Washington Irving and the Origins of Gotham

Washington Irving... Washington Irving... that name rings a bell.... oh, yeah! He wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as well as many other great works. He is responsible for a number of aspects of NYC culture and still affects American pop-culture almost 200 years later. Learn more on this weeks episode!

[@joshuawilliams7351]

Irving's father was from Scotland, where the folk tale Peter Klaus was well known. It is essentially the same as Rip Van Winkle and Irving probably heard it growing up. He said he had never been to the Catskill when he wrote Rip Van Winkle. He writes under the pseudonym of Geoffrey Crayon who finds the writings of Diedrich Knickerbocher. He avoids plaigarism and responsibility for potential offenses by using these pen names. He also calls for copyright laws to protect him from others who would act as he has. Rip becomes the most popular American fictional icon. American fictional icons like Batman and Mickey Mouse are descendants of Rip. Rip is also America's first time travel story. Sleepy Hollow is the first American anti-hero with Brom Bones. It is a warning to the intellectuals of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and England, who were curious about New York. Irving is saying if you are an annoying supersitious coward stay away.
His biography of Columbus diverted from Spain's intentions and instead were written to give Americans a historical hero, which later information challenged. Great video.

[@UniqueNewYorkwithNathanKaufman]

Wow, Joshua. That is an amazing summation. I wish we had time to include all of that. Thank you so much!

[@valmarsiglia]

The name comes the folk tale The Wise Men of Gotham, in which the residents of the village of Gotham pretend to be fools to avoid the wicked king's wrath. It was a sort of backhanded compliment for what Irving saw as New Yorkers' foolish ingenuity/ingenious foolishness. You'll find a few versions online if you Google the title.

[@JonathanKruk]

I knew Irving and Burr were friends, but I did not know he provided some legal defense for the renegade duelist! Thanks, Nathan!

[@UniqueNewYorkwithNathanKaufman]

You got it, man! Thanks for watching!!

[@bytheway1031]

🎂Washington Irving 04-03-2022

[@Keith-zu4tz]

In Ramsey, we're down the road from the Hermitage, where Burr was married.

[@ravel5340]

I don't think this channel still works but greetings from Europe. The vid helped me a lot to introduce the story of Rip Van Dinkle to my pupils :)

[@UniqueNewYorkwithNathanKaufman]

We are still here! Thanks for checking us out. We love when our videos are used for education!

[@thesuperlansuperchannel115]

great video. 10/10 would watch again.

[@UniqueNewYorkwithNathanKaufman]

Thank you so much!!!!! We really appreciate your support.