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Metropolitan
Playhouse
The American Legacy 220
East Fourth Street ~ New York,
New York 10009
Office: 212 995 8410 ~ Tickets: 212 995 5302 "One
of my favorite downtown theaters"
~ Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
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Washington Irving (1783 - 1859)  In 1807, he founded the magazine Salmagundi, through which he lampooned various political and cultural figures under such pseudonyms as as William Wizard and Launcelot Langstaff. His History of New-York (by Diedrich Knickerbocker) (1809) brought him greater acclaim, in part because he created a mock history and death of its putative author. But indeed, that persona has become indelibly written in the state’s historical legacy. After a brief, and uneventful stint in the army during the War of 1812, he set off to Europe, where he lived from 1815 to 1829, writing prolifically. Here, under the name of Geoffrey Crayon, he produced his Sketchbook, whence come such famous tales as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, as well as Tales of a Traveller (1824) which includes “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Irving was able to make a living as a writer, and earned such laurels as election to the Spanish Real Academia de la Historia (1828), and receipt of a gold medal in history from the Royal Society of Literature in London (1830.) He ultimately received honorary degrees from Oxford, Columbia, and Harvard. However, his interests included archtitecture, diplomacy, and law (he had passed the New York bar in 1806.) In 1829, he took up the post of ambassodor in London, and finally returned to the US in 1832. On home shores, he travelled widely, but established a home, “Sunnyside”, in Tarrytown. He returned to Europe in 1842 as Minister to Spain but then settled in 1845 with the family of his brother Ebenezer. His final great work was a biography of George Washington, wwhich he completed in the year of his death by heart attack , 1859. SELECTED WORKS of WASHINGTON IRVING Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle (1802) Knickerbocker's History of New York (1809) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819) (tales) Bracebridge Hall, or, The Humorists, A Medley (1822) Tales of a Traveller (1824) The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828), Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (1829) Tales of the Alhambra (1832) A Tour on the Prairies (1835) Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (1835) Astoria (1836) The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837) Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography (1850) Lives of Mahomet and his Successors (1850) Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies (1855) Life of George Washington (1859)
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