The rugged individualistic idea of an American frontier filled with characters and heroes challenged the norms of everyday life in Europe. Captivated by the imaginative presentation of an idealistic America, Europeans were drawn to the writings Washington Irving. Even though his work was not considered art he was very influential in the development of the American short story.
American short story started with the colonization of American and the early Puritanical type writings attempting to define a culture to itself. These writings mostly glorified God through direct and clear structure that reflected the austere lifestyle they lived during this time. With the Great Awakening came a more somber message of salvation delivered through evangelical …show more content…
Irving was not credited with artic ability for many reasons, one of which that America and Americans did not have access to the great libraries of Europe and were mainly limited to books that were in their own house many of which were already outdated in Europe. Thus, many Europeans considered American literary to be a generation behind in their development. Irving relied on descriptions and accounts more of an essayist that he had first been exposed to in the literary world. Thus, lacking the dramatic moments, and biting story lines his works were not considered art. His influence of the short story was rather exercised through his shrewdness in part. When he published The Sketch Book in America, he simultaneously published it in Europe and success there influenced other young authors of his time to emulate The Sketch Book of picturesque descriptions of the lands across the ocean and the wonder to be found in this strange land held the imagination Europeans and the miscellaneous works gathered appealed to a wider range of people exulting his popularity and influence in the literary