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The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving
Washington Irving-author, ambassador, and Manhattanite-has largely slipped from America's memory, and yet, his creations are well known. Acclaimed historian Andrew Burstein returns Irving to the context of his native nineteenth century where he was an international celebrity-both a comic genius and the first American to earn his living as an author. Irving traveled through Europe and America, excavating tales and writing popular social satire, beloved children's stories, gothic drama, and picturesque history. He gave his young nation such enduring tales as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. His 1809 burlesque, A History of New York, popularized the figure of jolly old St. Nicholas, and gave birth to the modern American Christmas. Irving was the original "Knickerbocker"; he also coined "Gotham" as the name for New York. By showing Irving as a leading architect of the American personality Burstein has managed to reinvigorate the legacy of one our nation's most outsized literary talents as well as to help us better understand the country we live in.
654 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2007
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119 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Burstein
20 books54 followersAndrew Burstein is the Charles P. Manship Professor of History at Louisiana State University, and the author of The Passions of Andrew Jackson, Jefferson’s Secrets, and Madison and Jefferson, among others. Burstein’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, and Salon.com, and he advised Ken Burns’s production "Thomas Jefferson." He has been featured on C-SPAN's American Presidents Series and Booknotes, as well as numerous NPR programs, including Talk of the Nation and The Diane Rehm Show. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 26, 2023
As much as I enjoy fiction and poetry, I find reading biographies restful and reassuring. They make their linear way from birthday to death, first love to last rites, in a steady, risible fashion. And the denouement is inevitably replete with a small summation of what makes the person in the biography so special. They are, in comparison to the aforementioned genres, an easy read.
Biographies like The Original Knickerbocker must therefore rely on a good, clear style that rides roughshod over the hooks in a paragraph that a footnote might catch the reader on. This book certainly does this. The writing is clear and concise, and the book has been extremely well edited. the footnotes are in the back and otherwise unobtrusive. I never felt the need to give them a look as I do in some scholarly tomes, which is a compliment.
And it is a fascinating story in the History of the United States, how a boy from a large family in Manhattan became a lawyer, then, with a handful of friends created a Knickerbocker School of humor derived from the traditions of 18th British humor, help create some of the first true work of literature in the United States, traveled the world and the country, was a Charge D'affairs in Spain, wrote the most popular biographer of Columbus for 100 years or so, a book that was required reading for schoolchildren and the masses. I forgot to add that he personally knew any number of Presidents.
I'm sure I've left out plenty, but that's the sort of life Washington Irving had, and I enjoyed the way Burstein has linked the stories. He is also very much aware that ideas like manifest destiny have fallen by the wayside. I found Irving's attitude towards Native Americans disturbing, though I'm sure there were many whose attitudes were much worse.
All in all Burstein has concocted a bio worth reading and that I enjoyed. Admittedly, 19th Century literature from the United States is hardly my area of strength. And I am--as I mentioned--easily amused by biographies. Still, I enjoyed Burstein's research and style, which was unencumbered by academese.
Biographies like The Original Knickerbocker must therefore rely on a good, clear style that rides roughshod over the hooks in a paragraph that a footnote might catch the reader on. This book certainly does this. The writing is clear and concise, and the book has been extremely well edited. the footnotes are in the back and otherwise unobtrusive. I never felt the need to give them a look as I do in some scholarly tomes, which is a compliment.
And it is a fascinating story in the History of the United States, how a boy from a large family in Manhattan became a lawyer, then, with a handful of friends created a Knickerbocker School of humor derived from the traditions of 18th British humor, help create some of the first true work of literature in the United States, traveled the world and the country, was a Charge D'affairs in Spain, wrote the most popular biographer of Columbus for 100 years or so, a book that was required reading for schoolchildren and the masses. I forgot to add that he personally knew any number of Presidents.
I'm sure I've left out plenty, but that's the sort of life Washington Irving had, and I enjoyed the way Burstein has linked the stories. He is also very much aware that ideas like manifest destiny have fallen by the wayside. I found Irving's attitude towards Native Americans disturbing, though I'm sure there were many whose attitudes were much worse.
