the true meaning of “Rip Van Winkle” is still being written on by scholars to this day.
If you haven’t read anything by Irving, buy yourself a copy of The Sketch Book, grab some snacks, and buckle in for a journey through the mind of a literary genius.
This blog was written for the Washington Irving Society website in Fall 2022 during Dr. Tracy Hoffman’s English 4382 Major Authors class at Baylor University.