The Complete Tales of Washington Irving [Hardcover]

Washington Irving (Author), Charles Neider (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1975

Washington Irving (1783–1859) was the first American literary artist to earn his living solely through his writings and the first to enjoy international acclaim. In addition to his long public service as a diplomat, Irving was amazingly prolific: His collected works fill forty volumes that encompass essays, history, travel writings, and multi-volume biographies of Columbus and Washington. But it is Irving’s mastery of suspense, characterization, tempo, and irony that transforms his fiction into virtuoso performances, earning him his reputation as the father of the American short story. Charles Neider has gathered all sixty-one of Irving's tales, originally scattered throughout his many collections of nonfiction essays and sketches, into one magnificent volume. Together, they reveal his wide range: besides the expected classics like "Rip Van Winkle," "The Spectre Bridegroom," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and "The Devil and Tom Walker," his fiction embraces realistic tales, ghost stories, parodies, legends, fables, and satires. For those familiar only with secondhand retellings of Irving's most famous tales, this collection offers the opportunity to step inside Washington Irving's imagination and partake of its innumerable and timeless pleasures.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Neider is a noted literary critic, editor, and novelist. His many books as editor include Washington Irving’s George Washington: A Biography, The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain, The Great West: A Treasury of Firsthand Accountsand The Complete Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson. The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, The Autobiography of Mark Twain. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 798 pages
• Publisher: Olympic Marketing Corp; 1ST edition (April 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385089457
• ISBN-13: 978-0385089456
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,542,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( I ) > Irving, Washington
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > United States > Classics > Irving, Washington

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spicy Brew, June 22, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Tales Of Washington Irving (Paperback)

Some give the sheaf to Charles Brockden Brown but I far prefer the mellow stylings of Washington Irving, the sage of Tarrytown. When I was a boy I was introduced to this splendid body of work by one of my grade school teachers, a collateral relative of Washington Irving, a man who hailed from upstate New York and who carried in his bloodlines some of the authentically spooky platelets of colonial America. During the Napoleonic period the US was not necessarily a pretty place to live in, and Irving's famous story THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN shows us some of the dark underbelly of American life. You really weren't safe out of your own good, and at night travel was even more dangerous. Plus, as anyone who's read the story of Ichabod Crane knows, people were just as prone to jeer and mock the funny-looking as they are today. The story is heartbreaking on two levels, the naturalistic and the symbolic. We all know someone like Ichabod Crane, and many of us find ourselves mirrored in his lonely gaze and terrifying gallop through Hessian country. Irving, like Hawthorne, wrote out many of his tales swearing they were as "his grandfather told him," and thus they are set in a period before his own, a misty place of the past that he knew how to make terrifyingly real and relevant.

My teacher also reminded us that Washington Irving was a very cultured man who believed, like Johnny Appleseed, in planting America with the fruits of other, older lands, so that among his stories you will find some from Europe, re-told to make them apropos and socially relevant for the rawness of a new world.

For horror and fright Washington Irving has few rivals, and the bonus is an added richness as of old apples carpeting a winter meadow, and thus this book, edited by a Twain expert, smells like spicy cider on New Years Eve; lots of good cheer along with your ghosts.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colorful, wonderful collection of stories!!!, August 15, 2010

By 

Jay "Jaycharlnc" (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Tales Of Washington Irving (Paperback)

Washington Irving will always be the "Father of American Literature". This collection of stories is an excellent introduction as to why he was such a great writer. Of course, his two most famous tales are here -- "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle". You also have such gems as "The Stout Gentleman" and other various lesser-known tales from his books. Contrary to how many dull, modern critics today pass him off with disdain for not being "deep enough", these stories will prove otherwise. They are thought provoking and engaging. Take for instance, the narrator in "The Stout Gentleman". He is a traveler who becomes fascinated with a loud, demanding, unseen boarder who occupies a room upstairs at the inn where he happens to be staying. The brilliance of the story rests in the narrator's brief, consuming obsession with exactly who and what kind of a person the stout gentleman is. This collection only brings together all of Irving's fiction; however, his sketches, histories, and biographies are also highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Washington Irving Has Long Been One of My Favs, July 1, 2011

By 

Elizabeth Downs "Lizz" (Cumming, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Tales Of Washington Irving (Paperback)

Such a great writer and such imagination! Loved to read his stories as a child and now as an adult. The collection of all his stories together in one book is too good...I consider this book to be a classic.