`` The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow `` How Did Irving And...

â€Å"In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane† (Washington Irving, â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow†, 1820). How did Irving and Sedgwick use American history in their writings? Well into the early 19th Century the idea of ‘The American’ was far reserved from what we recognize now, due in a large part to the the lack of a credible sense of culture and history emitted from the settlers. Whilst the Revolution had asserted their independence from Great Britain and the rest of Europe, they still fundamentally relied on their exports for culture, and in particular their literature. This presented an odd dichotomy for the American†¦show more content†¦Additionally, it is imperative to consider how the omittance and fictionalization of history and society, with direct reference to Irving’s Sleepy Hollow, might influence and comment on the concept of American culture. In both Sleepy Hollow, and Hope Leslie, Irving and Sedgwick intrinsically weave in factual American history for a multitude of purposes that ultimately, if not for the more fanciful fictitious elements (particularly in Sleepy Hollow), allow both novels to be presented as historical fiction. This is pertinent because, as has been mentioned before, the notion of crafting ‘American history’ was foreign and somewhat perverse. However in response to a growing demand, both authors seek to embellish the history of their young nation to create a sense of truly American culture. This is immediately apparent in a number of ways; firstly both books are set on the East coast of the United states, an area with established civilisation. By doing this, Irving and Sedgwick seek to impress upon the reader the establishment of culture through the invention of a literature that was distinctly American, which previous critics such as Edward Everett had implied as merely being ‘Englis h’ and therefore non-existent. (North American Review, 1821) Contrasting Sleepy Hollow with the numerous other