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The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Analysis

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The Americanness of Washington Irving ---through the Analysis of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Washington Irving, who is regarded as “father of American short story”, has a profound influence on American Literature. Professor Wu Dingbo stated “all writers in America read Washington Irving” (26). “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is one of his most outstanding stories and it is greatly admired even at the present time. There are five basic qualities of American writers: independent, individualistic, critical, innovative and humorous (Wu Dingbo 3). As a typical American writer, therefore, Washington Irving’s Americanness can be illustrated in these five aspects: his independence, individualism, critical values, innovativeness and humorous writing style. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, which was contained in Washington Irving’s collection of 34 essays and short stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, was written while Irving was living abroad in Birmingham, England. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was first published in 1820 with the author using the pseudonym "Geoffrey Crayon"(Burstein 143). To begin with, Washington Irving’s Americanness can be seen from his independence. One of the differences between American and Britain is that American society is fragmentary, thus American writers have been able to remain free from the control of society. Hence they usually think and act with independence (Wu Dingbo 3). As for Irving, he was a free-lance writer who was not
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