Rip Van Winkle

by Washington Irving

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, American, 19th Century, Read For School

57 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1819

About the author

People remember American writer Washington Irving for the stories " Rip Van Winkle " and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ," contained in The Sketch Book (1820).

This author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century wrote newspaper articles under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle to begin his literary career at the age of nineteen years.

In 1809, he published The History of New York under his most popular public persona, Diedrich Knickerbocker.

Historical works of Irving include a five volume biography of George Washington (after whom he was named) as well as biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and several histories, dealing with subjects, such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra, of 15th-century Spain. John Tyler, president, appointed Irving to serve as the first Spanish speaking United States minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

Reviews

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is still a wonderful story dealing with the fair folk.

[Ruxandra (4fără15) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have given this 3 🌟 just for Rip van Winkle, this iconic American folktale about a man who falls asleep in pre-revolutionary New York and wakes up after the war of Independence, finding everything around him dramatically changed. Still, I'll give it 2,5 🌟, mainly because I didn't enjoy the other short stories in this collection (The Wife, London Antiques and The Broken Heart) AT ALL. I mean, there didn't seem to be much to them, really (and I generally try not to let this bother me when reading the classics, but, damn, the ignorance & sexism is real).

[Ellen Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rip Van Winkle was a chronically lazy asshole.

This concludes today's edition of "Ellen Gail bitches about boring, sexist classics."

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

I'm almost at the end of the collection, still a couple to go. One of them by Washington Irving, whom I knew next to nothing about. I've heard of course of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but even that one I have never read.

Rip van Winkle was kind of a strange story. A man flees his horrible wife - she is mad at him for being lazy and not doing anything - sees something strange in the woods and when he wakes up, many years have past. It was an okay story, and I liked that so much had passed in these years (i.e. independence from UK), but I felt it maybe should have been a bit longer.

There are three more 'stories' in the collection. They were rather random and more thoughts or philosophies rather than stories. Felt a little like filler in this edition.

~Little Black Classics #123 ~

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rip Van Winkle - 5 Stars
The Wife - 4 Stars
London Antiques - 4 Stars
The Broken Heart - 3 Stars

[Edoardo Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story is an enjoyable romp through the sexual politics of 19th-century America, when marriages were contracted and, like most business relationships, as liable to fail as to succeed (no different to today, but for different reasons). For some reason, other readers seem determined to impose early 21st-century ideas upon it. It's worth remembering that, in two hundred year's time, our own fondest notions will be seen to be as outmoded as Van Winkle's attitudes are in this story. So, if you can leave the 21st century behind, try this slim volume of tales. If you can't stick, with what you know.

[Subhojit Bera · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one did not agree so well. The penguin little black book does not only contain the story of Rip Van Winkle, bit three other stories.

While the title story is good enough, the others are not, with a tad bit too much sense of romanticism in them.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book of four short stories left me cold. There is no grip, no hook. They begin, they end, that's it. The only story that aroused any kind of pleasure was the title story that brought back school memories.

[andreea. · Rating 2 out of 5]

.

[Liliana Gulyasik]

Rap Van Winkle was the sweetest and most charming of the stories in this collection. The others were... meh.
When I first started I had no idea the other stories were completely different; I thought they were chapters! Clueless and confused, I finished reading and only realized after finishing. Oh well.

[Gràcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[aminaemes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for American lit, lovely American folk tale

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read again today for a class I am teaching this summer -- just a nice short story! Biggest takeaways being that life goes on, and does not wait for anyone despite how deserving.

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It should have been a bit longer:)

[maria de fátima · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ 3,5

[Justin Virge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very subtle with themes relating to the newly formed United States, but I think it’s pretty good! It’s very neat to see how American literature began and grew past its identity crisis.

[Almudena_am · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,8/5⭐

[Ifrah Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I read books for the plot."

The plot - 20 years long slumber.

[erynde · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rip Van Winkle is the absolute dream of a man who doesn't want to do anything but be lazy and still be loved. His wife, not even given a name, wants him to work and take care of his family. This justified wish is represented as a "tyranny" of the wife and the "poor" Rip Van Winkle and his "poor" dog Wolf go through so much "torment" from the "nagging" of the wife that Rip Van Winkle "has to" escape to the forest because he is so "afraid" of the "beastly" wife.

Now I'm not just focusing on one part of the story and ignoring the colonial aspect and how it represents the change America has gone through. This is the reason Rip Van Winkle sleeps for twenty years: his wife! To make things worse, he gets to wake up after his wife is dead and be lazy for the rest of his life. He gets to sleep for years and when he wakes up, he gets to sleep more. Plus, he gets to say he's happy that he woke up after his wife is dead and nobody, not even his daughter, tells him to shut his mouth up.

I would probably choke him with that beard of his.

