From Washington Irving: Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller, The Alhambra
Washington Irving, often called “the first American man of letters,” was born 242 years ago, on April 3, 1783.
When his collection Tales of a Traveller appeared in 1824, critics were baffled. They had been led to believe for the previous three years that Irving would publish a new “sketch book” of his travels in Germany and of the tales he had heard there—much as his previous two books, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. and Bracebridge Hall, had been inspired by his stay in England.
After he left Germany, however, Irving had a serious case of writer’s block and ultimately realized he didn’t feel comfortable using any of the material he had gathered. So he instead reworked a bunch of anecdotes that he had jotted down over the years or that had been told to him by British and American friends and wrote stories set in France, England, Italy, and New York. The result was a four-part collection of some thirty tales, with barely a hint of Germany to be found.
“Some parts of my last work were written rather hastily,” he admitted to his close friend Henry Brevoort. “Yet I am convinced that a great part of it was written in a freer and happier vein than almost any of my former writings.” He also explained his approach to stories and storytelling:
I fancy much of what I value myself upon in writing, escapes the observation of the great mass of my readers: who are intent more upon the story than the way in which it is told. For my part I consider a story merely as a frame on which to stretch my materials. It is the play of thought, and sentiment and language; the weaving in of characters, lightly yet expressively delineated; the familiar and faithful exhibition of scenes in common life; and the half concealed vein of humour that is often playing through the whole—these are among what I aim at, and upon which I felicitate myself in proportion as I think I succeed.
Although nothing in the collection has reached the fame of Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” or “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” several of the stories have endured—particularly “The Devil and Tom Walker,” a story about a miserly man who makes a deal to acquire all of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure. You can read the selection at our Story of the Week site, with a brief introduction providing more detail about the critical reception of Tales of a Traveller.
