The Gothic style of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.docx

1、The Gothic style of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow2009级 英语师范5班 谭颖 20090521172The Gothic style of the Legend of Sleepy HollowTan YingClass 5, Grade 2009, School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Foreign Trade and Business College, Chongqing Normal UniversityAbstract: Washington Ivring is a great writ

2、er who made great contributions to the development of American literature. Many of washington Ivrings work shows a color of gothic. One of the typical work is the legend of Sleepy Hollow. This paper will make a short introduction of the origin and characteristic style of Gothic Fiction. And have a l

3、ook at the use of gothic style in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.Key Words: Washington Ivring; the Legend of Sleepy Hollow; gothic style1. IntroductionWashington ivring is a great writer who made great contributions to the development of American literature, known as“the father of the American short st

4、ory”. Ivring absorbed the essence of European culture and literature and formed his own literature style as fresh, natural, humorous and musical. His works bring the readers great joy. Many of washington ivrings work shows a sense of humor and witty, and he using beautiful language creat a poetical

5、world. Besides, there are also some works embody the Gothic style. The most typical work is the legend of Sleepy Hollow.The Sleepy hollow is a remote mountain village located to the Hudson River and the environment there were beautiful and quiet. The villagers there has a closed mind and firmly beli

6、eved in all sorts of ghosts. Lean, lanky schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, from Connecticut, fall in love with the 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel. She is the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. Ichabod dream of he could marry Katrina one day and inherit her fathers property. O

7、ne autumn night, he attended the banquet hosted by Katerinafather with his shabby suit. When he leaves, he was pursued by the ghost of “Headless Horseman”, who closely behind him and terrified the “ghost-fearing” man out of his wits. Infact, it was a practical joke of Van Brunt, a town rowdy, who al

8、so loved Katrina. When he get the face, Ichabod shamed to death and leaved the town. There are many detailed descriptions on the environment and plots. The environment is mostly grim,and the plots in this story are absurd . An atmosphere of ghostly and gothic filled the story.2. A Short Introduction

9、 of Washington Ivring2.1 Early years experience and accumulation2.1.1 Childhood experienceWashington Irving was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1783. His family was part of the citys small, vibrant merchant class. At the same week, The United States defeated the British achieved the victory of

10、the revolution of independence. So his family named him after the hero of revolution, George Washington.Ivring was invalid when he was young and finally leave school when he was 16. After that he worked as a student in several law firms, but he has no interest in law. On the contrary, he was fond of

11、 literature ever since he was a child. He like to read adventure stories, such as Robinson Crusoe and Gullivers Travels. And he had often sneaking into theatres to watch dramas. His brothers often encourage him to pursued his literary aspirations with financially support.In 1798, Manhattan outbreaks

12、 of yellow fever. Considered for Ivrings safty, his family send him to Tarrytown. “Sleepy Hollow” is located a short distance away from Tarrytown. In there, Ivring became familiar with its quaint Dutch customs and local ghost stories. Ivring also made several other trips along the Hudson river. Duri

13、ng these trips, he passed through the Gatskill mountain region, its the setting for “Rip Van Winkle”. These experiences have a powerful witching effect on Ivrings boyish imagination, as himself said.2.1.2 Young IvringAt the age of 19, Irving began writing letters to the New York Morning Chronicle. T

14、hese letters were comments on the citys news or theater scene. These letters bring Ivring both fame and infamy.Concerned for his health, Irvings brothers financed him to travel around Europe from 1804 to 1806. Irving bypassed many sites and locations which is benefit for a of a young mans developmen

15、t, including France, Italy and England. He had took a large number of travel notes during this experience, which accumulated meaningful materials for his later creation. While visiting Rome in 1805, he once want be a painter.2.2 First achievementAfter returned from Europe, he had been worked as a la

16、yer in Virginia, after that he helped his two brothers with their import business. But hes not good at law, nor good at business. At the same time, Irving began actively socializing with a group of literate young men. And in 1807, Collaborating with his brother William and those young men, Irving cr

