One of the most prolific american authors, Washington Irving was born on April 3rd, 1783 in New York. He was the eleventh son of Sarah Sanders and William Irving. Although having a very poor health during childhood, which would in fact chase him all his life long, he was an adventurous young boy who would sneak out at nights to attend plays. This was very frustrating for his parents who expected a more proper behavior from his youngest son.
Washington Irving started his very successful career as a writer along with his brothers in the short-lived but very popular newspaper "The Salmagundi Papers". After this first appearance in the non-fiction genre, Irving wrote his first novel "Knickerbocker's History of New York" (1809) featuring Diedrich Knickerbocker, an immigrant who tells the history of New York city from "the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty". This novel was a hit in the United States and abroad.
Irving's health continued to fail, but nonetheless in 1815 he left to England with the initial purpose of visiting his brother but ended up staying there for the next seventeen years mainly traveling around Europe. Irving preferred the company of men, and had a very easy way with the ladies, he never settled down nor had children only dedicated his youth to enjoy the ways of life and explore the European culture.
During his period in England some mis-fortuned business transactions with his brother forced him to his pen again in hope to bring some income to his relatives, this was indeed a golden enterprise for it was during this period when he wrote two of his most famous short stories: "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". These stories were published in America under the pseudonym of Geoffrey Crayon and gained him enormous fame back at home and in Europe, but even though his professional profits, his illnesses continued to be an issue and in many occasions did not allowed him to leave bed, even when never stopped his writing.
In 1822 he lived for a short period in Spain, and there he got the inspiration for his "Tales of the Alhambra" and other stories and essays. Finally in 1832 he returned to America for good, and acquired a propriety by the side of the Hudson river in which beautiful landscapes he remained until his death in 1859.
Most of Irving's writings, both fiction and non-fiction, can be described as an illustration of the Dutch heritage in America. Even those texts he wrote while living abroad have are a portrait of the immigrant culture in New York, and that is no doubt his greatest legacy.
