II. Representative writers:

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II. Representative writers

• 1. Washington Irving

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Washington Irving (17831859)
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Irvings position in American Literature

• One of the first American writers to earn an
  international reputation.
• an early Romantic writer in the American
  literary history.
• Father of the American short stories.
• His writing marked the beginning of American
  Romanticism.

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Literary Achievements

• The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent
  (18191820)
• As a historian and biographer, his works are
• A History of New York, from the Beginning of the
  World to the End of Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich
  Knickerboker (1809)
• A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher
  Columbus (828)

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     Themes of Rip Van Winkle

• man having difficulties in facing advancing
  age
• against work (objection to work)
• escape of responsibility or duty
• loss of identity

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Irvings Contribution to American Literature

• Irving is the first belletrist in American
  literature, writing for pleasure at a time when
  writing was practical and for useful purposes.
• He is the first American literary humorist.
• He has written the first modern short stories.
• He is the first to write history and biography as
  entertainment.
• He introduced the nonfiction prose as a literary
  genre.
• His use of the gothic looks forward to Poe. (from
  Perkins, et. al. The American Tradition in
  Literature. 6th Ed. One Volume )

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His Style

• Humor
• Vivid and true description
• Language is musical and finished.

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

• The story based on German folktalethe headless
  horseman
• The tale was filmed as the second half of
  Disney's animated movie The Adventures of
  Ichabold and Mr. Toad (1949).
• Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow (1999)

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Elements of FictionA Brief Introduction

• Plot the sequence of events or incidents of
  which the story is composed.
• Character protagonist/antagonist flat/round
• Characterization
• Direct presentation the author tells us
  straight out, by exposition or analysis, or
  through another character.
• Indirect presentation the author shows us
  the character in action.

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Points Of View

• First person I major participant, minor
  participant, a story in which the and uninvolved
  character.
• Send person (you)occurs only when speaker has
  more authority on a characters action than the
  character himself or herself.
• Third person (she, he , it, they)
• omniscient omniscient sees all, reports
  all, knows the inner working minds of characters.
  Limited omniscient action is focused on one
  major character.
• Dramatic or third-person objective speaker
  reports only actions and speeches. Thoughts of
  characters can be expressed only as dialogue.

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Setting the time, place, physical details, and
circumstances in which a situation occurs.

• The Functions of setting
• setting as a background for action.
• Setting as antagonist
• Setting as a means of creating appropriate
  atmosphere (ambiance).
• Setting as a means of revealing character.
• Setting as a means of reinforce the theme.

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Sleepy Hollow