Irving, Washington (1783 - 1859) | "Adventure Of The German Student"
"Adventure of the German Student"
JAMES E. DEVLIN (ESSAY DATE SPRING 1979)
SOURCE: Devlin, James E. "Irving's 'Adventure of the German Student.'" Studies in American Fiction 7, no. 1 (spring 1979): 92-5.
In the following essay, Devlin analyzes "Adventure of the German Student" as a "cautionary tale warning against sexual fantasy and masturbation."
Although it remains one of Washington Irving's more popular pieces, "Adventure of the Ger-man Student" has escaped the critical attention accorded his best known tales. Regarded usually as an eerie hoax on the basis of a trick narration that seems to dismiss any more serious meaning, or seen simply as a Gothic fancy, "Adventure of the German Student" has failed to profit from the sort of scrutiny that has proved so successful in the study of other of Irving's tales.
One need be no dyed-in-the-wool Freudian to recognize the host of...
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