Washington Irving

All About an Author

  1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
    Author's Name: The name of the author that I chose was Washington Irving.
    Place of birth: Irving was born in New York City, NY.
    When did the author live? Irving lived from 1783 to 1859.
    Where was he/she educated? No information was given on his education.
    First published work: (title) Irving's first published works were letters that ridiculed New York society, printed in the Morning Chronical, a New York City newspaper. (date) The dates were from 1802 and 1803.
    Type of writing author is known for: (ex: poetry, history, novels) Washington Irving was known for his humorous stories and satirical essays.
    Works by this author you have read: I haven't read any of Irving's works but some of them are The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Bracebridge Hall, and A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, often called Knickerbocker's History of New York.
  2. Did the author write about the time when he/she lived or about another time? Give at least three examples. Irving wrote about his own time in A Tour on the Prairies. He wrote about the past in Knickerbocker's History of New York and in History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.
  3. Are the locations of the author's stories placed where he/she actually lived? Give at least three examples. Yes, he did write about where he lived in some books such as The Sketch Book, but for some books he wrote about other places, as in The Conquest of Granada and The Alhambra.
  4. Does the author use experiences from his/her own life in any of the works written? If yes, give at least three examples. Yes, he does write about his own experiences in A Tour on the Prairies and Tales of a Traveller, but he doesn't in some books, such as The Conquest of Granada.
  5. Find out what people or events had the greatest influence on the author. Then tell how he/she was influence. Washington Irving was influenced by many people, and if i had to choose who had the most influence over him, I would have to choose the society of New York City. He was influenced just by living there, and seeing how they lived. I say this because he would write about them in some of his letters and books.
  6. How or when did the author decide to become a writer? When the hardware company he was working for went bankrupt in 1818, Irving decided to devote himself entirely to writing literature.
  7. What are the most outstanding features of this writer's writing? I think that the most outstanding feature of his writing is the humor he puts into the stories. An example of this is A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. Just by reading the title, you can tell this isn't going to be another straight faced, serious book.
  8. Has the author won any awards for his/her writing? if yes, list the awards and the year each was won. The only think that I could find that Irving won was the respect of European critics for The Sketch Book.
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