The Legend of Sleepy Hollow E-Book

Washington Irving

• Herausgeber: Infilaindiana Edizioni
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story where myth and mystery are central topics.
Published in 1820 and set at the end of Eighteenth Century in the United States, the novel is dominated by the spectral and disquieting figure of Headless Horseman, the ghost of a man who lost his head during some battle of the American Revolutionary War and who rides in the middle of the night in desperate search of it. Numerous are the film adaptations of the story like, for example, the particularly dark one by Tim Burton (1999).


Washington Irving was born in New York on April 3rd 1783, just after the American Revolution, so that his name is an homage to George Washington. In addition to fantasy novels (like Rip van Winkle), his name is liked to other stories as the Tales of a Traveller (1824) and to some theatrical works. The merit of Washington Irving is to have legitimized American literature, yet achieving success also in Europe. He died in New York on November 28th 1859.

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Introduction

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story where myth and mystery are central topics.

Published in 1820 and set at the end of Eighteenth Century in the United States, the novel is dominated by the spectral and disquieting figure of Headless Horseman, the ghost of a man who lost his head during some battle of the American Revolutionary War and who rides in the middle of the night in desperate search of it. Numerous are the film adaptations of the story like, for example, the particularly dark one by Tim Burton (1999).

Washington Irving was born in New York on April 3rd 1783, just after the American Revolution, so that his name is an homage to George Washington.

In addition to fantasy novels (like Rip van Winkle), his name is liked to other stories as the Tales of a Traveller (1824) and to some theatrical works. The merit of Washington Irving is to have legitimized American literature, yet achieving success also in Europe. He died in New York on November 28th 1859.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

By

Washington Irving

Found among the papers of the late Diedrech Knickerbocker.

A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;

And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,

Forever flushing round a summer sky.

Castle of Indolence.

In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town.

This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic. Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world.

A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquillity.

I recollect that, when a stripling, my first exploit in squirrel-shooting was in a grove of tall walnut-trees that shades one side of the valley. I had wandered into it at noontime, when all nature is peculiarly quiet, and was startled by the roar of my own gun, as it broke the Sabbath stillness around and was prolonged and reverberated by the angry echoes. If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley.

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere.

Some say that the place was bewitched by a High German doctor, during the [...]