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Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Authors

Washington Irving

Added By: Engelbrecht
Last Updated: valashain


Washington Irving

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Full Name: Washington Irving
Born: April 3, 1783
New York City, New York, USA
Died: November 28, 1859
Sunnyside, New York, USA
Occupation: Author, Diplomat
Nationality: American
Links:



Biography

Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories Rip Van Winkle (1819) and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820), both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors and the Alhambra. Irving served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819-20. He continued to publish regularly -- and almost always successfully -- throughout his life, and just eight months before his death (at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York), completed a five-volume biography of George Washington.

Irving, along with James Fenimore Cooper, was among the first American writers to earn acclaim in Europe, and Irving encouraged American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe. Irving was also admired by some European writers, including Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, and Charles Dickens. As America's first genuine internationally best-selling author, Irving advocated for writing as a legitimate profession, and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement.


Works in the WWEnd Database

 Non Series Works

 (1820)