Introduction & Context: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
Washington Irving (1783–1859) is known as the first American writer to achieve international literary fame in the 1800s. In the early 1800s, he published a variety of satirical essays, and he would later create two iconic figures in American literature: Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane.
Some of the most common themes in Irving’s written work included transformation, travel, and satire. He took inspiration from many places, including German folktales. In fact, headless horsemen were common in European stories. Irving published “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820.
In The Cambridge Companion to American Gothic, Alfred Bendixen describes the role of romanticism in American gothic fiction, particularly as a response to America’s difficulty in establishing its own literary tradition. In “Chapter 2: Romanticism and the American Gothic,” Bendixen describes a process in which the Gothic is turned into a “flexible, multifaceted form capable of raising fundamental questions about the possibilities and limitations of national life” (33). Does this seem true of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”?
A Very Brief Summary
Ichabod Crane is a Sleepy Hollow schoolteacher and mercenary. He’s also quite superstitious and believes in ghost stories and witches. He’s especially concerned with the ghostly headless horseman.
Crane is courting Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. Unfortunately, he has a rival: Brom Bones. It’s on the way home from a party (and Van Tassel’s rejection of Crane) that Crane has a run-in with the headless horseman. The figure throws a pumpkin at Crane, who is never seen again.
Cotton Mather
Do you remember Cotton Mather describing the area surrounding Salem as the “devil’s territory”? That’s important to remember as you read, particularly considering that Crane reads a book by Mather called History of New England Witchcraft that one could presume is Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World. You might also consider the role of anxiety as well.
Nature & Capitalism
The Cambridge Companion also points out the “conflicting views of nature that point to larger social, economic, and political” issues (34). Brom Bones are not just romantic rivals. They also have opposing values. Take note of how their values differ, particularly surrounding land, nature, and financial gain. What role does greed play here?
The Supernatural
In The Cambridge Companion, we learn that “the American Gothic is particularly concerned with the divided self, which is almost always defined as a division between head and heart or head and body” (34). Think about what the headless horseman might represent, as well as what Crane’s believe in this horseman might mean.
Start Reading
Fortunately, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is available free via Gutenberg. I’ll post reading notes next.
Sources:
The Cambridge Companion to American Gothic
Norton Anthology of American Literature (1820 to 1865)
Next: Reading Notes
Previous: “Wonders of the Invisible World”
