CRITICISM

Aderman, Ralph M. “Washington Irving as a Purveyor of Old and New World Romanticism.” In The Old and New World Romanticism of Washington Irving, edited by Stanley Brodwin, pp. 13-25. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.

Considers the influence of European romanticism on Irving's writings, particularly in his later works.

Antelyes, Peter. Tales of Adventurous Enterprise: Washington Irving and the Poetics of Western Expansion. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990, 246p.

Considers issues of Western expansion, literary imagination, and Irving's influence on the development of the “tale of adventurous enterprise” as a literary form.

Christensen, Peter. “Washington Irving and the Denial of the Fantastic.” In The Old and New World Romanticism of Washington Irving, edited by Stanley Brodwin, pp. 51-60. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.

Provides an overview of Irving's treatment of the supernatural in his writings from 1819 to 1832.

Hagensick, Donna. “Irving: A Littérateur in Politics.” In Critical Essays on Washington Irving, edited by Ralph M. Aderman, pp. 178-91. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co.

Defends Irving's skills as a diplomat.

Haig, Judith G. “Washington Irving and the Romance of Travel: Is There an Itinerary in Tales of a Traveler?” In The Old and New World Romanticism of Washington Irving, edited by Stanley Brodwin, pp. 61-8. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.

Argues that the relationship between imagination and travel provides the key to interpreting Tales of a Traveler.

McElroy, John Harmon. “The Integrity of Irving's Columbus” In Washington Irving: The Critical Reaction, edited by James W. Tuttleton, pp. 126-36. New York: AMS Press, 1993.

Examines the merit and critical reception of Irving's History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.

McLamore, Richard V. “Postcolonial Columbus: Washington Irving and The Conquest of Granada.” In Nineteenth-Century Literature 48, No. 1 (June 1993): 26-43.

Discusses the mocking tone of The Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada.

Pinsker, Sanford. “Uneasy Laughter: Sut Lovingood—Between Rip Van Winkle and Andrew Dice Clay.” In Sut Lovingood's Nat'ral Born Yarnspinner: Essays on George Washington Harris, edited by James E. Caron and M. Thomas Inge, pp. 299-313. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996.

Comparison of the politically incorrect humor found in Irving's “Rip Van Winkle,” George Washington Harris's Sut Lovingood stories, and the work of twentieth-century American comic Andrew Dice Clay.

Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. “The Crisis Resolved(?): ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.’” In Adrift in the Old World: The Psychological Pilgrimage of Washington Irving, pp. 100-22. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Analyzes “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in the context of the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

West, Elsie Lee. “Washington Irving: Biographer.” In Washington Irving: The Critical Reaction, edited by James W. Tuttleton, pp. 197-206. New York: AMS Press, 1993.

Traces Irving's significance as a biographer.

Additional coverage of Irving's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 3, 11, 30, 59, 73, 74, and 186; DISCovering Authors; DISCovering Authors: British; DISCovering Authors: Canadian; DISCovering Authors Modules: Most-Studied Authors; Short Story Criticism, Vols. 2 and 37; World Literature Criticism, 1500 to the Present; and Yesterday's Authors of Books for Children.