What was Washington irving famous about?

Answer 1

"Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 - November 28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Irving also served as the U.S. minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846."

Answer 2

He wrote stories about what life was like for the Dutch Settlers of the Catskill Mountains of New York. He wrote several stories based there including Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Answer 3

He let us do it for a living. First guy who really didn't need a second job while writing in America. Otherwise, not much, right? A taste for the fantastic. An acknowledgment that we live on a big strange land that we may not quite figure out for a while. A Yankee good-sense-ism that has carried over into lots of writers.

Washington Irving wrote the first American biography of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

While in Spain, he stayed for sometime in Grenada and brought attention to the Alhambra Palace, then in semi ruin. Thanks largely to the book he wrote about it, the Alhambra was eventually restored. It is now Spain's number tourist site, visited by over two million people a year.

Answer 4

Washton Irving's main written activity is censoring mail. He did once write a sentence, which was "I yearn for you tragically".

Answer 5

Washington Irving was the first American author to make extensive use of the short story form of fiction.