≫ Read Gratis The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving Fiction Classics Wildside Fantasy Classic Washington Irving 9780809594085 Books

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving Fiction Classics Wildside Fantasy Classic Washington Irving 9780809594085 Books

Download As PDF : The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving Fiction Classics Wildside Fantasy Classic Washington Irving 9780809594085 Books

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving Fiction Classics Wildside Fantasy Classic Washington Irving 9780809594085 Books

I have some of the works by Washington Irving on my kindle, but I still like the sensory enjoyment of holding a nice book that can be handed down to one of my sons. I didn't care to read any of Irving's work as a young teen, but I certainly have grown to appreciate his works as an adult. Every fall, I go outside, light a fire in my Chimnea, light the tiki torches and read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by the light of my kindle and the firelight around me. Irving's descriptions of the fall harvests seem to come alive in such an environment and transports me back you a very young America, where superstitions ran high in the fire lights of those long-ago days. His gentle humor woven within the so-called ghost story gives it the dreamy quality he discusses within the very work itself. I have also read his work about his stay in England. Again, his prose if filled with descriptions of the places he stay and the reader can easily visualize his surroundings. This winter I hope to read (indoors) more of his works. Of course, there will be a fire in the fireplace.


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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving Fiction Classics Wildside Fantasy Classic Washington Irving 9780809594085 Books Reviews

This is a classic, and I bought this as a Christmas gift for my niece, I have read this collection, like 100 times at least, and wanted to pass this on, because let's face it, there's nothing like the classics. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a great story for Halloween, and Washington Irving is a great American Author. His stories about old New York, are so colorful, it's like going back in time. I love the story of the dorkish Ichabod Crane trying to woo and win the lucious Katrina Van Tassle, much to the chagrin of her suitor, Bram Bones. How the terrifying Headless Horseman appears and chases Ichabod through the forest. Hope Samantha likes it!
I must admit the only versions of this story with which i was familiar before this reading were the Tim Burton feature and the Disney cartoon, which is surprisingly closer to the written version. The tale is of course about schoolteacher of Tarry Town, Ichabod Crane, and his ride of being chased by the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. The read of course does details more about Ichabod, including his fascination with ghost stories and fantastical folklore of New England, which does make him more impressionable.

The pedagogue, as he is frequently named, is a man who has an inflated sense of self-worth, perhaps because of how he is treated by the farmers and women in the village. Ichabod is a learned man who woos Katrina Van Tassel, a local heiress of whom we learn little, other than the plans Ichabod has for a future with her. I could not help but read this potential relationship through a modern feminist eye, as Ichabod didn't appear to see Katrina as a person beyond her appearance or her monetary worth, as he invented plans for a future that it seems he never discussed with her. Ichabod may be a well-read man who is respected among the people of the town, who has a good singing voice, and dances well, but he does not appear to know how to negotiate the romantic realm.

The "legend" of the story is obviously the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane's experience when he meets the Hessian while traveling back to town one very dark evening. As Ichabod becomes a figure of folklore himself, the facts of what happened are not fully revealed to the reader, though the narrator does leave it to be inferred. All in all, a good ghost story about a flawed man who may have become that of which he spoke of so often.
After hearing a discussion of Washington Irving's classic on the Diane Rehm Show earlier this week, I decided to re-read it in honor of Halloween. After all, it is relatively short and wouldn't require a commitment of an excessive amount of time, so it was something I could easily accomplish before the spooks and goblins descended on Halloween night.

It had been many long years since I first became acquainted with the story of Ichabod Crane and his encounter with the Headless Horseman. It was in elementary school, which, I suppose, is where many people meet him. (I don't know - do they still teach Irving in elementary school? For that matter, do they still teach literature in elementary school?) I remember being fascinated by the story then, especially by the wonderful language of Irving. On re-reading it, I found that it holds up quite well. It is still a great tale.

The story itself has now been retold so often and in so many ways - through movies, television, plays, music, even opera - that it is thoroughly ingrained in the cultural memory. Even those who have never read the story know it.

Irving wrote of Ichabod Crane, the lanky and lean and excessively superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut who had come to the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town in New York to teach. Specifically, he lived and taught in the secluded glen which had earned the name Sleepy Hollow because of the "listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants...A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere."

Dreamy the place may have been but it was also renowned for its ghosts and the many superstitions of hauntings that pervaded the imagination of the residents. And it was to this hotbed of belief in supernatural beings and events that the very jittery Ichabod had come.

Ichabod became obsessed with the idea of wooing and winning the hand of Katrina, the 18-year-old daughter of a local wealthy farmer. But he had a rival for Katrina's affections in Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, a local hero and merry prankster.

One night Ichabod attends a party at Katrina's family's home and, as he leaves, he engages Katrina in conversation but she rejects him. Morose and dejected, he sets out on the trail to the home where he is presently being quartered, but, on the way, he encounters many terrors and, finally, the ultimate terror - the Headless Horseman himself.

Ichabod presses the broken down plow horse on which he is riding into a reckless ride for his life but the Headless Horseman keeps pace with him until they finally come to a bridge next to the Old Dutch Burying Ground where the Horseman supposedly would vanish according to the tales that were told. But to Ichabod's horror, the ghostly apparition clambers up the bridge and rears his horse and hurls his severed head at the terrified pedagogue.

The next morning, Ichabod has disappeared. His horse is found near his owner's gate. The saddle is found trampled. And near the bridge where Ichabod and the ghost were last seen lies a shattered pumpkin.

Brom Bones, who "looks exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related," later married Katrina and, in a post note, we learn that Ichabod has turned up in another community where he studed law and become a lawyer.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was one of the earliest American tales to gain enduring popularity. It follows a tradition of folk tales involving supernatural wild chases, a tradition which includes such well-known classics as Robert Burns' Tam o' Shanter. Irving's tale is a worthy member of that club.
The actual "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is only 24 pages long. The tale itself is very interesting and the descriptions are so delightful to read. Those are 24 pages very easy to enjoy and as I read the story I kept running images of the Disney cartoon version of sleepy hollow in my mind. However, the font is a little small for my taste. This book has 13 different tales written by Washington Irving. They are very tasteful Halloween tales that I would recommend, since they aren't gory.
I have some of the works by Washington Irving on my kindle, but I still like the sensory enjoyment of holding a nice book that can be handed down to one of my sons. I didn't care to read any of Irving's work as a young teen, but I certainly have grown to appreciate his works as an adult. Every fall, I go outside, light a fire in my Chimnea, light the tiki torches and read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by the light of my kindle and the firelight around me. Irving's descriptions of the fall harvests seem to come alive in such an environment and transports me back you a very young America, where superstitions ran high in the fire lights of those long-ago days. His gentle humor woven within the so-called ghost story gives it the dreamy quality he discusses within the very work itself. I have also read his work about his stay in England. Again, his prose if filled with descriptions of the places he stay and the reader can easily visualize his surroundings. This winter I hope to read (indoors) more of his works. Of course, there will be a fire in the fireplace.