Irving Thalberg

Washington Irving, American Story Teller I strongly agree the statement “Washington Irving found in legend and folklore a view of the natural world colored by emotion, by superstition, and by the ancient belief that supernatural beings inhabit the wild places of the earth. He wrote stories that illustrated old truths about human nature and the dramatic possibilities of the American landscape.” Although Irving wrote over twenty volumes, including essays, poems, histories, biographies, and more

Gender Issues in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow  At first glance, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving seems to be an innocent tale about a superstitious New England town threatened by a strange new comer, Icabod Crane. However, this descriptive narrative is more than just a simple tale because it addresses several gender issues that deserve attention. The pervasiveness of female influence in Sleepy Hollow and the conflict between male and female storytelling

 In The Cider House Rules, John Irving brings the orphan Homer Wells to vivid life in a rather unusual way.  Homer’s life and existence are part of a large symbolic link to the actual book itself.  Homer’s life as an orphan struggling for acceptance and to “Be of Use” is shadowed by The Cider House Rules struggle for acceptance in the mass literary market and its need to purvey its views on abortion.         After writing his first few books, Irving was left disappointed that although

somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.- Frederick Buechner In the novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, Owen Meany’s belief of predestination makes a significant impact on John Wheelwright’s emotional stability as an adult. John Wheelwright is unhealthily bitter and angry about his past experiences because he clings to a past that never lets him choose

Irving’s depiction of Katrina Van Tassel is that she was “a little of a coquette” and liked to mix older and modern fashions—“she wore the…stomacher of the older time; and withal a provokingly short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and ankle” (Irving 325)—because they accentuated her best features. Add in her beauty—“a blooming lass

In the telling of Rip's previous life, Irving does not hide Rip's laziness and unproductive nature, but the reader is constantly reminded of Rip's kind and gentle qualities. Never do we view his actions negatively, for his poor work habits are overshadowed by his character strength and other

“emotions and relationships were not just important, but were the very currency of life.” Three romantic era pieces stand out, The Pit and The Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe, Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant and The Devil and Tom Walker By Washington Irving. These stories resemble the best qualities of the romantic era and maybe even some of the worst. Romanticism itself is a way of turning even the worst of topics into a more emotional sounding one or emphasizing a different emotion. Many romantic

In 1819 one of the most influential folk tales in American literature was “Rip Van Wrinkle” published by Washington Irving. This folk tale intertwines fantasy with reality and captures what it is like waking up in an anomalous yet familiar place. The main themes of Rip Van Wrinkle is Rip’s laziness, Dame’s henpecking, and the difference between Pre-Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary times. This American Mythology follows a slothful man who desires not to be bothered by his “shrewish” wife and the

Washington Irving under the pseudonym “Geoffrey Crayon. Irving used effective writing to show the reader every detail needed to understand where and what is going on especially during the transitioning periods of before the American Revolution to the aftermath. Some generalize this story as a simple story of a man who slept for two decades, however what if the theme of this story is truly about the stages of depression suffered by the main character. This could be insinuated by Washington Irving in certain

Many authors during the early nineteenth century wrote about the horrible working conditions that existed during the Industrialization movement in early nineteenth century Europe. Some wrote directly toward this issue, like Karl Marx in the “Communist Manifesto,” but others decided voice their opinions through the characters of their literary works. The miserable and wretched creatures of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” are all products of the same social and