This story is the ultimate dream of American men of that time: America doesn't belong to Indians, they're not part of Britain, they get to work and get their own money, they are their own masters, they are justified in their actions just because they believe their actions are justified and they get to do whatever they want. Let's just ignore we murdered the native Americans and oppress the women because we can! Of course I always hate generalizing but this is the story America uses as one of the historically important American short stories. There must be other stories, there must be more women writers, there must be feminist men, there must be people who saw the colonization of America as the brutal massacre it is. My thoughts are mostly for this story in particular and I am harsh on this topic because I still see people justifying themselves the same way. This is old, this needs to stop and I have no patience for these sort of stories.

I'm really struggling with the early American literature because they are so hard to read without wanting to throw some tables.

Of course this story gets a 1 star from me. I didn't like the literary aspects, I didn't like the content, I didn't like the message it gave. I'm amazed this story is mandatory in American schools and yet, I'm not.

[JK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had previous encounters with the name Rip Van Winkle, so I knew the rough premise of this story already. As a stereotypical teenager, I’d often sleep till mid-afternoon, and, as my mother saw me emerge, she would exclaim, “Oh, here she is! Rip Van Winkle!”

It was what I expected factually, essentially a guy who sleeps for an inordinate amount of time, similar to my teenage self, but I didn’t expect such a beautiful writing style. There’s something so utterly vivid about his words, from his setting of the Catskill mountains, to the descriptions of the spectral disembodied voice calling Rip’s name through the wind. It was completely gorgeous.

There are different ways of interpreting Rip Van Winkle, but I preferred to read it as a sort of fairy tale, a supernatural quirk of a story. To attach symbolism of such things as American politics would simply reduce the wonder of the story for me.

Also included in my Little Black Classics copy were three other stories - The Wife, London Antiques, and The Broken Heart. Each of them were shorter than their predecessor, and didn’t hold the same magic or engagement as Rip. Despite that, they were profound, well-written, and ultimately thought-provoking, probing the human condition and commenting on our behaviours.

A worthy inclusion in the LBC, again restoring my faith (ever so slightly) in its merits.

[Ece · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my required readings and I can tell openly that Rip Van Winkle can be "meek" all he wants but if I were his wife I wouldn't be able to put up with him too. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. He is loved by the neigbours and children and dogs because he helps them as best as he could but when it comes to work and maintain a livelihood for the house.... He is hanging out with his dog in the woods or with his friends at the inn.
I think I would like to read more about the "mystery" that put him to Sleep too so that it wouldn't be so obvious that it is done just to show the differences between pre-Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary era and it on my opinion it would add more literary quality.
Other than these it is a text showing the dynamics of American identity and I like the little details scattered in the text.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd contrast between the last two stories: 'women are stronger than you think and can face hardship and cope and come out stronger' followed by 'women are feeble, pathetic things who frequently die of broken hearts'.
I'm conflicted about the titular story; RVW is introduced as the henpecked husband of a shrew, but we then discover that he's a lazy sod who'd rather go fishing or walk the dog or sleep off a night's drinking for twenty years than work the land that feeds his family, though he's happy to help anyone else in need. On the other hand, his wife is such a nagging 'termagant' that I can't bring myself to really blame him for wanting to get away from her, because I would too. Anyway, it's a nice little fairy tale and I enjoyed the collection as a whole.

[Xena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually I can deal with droning, sexist commentary of classic authors very well and even enjoy it in rare cases, but this wasn’t one of them.

It’s a small book and I finished it incredibly quickly which was, probably, the one redeeming factor of the book.

The last two short stories were contradicting at best. The decision to undertake writing about the female psyche by classic male authors is not new, but the concepts in here of women enduring in hardship then juxtaposed to women being unable to deal with emotions was a bit grating. On the other hand, the first story was relatively enjoyable. Relatively.

Forty minutes of my life spent reading this that I’ll never get back.

[Marina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A curious tale. I can see how it is important in US literature, his author being the first actual American author, the story revolving around such a relevant moment in the country's history and all. It still bothered me so much how they portraited Rip's wife. I'd be pissed too if I had married a lazy ass who'll do anything except take some part in his family's life, so I can't understand why his wife is demonized in that way when her response is completely rational (I know it was written over two centuries ago, but come on).
Other than that, just a big meh.

[Sanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.”

3⭐️

A funny short story about a man named Rip Van Winkle who falls asleep for twenty years and awakes to discover a changed America. It was a quick read and I liked it overall. (The sexism was annoying but expected, to be honest.)

[David Braly · Rating 2 out of 5]

What would you do if you met the Strange Men in the mountains?

Would you dare to pass the haunted tree in Sleepy Hollow at midnight?

Read about what happened to two men alone in these wild haunted places.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous tale made funnier by the fact that I know a living Dame Van Winkle.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Colton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little tale. Not nearly as memorable as Sleepy Hollow, but well-written and immersive.

[Lucas Campos · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite tale of all time.