Monuments to the Author Abroad
The legacy of author Washington Irving is well-documented and celebrated in the Rivertowns where he set the quintessential ghost story of the Halloween season, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Irving was the first American author to gain international acclaim, as his contributions to literature captured the imagination of foreign readers. He enjoyed celebrity status, especially in England and Spain, where his published works have been translated into Spanish. From 1815 to 1832, Irving resided in Europe, where he is remembered with place names, plaques, and monuments.
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Irving lived at the Alhambra Palace while writing Tales of the Alhambra (1832). (Courtesy Wikipedia)
In 1815, Irving sailed to England to assist his family in salvaging their failing mercantile business, which ultimately folded. He lived in Birmingham, England (where there is an Irving Street), with his sister Sarah and her family, the van Warts, in four different houses. His prodigious literary output there included The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819–1820) that contains his most famous stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” Irving’s visit to Ashton Hall, a seventeenth-century manor house outside Birmingham’s city center, inspired Bracebridge Hall (1822). Irving also made sojourns to Scotland and Wales, as well as to France and Germany.
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Little known or perhaps forgotten while appreciating Irving’s literary works is his distinguished career as a U.S. diplomat. He often took these posts, however, to augment his income from writing. A bonus from these diplomatic stints is that they informed his prose.
In 1826, Irving became an attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain, and became enamored with Spanish culture. Based on his experiences in the country, Irving subsequently published History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828), Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (1829), and Tales of the Alhambra (1832). During his time in Spain, Irving researched the life of the prophet Muhammad and later published The Life of Mahomet (1849) and Mahomet and His Successors (1850). Another diplomatic post followed in London, where Irving served as secretary to the American Legation from 1829 to 1832.
In 1832, after living in Europe for 17 years, Irving returned to the United States. Three years later, he began construction of his Tarrytown estate, Sunnyside.
In 1842, U.S. President John Tyler appointed Irving as the nation’s first Spanish-speaking ambassador to Spain. That Irving was fluent in Spanish is perhaps a little-known fact. Irving struggled to leave his “little snuggery,” Sunnyside. He was, however, happy to revisit the country that had informed some of his earlier works and to immerse himself again in Spanish culture.
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Letters that Irving wrote in his diplomatic capacity to American and Spanish diplomats survive. He keenly understood Spanish politics, which were in turmoil at the time, and his literary skills are evident in his dispatches that describe in detail the unrest, particularly concerning young Queen Isabella. Despite this turmoil, Irving snatched some time to attend to his writing as well as to travel to other European countries. Irving served as U.S. Minister to Spain until 1846, when he returned to Sunnyside.
Today, one might surmise that Irving would appreciate the diversity of the Rivertowns where many native Spanish-speaking residents reside.
(Courtesy of Flickr)
Birmingham, England
An office tower now stands on the site where Irving lived in his sister’s house from 1819 to 1824. A plaque is affixed above the entrance to the building on Calthorpe Road in Edgbaston, now a suburb of southern Birmingham.
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
London, England
Irving called 8 Argyll Street in central London home during his diplomatic post as secretary to the American Legation from 1829 to 1832. The building dates from about 1730 and is where he completed Tales of the Alhambra (1832).
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Read articles from current and all previous issues of The Neighborhood Buzz: Rivertowns, plus receive a printed copy of the magazine every 3 months.
Washington Irving in the Archives of Seville, by David Wilkie, 1928. (Courtesy Brigham Young University)