The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)

Washington Irving's "Sketch Book" is framed by two tales so resonant that it's forgivable if the sketches in between don't quite have the same power. Near the beginning is "Rip Van Winkle," the immortal tale of a man who falls asleep as a British subject, sleeps through the entire American Revolution, and wakes up unaware that he is now a citizen of the United States. Near the end of the "Sketch Book," one finds "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," an equally ageless tale of the feckless schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who dreams of winning the love of the winsome Katrina Van Tassel but is undone by his fears of a legendary headless horseman. The everyday and the (possibly) supernatural mix well in both stories, as when Irving implies strongly toward the end of "Sleepy Hollow" that Brom van Brunt, Crane's rival for Katrina's love, may have crafted a sort of headless-horseman hoax in order to drive Crane out of town.In between "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," however, are a long series of sketches that don't hold up as well now as they may have in 1819. Writing from behind the persona of "Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.," Irving indulges in a great many not-terribly-profound meditations on life, love, and mortality. His traditionalism, his conservatism, and particularly his Anglophilia come through strongly in many of the sketches. Perhaps that is why, in the midst of all those "I love England because England is older than America" sketches, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" stand out so starkly; it is impressive how seamlessly, in those two tales, Irving combines European folktale motifs with a vividly realized American setting. These two stories alone show Irving to be a gifted author who worked hard at his craft; it's no accident that he was the first American author who was able to make a living solely through his writing. Accordingly, he stands at the beginnings of a great literary tradition.Washington Irving is virtually a living presence in New York's Hudson Valley, where the community of North Tarrytown, N.Y., actually changed its name to Sleepy Hollow in order to emphasize the Washington Irving connection. Another example of Irving's ongoing influence: Tim Burton's 1999 film "Sleepy Hollow." The film may have caused controversy in its time because of its violence (lots of beheadings), and because the plot of the film had very little to do with Washington Irving's story; but the making of the film, like the changing of the name of North Tarrytown to Sleepy Hollow, shows how truly Washington Irving and his best-known fictional creations are still with us.

Originally entitled, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, this collection of essays, sketches, and tales established Washington's reputation as America's foremost professional author. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle are classics of American fiction and display Irving's ability to depict American landscapes and culture. This volume also contains a number of gently ironic pieces about life in England that reflect the author's interest in the traditions of the Old World and his longings for his home in the New.I read both stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” as a child and later, my son and I would read “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” every October until he became a teenager. It had been years since I had returned and it felt like I never left, as I came back to the familiar supernatural world of the Hudson Valley and its denizens.The other stories were wonderful and I can see why Washington Irving was America’s first professional writer to make his living by his pen. I enjoyed the other stories, especially “The Spectre Bridegroom.” That was another supernatural tale I remembered from my past. But it was "Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" that made me hunker down to read what I called comfort food of the fantastical. Rip Van Winkle, his wife, his dog, Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, Katrina Van Tassel and of course, last but never least, the Headless Horseman fill my imagination as I read. I could visualize the Hudson Valley and its haunts. I bet that Edgar Allan Poe read these very same stories, giving him fuel for his own imaginative tales.It's autumn and Halloween soon will be here. Need some good ghostly tales to while away safe and sound inside your home? Sure, go ahead and buy the latest Stephan King horror novel, but take time to check out Washington Irving first. I promise you, his Headless Horseman just may haunt your nightmares afterwards. And you will return year after year as I have. After all, we all need comfort food of the fantastical.

I was looking for a copy of the book I checked out from a library when I first read these stories, and though I may not have found the exact same edition, it’s very close. It comes with a dust jacket with a fabulous illustration of Ichabod Crane and the, ahem, “Headless Horseman.” But if you take the dust jacket off, the cover looks nice, too, a plain dull blue with nice gold lettering on the spine and even a little gold pumpkin above the title on the spine. Each of the stories includes a heading with a little pumpkin illustration and also at least one full page illustration (Rip Van Winkle has two). The print is nice and legible. The pages are slightly thin, maybe not the highest quality, even a little transparent, but ok.I really just got this book for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow because, having already read all four stories in this book, I personally find Washington Irving’s era-typical sexism to come through just a bit too much sometimes. Both Rip Van Winkle and Tom Walker are married to shrews they dislike, for instance. But I don’t feel like his sexism comes out that much in Sleepy Hollow, and I enjoy that story thoroughly. If you are also focused on that one story, then like me, you won’t mind that the title and cover highlight Sleepy Hollow above the other stories in the book.Overall, I recommend this edition if you are mostly looking for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in an attractive book.

It's a great book with a cool cover for spooky season if you're looking for an easy read. Sleepy Hollow is only like 20 pages total of the book -- the rest is other stories.