The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving

This collection of short stories is quite a mixed bag. The book starts with a voyage across the Atlantic back to England, metaphorically figured as an alienated father. In the course of the book, however, the stories jump back and forth across the Atlantic. There are hints of the gothic, with ghost stories presented as folklore accounts. There is a lengthy account of an old-fashioned English Christmas, and a brief piece on King Philip. "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Diederich Knickerbocker's two posthumous works, bookend the collection. Irving's views on the Native Americans are both surprisingly enlightened, and yet, still deeply patronizing. Despite the mixed genres, the collection is pervaded by a sense of chaos and confusion--the loss of something old without a clear direction of what new thing will replace it.