Washington Irving Society

BY TRACY HOFFMAN

Thursday, August 16, 2018

I had a good Washington Irving day.

Mid-afternoon my dad told me he was reading Diedrich Knickerbocker’s History of New York and was fascinated with the idea of the Dutch settling there. He also enjoyed learning about the African-American influence in New York as set forth by Irving.

We chatted briefly about the New York Knicks, and how Knickerbocker also narrated “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Ironically, Dad recently read “Rip and “Sleepy” while selling some books at Half-Price. I’ll make a fan of him yet.

(I saved the Irving hoax about old Diedrich for another time. Dad was excited about the little he had read, so I didn’t want to spoil it with a long, banal story.)

I also caught up on emails after a week off: a much-needed retreat after finishing up summer school. One of my graduating students from summer school, Anastasia, had emailed me a picture she took of Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye she had spied at the library. We had read a little Morrison during the American Lit class, and Anastasia had really enjoyed her writing.

I shot off a few comments about Morrison, and Anastasia quickly came back with some Washington Irving commentary. She’s interviewing for jobs in New York City and couldn’t help but notice all of the Washington Irving references around town.

Good day!