Washington Irving

Washington Irving was an American writer, the first American author to achieve international fame, who created the fictional characters Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. The strict acceptance and standing popularity of Irving's tales involving these characters proved the effectiveness of the short story in American literary form.

Irving was born in New York City, Irving studied law at private schools. After serving in several law offices and traveling in Europe for his health from 1804 to 1806, he eventually was amitted to the bar in 1806. His interest in the law was not deep or long lasting, however, Irving began to give essays and sketches to New York newspapers as early as 1802. And a group of these ... Showed first 120 words of 782 Size (words) ...

... Continuing with another 115 out of 782 Size (words) ...next few years Irving traveled to the American West and wrote several books using the West as their setting. These works include 'A Tour on the Prairies' in (1835), 'Astoria' in (1836), and 'The Adventures of Captain Bonneville', in U.S.A. (1837).

In 1842 Irving was appointed U.S. minister to Madrid, he lived there until 1846, going on with his historical research and writing. He returned to the United States again in 1846 and settled at Sunnyside, his country home near Tarrytown, New York, where he lived until his death. Irving's popular but elegant style, based on the styles of the British writers Joseph Addison and Oliver Goldsmith, and the ease of his best ...Essay still continues 100 more words...