The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Irving, Washington
Irving, Washington
(
1783
–
1859
), born in New York, the son of a wealthy British merchant who had sided with the rebels in the Revolution. After training as a lawyer,
Irving
turned to a literary career, writing for various newspapers, and publishing (
1807
–
8
), with his brother
William
Irving
and friend
J.
K.
Paulding
, a series of whimsical and satirical essays and poems, collected in book form as Salmagundi: or, The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. and Others (
1808
). This was followed by his highly successful burlesque A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by ‘Diedrich Knickerbocker’ a pseudonym chosen to represent the solid, phlegmatic Dutch burgher created by Irving; the name became synonymous with the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of the New Netherlands in America. Over the next years Irving struggled...
[The entire page is 362 words long]
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