Customer Reviews

Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)

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I know kicking Washington Irving is a little unfair since he wrote when the standards for popular fiction were much different than they are today.

The "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is an interesting tale, full of notable and interesting characters. Irving is very good at description and Ichabod Crane, his future (hopefully) father in law, his intended and his competitor for the young lady's attentions are all well sketched.

This book is very floridly written. Long paragraphs are given over to minute descriptions that just don't appear in today's fiction. To those nurtured on 20th Century prose, the contrast makes Irving's stories seem turgid and very slow moving. You can recognize Irving's talent with words and long sentences in the writing -- unfortunately those very talents interfere with the pace and presentation of the underlying story.

I ordered "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories" before my first day of class because I wanted to make sure I got my books on time, and I HATE using campus bookstores. I will not go on my tirade of campus bookstores now, but they are a capitalist trap. On the first day of class, the professor mentioned that the official title is "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." and I looked to see if this title was anywhere on the book's amazon page. When I did not see that title, I was worried, but I figured I could just return it if it was not the correct book. I assure you, this is the right book with the exact same page numbers as the edition the professor is using! I paid the same price for a new book that the campus bookstore charges for a used book. The book is in pristine condition. When satisfactory Kindle editions cannot be found, it is nice to know that I can still get a hardcopy in perfect condition for less money. I love amazon!

Washington Irving's "Sketch Book" is framed by two tales so resonant that it's forgivable if the sketches in between don't quite have the same power. Near the beginning is "Rip Van Winkle," the immortal tale of a man who sleeps through the American Revolution. Near the end is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," an equally ageless tale of a feckless schoolmaster who is undone by his fears of a legendary headless horseman. In between, however, are a long series of sketches that don't hold up as well now as they may have in 1819. Writing from behind the persona of "Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.," Irving indulges in a great many not-terribly-profound meditations on life, love, and mortality. Still, attention must be paid to the fact that Washington Irving was the first American author to make a living by writing alone. Accordingly, he stands at the beginnings of a great literary tradition.

This review is of the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" only. This is the first story I've read by Washington Irving, and it'll most likely be my last. I grew up watching the Disney cartoon "The Legend of Sleep Hollow" from 1958, which was narrated by Bing Crosby. It was the only thing that helped me envision this story, as I found the writing very bland and needlessly wordy. It's as if the author just liked seeing his own words on paper. I found the narration to skip, rendering it muddled, and I was at a loss if it was an unseen narrator, the author himself, or whomever. I didn't get a sense of any character, and the horseman was nearly nonexistent. I can see why the 1999 movie "Sleepy Hollow" with Johnny Depp needed much revamping, as this story is very mind numbing. I do not recommend.