A History of New York - Wikipedia A History of New York From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker Author Washington Irving Country United States Language English Subject History of New York City Genre Satire Publisher various Publication date 1809 A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker (also known as Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York) is an 1809 book on the history of New York City by Washington Irving. The book is significant as early media describing what became modern Christmas traditions in the United States.[1] Background[edit] Irving had previously published his compilation of sketches Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. (1802) and headed a short-lived periodical called Salmagundi (1807–1808). He completed his satirical A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker in 1809 after the death of his 17-year-old fiancée Matilda Hoffman. It was his first major book and a satire on local history and contemporary politics. Before its publication, Irving started a hoax by placing a series of missing person advertisements in New York newspapers seeking information on Diedrich Knickerbocker, a Dutch historian who had allegedly gone missing from his hotel in New York City. As part of the ruse, he placed a notice from the hotel's proprietor informing readers that, if Mr. Knickerbocker failed to return to the hotel to pay his bill, he would publish a manuscript that Knickerbocker had left behind.[2] Unsuspecting readers followed the story of Knickerbocker and his manuscript with interest, and some New York city officials were concerned enough about the missing historian to offer a reward for his safe return. Irving then published A History of New York on December 6, 1809 under the Knickerbocker pseudonym, with immediate critical and popular success.[3] "It took with the public", Irving remarked, "and gave me celebrity, as an original work was something remarkable and uncommon in America".[4] The name Diedrich Knickerbocker became a nickname for Manhattan residents in general and was adopted by the New York Knickerbockers basketball team.[5] As to its genre, Elizabeth L. Bradley regards it as an unconventional novel; she notes that early readers were reminded of Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, and that “the proto-postmodern innovations of the History” resemble “the same inventive qualities in such subsequent American writers as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.”[6] Reception[edit] Contemporary critics of the book described it as "an attempt to annihilate the history of America".[7][who?] A 2005 reviewer described the book as satire and not being a modern novel.[8][who?] But Elizabeth L. Bradley regards it as an unconventional novel; she notes that early readers were reminded of Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, and that “the proto-postmodern innovations of the History” resemble “the same inventive qualities in such subsequent American writers as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.”[9] A 2012 reviewer said that despite the book being satire it also contains useful historical facts and context.[10][who?] References[edit] ^ Burstein, Andrew (25 December 2005). "How Christmas Became Merry". The New York Times. ^ Jones, Brian Jay. Washington Irving: An American Original. Arcade, 2008: 118-27. ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4 ^ Burstein, Andrew. The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving. Basic Books, 2007: 72. ISBN 978-0-465-00853-7 ^ Washington Irving to Mrs. Amelia Foster, [April–May 1823], Works, 23:741. ^ "Knickerbocker". Oxford English Dictionary. ^ Introduction, A History of New York (NY: Penguin Books, 2008), xvi, xxiv. ^ Ferguson, Robert A. (June 1981). ""Hunting Down a Nation": Irving's A History of New York". Nineteenth-Century Fiction. 36 (1): 22–46. doi:10.2307/3044549. ^ Wade, Christine (25 May 2015). "A Satirical Novel of Historic New York". Off the Shelf. ^ Introduction, A History of New York (NY: Penguin Books, 2008), xvi, xxiv. ^ McGann, Jerome (2012). "Washington Irving, A History of New York, and American History". Early American Literature. 47 (2): 349–376. doi:10.1353/eal.2012.0031. Further reading[edit] Bradley, Elizabeth L. (22 January 2009). "Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York | The Leonard Lopate Show". WNYC. The Leonard Lopate Show. External links[edit] Text at Project Gutenberg Britannica v t e Washington Irving Short story collections The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819–20) "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" "Rip Van Winkle" Bracebridge Hall (1822) Tales of a Traveller (1824) "The Devil and Tom Walker" Tales of the Alhambra (1832) Biography and history The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828) Astoria (1836) Mahomet and His Successors (1849) Other writings Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. (1802) Salmagundi (1807–08) A History of New York (1809) Family William Irving (brother) Peter Irving (brother) Characters Diedrich Knickerbocker (character, pen name) Ichabod Crane (character) Headless Horseman (character) Miscellany Sunnyside (home and museum) Knickerbocker Group Washington Irving Memorial Washington Irving Memorial Park and Arboretum Irving Literary Society U.S. ambassador to Spain, 1842-1846 Authority control GND: 4663326-1 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_History_of_New_York&oldid=995133406" Categories: 1809 books Works by Washington Irving Books about New York City Hidden categories: Books with missing cover All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from December 2020 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Deutsch 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 12:01 (UTC). 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