The Search for America in Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow In the first half of the 1800s, Washington Irving was an immensely popular writer, acclaimed as one of the "great" American writers. Irving's importance lies above all in "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", the sketches in which he creates the vision of alternative America. His critique of American society through its main characters - Rip and Ichabod - and the cities in which they live gives shape to an America not usually recognized by his contemporaries, and therefore crucial to American literary studies today. J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur, who created the most definitive definition of "American" in Irving's time, certainly would not. Indeed, it is precisely Crevecoeur's type of America that Irving opposes. When viewed against the backdrop of Crevecoeur's definition of America, Irving's sketches portray a very different America, the other America. Irving will be compared to Crevecoeur in five main sections: “Building the European,” in which Crevecoeur claims that traces of Europe can be found throughout American society; "The Melting Pot", in which Crevecoeur states that European influences are assimilated into an American whole and create a new society; “The American Stranger,” in which Crevecoeur argues that no one is a stranger in America; “American Industry,” which examines the industrial spirit found in Americans; and finally “People of the Soil,” which deals with Americans’ ties to the land. Throughout these sections, Crevecoeur's traditional view of America will serve to showcase Irving's unique America. Relying on the EuropeanIn defining "American," Crevecoeur is quick to point out ... half of the document ......ary on the works of Washington Irving, 1860-1974. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown, NY: Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 330-42. Pochmann, Henry A. "Irving's German Tour and Its Influence on His Short Stories." PMLA45 (1930) 1150-87. Ringe, Donald A. "New York and New England: Irving's Critique of American Society." American Literature 38 (1967): 455-67. Rpt. in A Century of Commentaries on the Works of Washington Irving, 1860-1974. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown, NY: Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 398-411. Rourke, Constance. American Humor: A Study in National Character. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1931. Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. "The Value of Storytelling: 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' in the Context of The Sketch Book." Modern philology 82(1985): 393-406.