All in all Burstein has concocted a bio worth reading and that I enjoyed. Admittedly, 19th Century literature from the United States is hardly my area of strength. And I am--as I mentioned--easily amused by biographies. Still, I enjoyed Burstein's research and style, which was unencumbered by academese.
December 20, 2016
The great biography of a great American. Fully academic, the work of a great professor.
February 12, 2023
I’ve read a couple of biographies of Washington Irving, and each was quite good in its own way. Burstein focuses quite a bit on Irving’s political life, especially early on, and it was impressive. These were the days when living in New York City and attending literary events could lead you into the presence of the likes of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton (although Irving didn’t known Hamilton, he did know Burr). His Hudson Valley contacts brought him into connection with Martin Van Buran. Indeed, he met most of the U. S. Presidents from Jefferson on.
As any biography, this one does focus on Irving’s writings. He was quite prolific after his famous Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon broke the dam. Written from Europe, where he met Sir Walter Scott and several political luminaries, this book seems to have made him realize he could write for a living. Yes, he wrote for money but that doesn’t make him any less of a writer. He eventually shifted to writing biographical histories including those of Christopher Columbus, George Washington (after whom he was named, and whom he once met), and even Mohammed.
Irving wrote his way into society and when his family’s business went belly-up he was able to sustain himself by his pen. As I noted elsewhere Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, Irving’s later writings, while earning him a living, never reached the influence of his first two books. His reputation was established before he was forty. He would live, and write, for another thirty-plus years and how he went about it is well documented in this readable, and informative, biography.
As any biography, this one does focus on Irving’s writings. He was quite prolific after his famous Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon broke the dam. Written from Europe, where he met Sir Walter Scott and several political luminaries, this book seems to have made him realize he could write for a living. Yes, he wrote for money but that doesn’t make him any less of a writer. He eventually shifted to writing biographical histories including those of Christopher Columbus, George Washington (after whom he was named, and whom he once met), and even Mohammed.
Irving wrote his way into society and when his family’s business went belly-up he was able to sustain himself by his pen. As I noted elsewhere Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, Irving’s later writings, while earning him a living, never reached the influence of his first two books. His reputation was established before he was forty. He would live, and write, for another thirty-plus years and how he went about it is well documented in this readable, and informative, biography.
November 16, 2019
I wanted to know more about Washington Irving's life after reading the romantic historical scenes he describes in Tales of the Alhambra. His first great work was the 1809 "A History of New York", an historical and political satire of 'lower New York from the beginning of time'. His later "Sketchbook" of short stories, which includes the classics "Sleppy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", and biographies of Christopher Columbus and George Washington among other works made him arguably the first successful truly American author. We learn of his relationships with many politicians and influencers of his time in America and abroad which included his years as the ambassador to Spain during a period of political unrest in Spain and the U.S. A good read for those interested in American history, literature, biography or politics.
October 15, 2019
DNF. Even so, I enjoyed what I read. I just found myself less interested in Irving during his middle years.
I grew up with the fantasies of Irving as part of the local tradition. I grew up not far from upstate NY, where Henry Hudson's men bowling where the cause of thunder. I read many of his more familiar stories.
This book showed me that there was much more to Irving that the familiar tales. He was a strong satirist, with a whimsical humor. Growing up in NYC, he used the stories of Dutch colonists to create a past that never was in a humorous history of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. He and his family were also deeply involved in local politics.
Lot to like there, but I became a bit bored with Washington himself as he became middle aged.
I grew up with the fantasies of Irving as part of the local tradition. I grew up not far from upstate NY, where Henry Hudson's men bowling where the cause of thunder. I read many of his more familiar stories.
This book showed me that there was much more to Irving that the familiar tales. He was a strong satirist, with a whimsical humor. Growing up in NYC, he used the stories of Dutch colonists to create a past that never was in a humorous history of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands. He and his family were also deeply involved in local politics.
