Many of Irving's tales have a supernaturalist element, though Irving's gentle humor and rationalist skepticism often hedge that supernaturalism considerably, especially in the American tales.
The Noel Collection
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Often regarded as the originator of the American short story, Irving produced a number of sketches of life in the Hudson River Valley of New York, and of life in England and Spain; these were popular enough that Irving is often said to be the first American author to earn a living solely from his writing. Like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Irving was acutely aware of America's cultural roots in Europe, and much of his work reflects both a nostalgia for and an updating of European life and folkways, as does the fact Irving spent a considerable portion of his adult life—over 20 years—living in Europe. Irving's "transitional" status is also evident in his powerful interest in American beginnings: a (largely comic) History of New York, a biography of Columbus (the literal "finder" of America, at least in popular myth), and a biography of George Washington (one of America's political "founders" and the man after whom Irving was named).
Many of Irving's tales have a supernaturalist element, though Irving's gentle humor and rationalist skepticism often hedge that supernaturalism considerably, especially in the American tales. |
The Noel Collection |
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Etexts:
The Alhambra
The complete text of The Alhambra (originally published in 1832; this is the text of the revised edition, published 1851) is available courtesty of the Library of the University of Adelaide, Australia. This e-text (prepared by Steve Thomas) makes each tale of The Alhambra available independently. Those having a strong supernaturalist element (and that's often a highly qualified supernaturalism in
Irving, of course) are as follows:
"Legend of the Arabian Astrologer" [38K]
"Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel" [63K] "Legend of the Moor's Legacy" [43K] "Governor Manco and the Soldier" [35K] "Legend of the Two Discreet Statues" [36K] "The Legend of the Enchanted Soldier" [23K] "The Adventure of the Mason" [8K] "Legend of the Rose of the Alhambra" [32K] "Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa" [13K] "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" 
"Rip van Winkle"
- at Bartleby.com (66K)
- at Etext Collection, U of Adelaide Library (42K) - at Words - at IslandMM.com [ToC]. Features illustrations by the famed late-19th/early 20th Century illustrator Arthur Rackham
-- brief note on this story [FreeDictionary.com]
"The Spectre Bridegroom" Irving's version of the "spectre bridegroom" motif.
- at Words
- as part of The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. at Project Gutenberg (784K); use your browser's search function to locate "Wolfert Webber, or Golden Dreams" This story (along with the inset story "Adventure of the Black Fisherman") is available as part of Stories by Modern American Authors, a Project Gutenberg etext (756K). The individual tales in this volume are not available as separate files, so you'll need to use your browser's search function to locate it.
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