17、eated the literary magazineSalmagundi. In Salmagundi, Ivring comment New York culture and politics in a manner of lampoon. Ivring revealed his talent of humor, witty and satire. It spreading Ivrings fame beyond New York City.The first important work of Ivirng is A History of New-Yorkunder the pseudo

18、nym ofDiedrich Knickerbocker. This work was making a great hit with the reading public.Before this, although America has been independence more than thirty years, but in literature, it has failed to get rid of the shackles of Britain all the time. Ivring use Americans local subject matters to write

19、A History of New-York have important significance to promote Americans National literature.2.3 Life in europe and A Sketch BookDuring the War of 1812, Washington Ivring once served in the army for a short time.The war was disastrous for many American merchants, including Irvings family. In 1815, he

20、went to England to help the family trading company. He remained in Europe for the next seventeen years. But the firm still busted up. Without source of income, Ivring began make a livelihood by writing,continued his creation.In the meantime, Ivring acquaintanced with several famous writers and went

21、sightseeing many historic interest spots of England, which strengthen Ivrings conviction as a writer. Finally, in 1820, he compile a collection of writings and send it to the press and it is The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.This book contains 32 short stories, with humorous language, romanti

22、c color and life-like characters, described old-agess customs and old-type simple goodness people of England and American. The pubish of A Sketch Book get great attention in the European and American literature world.The work settled Ivrings position in the history of American literature. The short

23、stories The legend of the Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle in it was the famous works popular at that time and handed down to this day.Later, Ivring wrote Bracebridge Hall and Tales of a Traveller with a similar type, but not as good as A Sketch Book.2.4Minister to Spain and final yearsIn 1826, Ivri

24、ng assume the office of America Embassy in Spain, the experience there inspired his interest in the study of Spainish history. He wrote 3 books about Spain around 1829. They are The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, The Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada and Tales of the Alhambra.Ivring r

25、eturned to America in 1832 and was warmly welcomed by New York citizens. Because the readers sorely need Ivring describe native life, he had been exploring the newly developed western America, and wrote the work of A Tour on the Prairies.In the gloaming of his life, he mianly wrote 3 biography The L

26、ife of Oliver Goldsmith, Mahomet and His Successors and The Life of George Washington (5 volumes).In the year of 1859, Washington Irving died of a heart attack at the age of 76. In memory of the writer who had done great contribution to American literature, American people hang a flag at half-mast t

27、o express mourning for the dead.3. The origin and characteristic style of Gothic Fiction3.1 Evolution of the word GothOriginally, the word Goth refers to a tribe living in northern Europe, which belongs to the Teutonic. Teutones poured into the southern europe from the 6th century, which caused a se

28、ries of war. Hardy and rough Goth was the main force against Roman in the war. After hundreds of years of conflict and war, Teutonic eventually destroyed the powerful West Rome Empire. And the Goth established many kingdoms in Italy, southern Spain, France and North Africa. However, the Goths assimi

29、lated quite quickly into the advanced civilization of Rome, and soon lose its nationality. The Goths as a nation disappeared in history.But the bellicose and savage Goths left a deep stamp on the mind of southern European, especially Italy. After more than one thousand years of the fall of the Weste

30、rn Roman Empire, Vasari, an Italian, found the word Goth in the dust of history, to refer to a kind of medieval architecture which is unwelcome by the Renaissance thinkers. This kind of architecture was popular in Europe from the 12th to the 16th century, mainly reflected in the church and the castl

31、e, such as the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. Lightness and soaring spires, massive stone walls, narrow window, stained glass, the dark interior and the gloomy tunnel and so on, all of which represents backward, brutality and darkness to the Renaissance thinkers, who advocating ancient Greek and Ro

32、me civilizations. This kind of building is a wonderful symbol to describe the Dark Ages who replaced the glorious civilization of ancient Rome. Therefore, using “Gothic” to refer to the architectural style fits perfectly. As a result, under the influence of Renaissance thinkers, “Goth” was gradually endowed with the meaning of savage, terror, backward, mysterious, dark age and medieval.3.2 The origins of Gothic NovelIn the later eighteenth Century, Gothic became a name of new novel style. This name is because of its original work The Castle of Otranto , written by Horace Walpole ,