Sanctuaries in Washington Irving's "The Sketch Book"

Having explored the themes of sanctuaries of light, serenity, harmony and natural beauty in other writers of the 19th century, Walter here discusses the depiction and the presentations of sanctuaries of natural beauty, architectural splendor, peacefulness, luminescence, twilight, and mythical vitality in Irving's (1783-1859) The Sketch Book, which contains some of the most significant stories and essays in American literature. He covers sanctuaries in 19th-century American and European literature, "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and sanctuaries in "The Mutability of Literature" and other essays. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Hugo G. Walter earned his BA at Princeton University, his MA at Old Dominion University, his PhD in literature at Yale University, and his PhD in interdisciplinary humanities at Drew University. He is Professor of English and Humanities at Berkeley College Online. Walter's most recent publications include Beautiful Sanctuaries in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century European Literature (Lang, 2011) and Magnificent Houses in Twentieth-Century European Literature (Lang, 2012). In addition, he has published ten volumes of poetry.