WASHINTON IRVING AND THE EARLY AMERICAN SHORT-STORY: THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
WASHINTON IRVING AND THE EARLY AMERICAN SHORT-STORY: THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

Summary/Abstract: Washington Irving’s short fiction marks the transition from the tale to the short story in American literature. Although in many of his short stories he uses European sources, he also introduces elements which fit the normative definition of short fiction devised by Edgar Allan Poe. Also, Irving is one of the first writers to emphasize the importance of the elements of discourse and thus favour the artistic composition over the story. His use of irony and of the detached narrator are among his most important contributions to the development of the American short story.

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