Lot to like there, but I became a bit bored with Washington himself as he became middle aged.
November 19, 2023
Meticulous study of the life and times of a writer, raconteur and traveler who rubbed elbows with prominent people of early New York, Washington and Europe. A nearby historical marker made we want to know how this cosmopolitan man toured Oklahoma in the 1830s, and it’s an interesting episode.
July 24, 2016
Washington Irving is most famous now as the author of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Thanks to Disney, thousands of children have been frightened by the image of the headless horseman coming after Ichabod Crane.
In his own time, Washington Irving was one of the most famous writers of the time. He surprised Europeans by showing that Americans could write well and creatively! Born in 1782, just as the country was pulling itself together, Irving came from a large family which eventually lost its money. He was able to support himself and much of his family by his writing.
This is a wonderful look a the day-to-day life of the period, whether in New York or Europe--or indeed the "west" as he traveled to Ohio. His stories of early New York saved the early Dutch history of the city from being forgotten. His biographies of Columbus and Washington were best sellers in their day. Much of his laudatory prose informed our own views of these two men for decades.
If you like history, give it a peep.
In his own time, Washington Irving was one of the most famous writers of the time. He surprised Europeans by showing that Americans could write well and creatively! Born in 1782, just as the country was pulling itself together, Irving came from a large family which eventually lost its money. He was able to support himself and much of his family by his writing.
This is a wonderful look a the day-to-day life of the period, whether in New York or Europe--or indeed the "west" as he traveled to Ohio. His stories of early New York saved the early Dutch history of the city from being forgotten. His biographies of Columbus and Washington were best sellers in their day. Much of his laudatory prose informed our own views of these two men for decades.
If you like history, give it a peep.
January 18, 2015
This is a life and an author that everyone in America should study. More recent literary critics have dismissed his writing as too superficial without enough depth on weightier matters. Go read it, go study it and see for yourself. Even a short story like "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has a richness to the language that envelops the reader and transports them to a lost corner of Dutch colonial New York. His voice invented our language for many subjects back when people weren't sure America had a voice worth listening to.
After reading this book with one of my sons, our whole family went to visit Washington Irving's house that's still there in Tarrytown, New York. It's beautiful, and in the sunlight shining on the Hudson River and that shade beneath the ancient trees, I could almost feel him still there.
After reading this book with one of my sons, our whole family went to visit Washington Irving's house that's still there in Tarrytown, New York. It's beautiful, and in the sunlight shining on the Hudson River and that shade beneath the ancient trees, I could almost feel him still there.
Currently reading
September 10, 2008Just purchased, looks promising. It's amazing to me that Irving, the literary lion of his day, is now neglected while Melville, who went to his death unremembered, is today regarded as our greatest novelist. I have written about both of them in a two-parter on Rip Van Winkle, that most apt metaphor for anyone looking back over an eventful life. See, if you're inclined:
http://hudsonriverbracketed.blogspot....
and
http://hudsonriverbracketed.blogspot....
http://hudsonriverbracketed.blogspot....
and
http://hudsonriverbracketed.blogspot....
December 28, 2008
So far, so good....I love Washington Irving's stories and have been fascinated with the man ever since I was a boy and learned that he had a hand in designing my grandmother's house, Bolton Priory, in Pelham, NY. This bio does him and the era in which he lived justice, providing wonderful details of the early American republic and paints a vivid picture of some aspects of Old New York. Nicely illustrated, well researched, and not a dry read.
January 15, 2008
An okay biography, but it's as much a focus on early 19th century politics for New York and the United States as it is a life of Irving. I'd expected more literary discussion rather than politics, but it's a smooth read, regardless.
February 22, 2015
Ever since I went to Westchester I have been fascinated with Washington Irving. This book is consumingly interesting and gives not only an interesting look at Washington Irving's life but also life in New York during the time period.
July 29, 2018
Probably too comprehensive for most except those with a strong interest in 19th century American history and literature. I found many new insights into Washington Irving and his times.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews