Washington Irving's Fiction in the Light of 

 French Criticism 



By George Davis Morris, Dr. d'U (Paris) 

 Associate Professor of French in Indiana University. 



I. Introduction 



Irving shares with Cooper the honor of having demonstrated to 

 France that a new Hterature had dawned on this side of the Atlantic. 

 He gained a foothold in France by means of his Sketch-hook, which, 

 already famous in England, was translated into French in 1821. 

 Two years later, Bracehridge Hall was translated. The success of 

 these two books is indicated by the fact that in the following year 

 a much earlier work, one, moreover, which was only in part written 

 by Irving, Salmagundi, was likewise translated and published. In 

 1825 Irving's next production, Tales of a Traveler, was made accessible 

 to French readers. This was followed, in 1827, by a translation of 

 another early work, the History of New York. Alhambra, the last 

 of his important works of fiction, was translated in J833, soon after 

 its first appearance in English. 



Irving's popularity in France is proved, however, not only by the 

 publication of his works in that country, but also by the testimony 

 of his French critics. Xavier Eyma gives Irving the entire credit of 

 having '^forced the hand, so to speak, in France as well as in England, 

 of the prejudices that were cherished against the literature beyond 

 the sea".^ Fontaney admitted, in 1832, that the French were very 

 fond of Irving, 2 and a few years later Philarete Chasles declared 

 openly that he had become a popular author.^ That this popularity 

 was lasting is suggested by the following statement, made by Octave 

 Sachot, in 1855: ''Washington Irving has not aged. He is still the 

 Geoffrey Crayon of earlier days, the pleasing essayist of thirty years 

 ago, the delightful moralist who charms both young and old."^ 



1 Revue contemporaine, XL (1864), 657. 



2 Revue des Deux Mondes, June 1, 1832, p. 548. 



3 Ibid., July 15, 1835, p. 191. 



« Athenaeum francais, 1885, p. 385. 



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