General Weird discusion thread

[Connavar]

Has anyone read Washington Irving ?

I love the movie Sleepy Hallow and when i saw that the short story was written by this writer i want to read it badly. I think his story Rip Van Winkle is famous too. I dont know why i knew the name of that story before i saw it. Must be like wiki said cause of the many adaptions in the last two centuries.

That story sounds like Sleepy Hallow short story too.

Are there other famous stories of this ? They dont have be that old, they can be period stories like the movie. Written today but set in those days and the feel of that kind of story.

[Lobolover]

Irving was primarily a humorist-a bad one,seeing what he did with "a ghoistly bridegroom" or however is the original title.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

Irving was primarily a humorist-a bad one,seeing what he did with "a ghoistly bridegroom" or however is the original title.

Is that all you have read of him ?

He is more famous than i thought. I saw him credited as the father of the american short story.


Im wondering if he is any good. Specially with his famous horror stories and whatever. Hoping someone else here have read enough of him to help me out.

The Specter Bridegroom is not one of his famous stories so i geuss you cant judge him by that.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

Well,I meant if you have the book and could name a few lesser known rarities perhaps?Cause,well,the catalogues 15 dollar plus what another 12-20
shiping costs and around here thats alot of money,if it would only be used as a reference to buy other books

I'll look through my copy and send along any particular items that seem to fit; though I will also keep it brief, as most of this is also copyrighted material, I believe. Incidentally, there are lists of the "weird items" in his library in other volumes, such as the final Collected Essays....

[GOLLUM]

I'm sure JD will chime in here Conn but I think he's defintely worth a look. I particularly enjoyed Sleepy Hollow, German Student, Rip Van Winkle etc.. and he is an imprortant figure.

I think I have a best of Irving somewhere in my library...

[j. d. worthington]

I'd have to strongly disagree with Lobolover on Irving; he was, in fact, quite a good humorist; much more subtle and textured than a simple jokester; instead, he was someone who was very precise at evoking and developing a particular effect, and often able to turn it on its head at the climactic moment. He was also often very good at blending the spectral and humor, as in several moments of "The Spectre Bridegroom" (which is actually a modern take on a much older tale, adapted to a peculiarly American sensibility -- a very skillful rendering of the theme, frankly), not to mention "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", portions of "The Money Diggers", and several other pieces which he wrote.

Irving was, in many ways, the father of the American short story (as Charles Brockden Brown was of the American novel), and he had quite a wide range of skills in writing, from outright satire -- he even managed to do a wonderfully witty parody of such journals as The Spectator, The Rambler, The Idler, and the like (Salmagundi) -- to tales of genuine pathos, historical and biographical works, retellings of old legends and myths, "straight" ghostly tales now and again, adventure stories... and more. He had a very urbane touch, and his work is often on the level of literary caviar -- to be savored slowly, for its textures, its subtle blending of flavors, and for his exquisite use of the language. He also wrote two wonderfully fine potpourri volumes, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., and Bracebridge Hall, which are simply delightful volumes of reminiscence, travel essays, recountings of legends and traditions, political and social satire, and affectionate regard for the variegated foibles and follies of humankind.

As with most writers of his generation, Irving had a prodigiously wide range of subjects and styles, and remains one of the gems of American literature....

By the bye... it makes an interesting experience to read and contrast Irving with Thomas Moore, as they were not only contemporaries, but wrote on many of the same themes, with vastly different points of view and, consequently, effective results....

[Connavar]

The urbane touch is what im looking for. Hoping for the wierd little village feel of Sleepy Hallow.

When i read about the short story and Rip Van Winkle i got that feel from the synopsis the little i read not wanting to spoil myself too much.

The myths is important too. The headless horseman angle is what drew me to Irving cause i liked that part of the movie best.

[j. d. worthington]

Speaking of which, HPL wrote a delightful little bit on Sleepy Hollow in one of his travel essays -- in fact, it was included in some school textbooks during his lifetime. You may want to look that up sometime.....

[Lobolover]

J.D.-again,I was solely referencing that one uterly horrible story people here get the hots for,regardless if it IS a ghost story or not.-I may have worded it badly.Its just the links to Poe later on in that story-"The Spectre Bridegroom", well,I didnt realy like it,because you kinda saw from some details what it wouid lead to.And puting this together with Gaskel,serious Poe and Hawthorne-

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

J.D.-again,I was solely referencing that one uterly horrible story people here get the hots for,regardless if it IS a ghost story or not.-I may have worded it badly.Its just the links to Poe later on in that story-"The Spectre Bridegroom", well,I didnt realy like it,because you kinda saw from some details what it wouid lead to.And puting this together with Gaskel,serious Poe and Hawthorne-

I'm afraid you have the order reversed here. "The Spectre Bridegroom" was from 1819-1820, long before Poe had written any of his tales, let alone published them; ditto Hawthorne. As for the reference to Gaskell -- are you meaning Elizabeth Gaskell? I'm afraid I don't see the connection, save in a very general way; and, again, Mrs. Gaskell was writing long after Irving's main literary career was over....

[Lobolover]

I KNOW-what I meant was that Poe used it at a LATER time.
Its half four AM and my "e" key doesnt work much,so im kinda tired.

And what I meant by puting those all together-ive referenced it several times- that horror anthology (not the purely Poe one),which had serious stuff like "Rapaccini's Daughter",an inbetween story by Poe,then a story by Gaskel,some other serious stuff and then THAT story.Fast forward about 5 years,an entierely diferent colection-and WHAT story do you expect they choose from Irving,alongisde stuff like "The monkeys paw" or "An ocurence at owl creek bridge"-you guessed it.
Well,out of ALL of Blackwood,they chose "a haunted isle" to represent him,so thats anothr factor too.

[j. d. worthington]

I see. The connection wasn't that clear before, as several books have been discussed in the intervening period. But this is the fault of the editor, in that case, and hardly to be chalked up to Irving's account. As I noted earlier, this particular tale was a retelling of a very old tale, adapted to particularly American sensibilities, with Irving's trademark ironies and wry wit added. The intent was more to parody such things than to tell a straight ghostly tale; and, as such, I'd say he succeeded admirably. To top if off, when he is dealing with the supposed ghostliness of the figure, he doesn't do at all badly in conveying just the impression such a figure would traditionally make... while yet maintaining enough of a slyly humorous tone to keep the reader balanced between the "suspension of disbelief" and outright knowing the imposture.... And, of course, Poe himself was more than a little influenced by Irving....

I'm curious, though: Which Gaskell was included in the volume?

[Lobolover]

the one about the spectral kid in that old house.A "nanny" was telling it,hope that works.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

the one about the spectral kid in that old house.A "nanny" was telling it,hope that works.

"The Old Nurse's Story", sounds like. That seems to be the default tale by Gaskell, I'm afraid. A good tale, but one does get a little tired of seeing only that one.....

[Lobolover]

Thts the exact same problm with Irving-I would LIKE to read some of the stuff HPL advises,but they only publish that one single story.

But weve got a slight bit of the topic,now havent we?To the catalogue-well, its not like copying the whole contents,I mean,HPL comented on theese things both in his essays and his letters too.