Rip van Winkle [short story]

Last night at supper we were talking about the various kinds of fey characters of human folklore, and the Spouse said Rip had spent his twenty years (relative) among hairy gnomes. I didn't remember that at all, so it seemed I'd have to read the story again. At thirty years remove from the original reading, all I could recall was the simplest plot: that Rip drinks among the fey, comes back to town 20 years later.

I'm glad I re-read it, because there's much more to the Irving telling. Kind of horrifically so, because the whole point of the story is that Van Winkle's wife is horrible. Really horrible. Such a shrew. I had no recollection of the fact that Rip was running away from her. Nor did I recall that the men he went among were so very show more hairy, nor that they were supposed to be Hendrick Hudson and crew. Nor did I notice the time the story was set: before and after the Revolutionary War, with the heroism of his former friends recounted.

The Spouse complained that Irving took a traditional story and nailed it to a specific time and place and made it such a very Catskill story. That didn't bother me, but oh, that wife! I feel suitably chastened on behalf of all my gender. The nerve of that woman, trying to make her husband provide for the family. She deserves the harshest punishment imaginable and stroking out while yelling at a peddler is pretty harsh. show less

Last night at supper we were talking about the various kinds of fey characters of human folklore, and the Spouse said Rip had spent his twenty years (relative) among hairy gnomes. I didn't remember that at all, so it seemed I'd have to read the story again. At thirty years remove from the original reading, all I could recall was the simplest plot: that Rip drinks among the fey, comes back to town 20 years later.

I'm glad I re-read it, because there's much more to the Irving telling. Kind of horrifically so, because the whole point of the story is that Van Winkle's wife is horrible. Really horrible. Such a shrew. I had no recollection of the fact that Rip was running away from her. Nor did I recall that the men he went among were so very show more hairy, nor that they were supposed to be Hendrick Hudson and crew. Nor did I notice the time the story was set: before and after the Revolutionary War, with the heroism of his former friends recounted.

The Spouse complained that Irving took a traditional story and nailed it to a specific time and place and made it such a very Catskill story. That didn't bother me, but oh, that wife! I feel suitably chastened on behalf of all my gender. The nerve of that woman, trying to make her husband provide for the family. She deserves the harshest punishment imaginable and stroking out while yelling at a peddler is pretty harsh. show less

Wonderfully vivid tale of a man who loses 20 years of his life overnight in the Catskill Mountains. Irving is a delightful narrator, who employs some irony and humor along with his powerful sense of place, to enthrall his reader.

I had, of course, read this long ago in my youth. I found it was a bit different than I had remembered and well worth taking the time to read again.

I thought the descriptive prose captivating, the story not altogether dissimilar to the watered down version I remember reading/listening to as a child. If you want to read a really excellent review, read Margaret's review here.

Margaret got me thinking about the author and his MC's excessively derisive opinion of his wife, in particular, and with far more subtlety, toward the women in his town, in general. Most of my comments appear in our brief discussion in her review. It seems that the 24 year-old Irving fell in love with and became engaged to the fifteen year-old Matilda Hoffman who was the essence of purity (blablabla) and when she died of consumption at the age of 17, he was bereft (for close to 50 years!?!) and never married, show more dying in his bachelor solitude at the age of 77. This left me with some speculation regarding his general attitude toward women and whether they posed a subjective threat to his emotional equilibrium.... I'm such a cynic! No one will ever accuse me of being a hopeless romantic....lol

For the sake of good order, and in case there is a reader in the universe who is unfamiliar with at least a version of the story:

Rip is an amiable, lazy, self absorbed character who gets his kicks scorning and criticizing his wife, who he believes henpecks him (if that is an accurate definition of demanding that he shoulder some of the responsibility in providing for his family). I can only assume it to be spite that motivates him to spend time with everyone else's kids in the town, instead of his own (at least I hope it was only spite), help out all of his neighbors with their farm chores, instead of doing his own, or carry out the errands and duties shirked by the husbands of all the other wives in town (ahem!), instead of doing so for his own. He also enjoys a nip, imbibing every now and now....

As the story goes, Rip grabs his hunting rifle and together with his trusty dog heads for the mountains to escape his wife's sharp tongue. When he sees a funny man struggling to carry a large heavy keg, he (naturally) helps out and is rewarded with an evening of drink and camaraderie. He falls asleep and wakes two hundred years later. In the meantime revolution and wars have been fought, governments formed,.... Upon his return home, everything/everyone he knew has gone. He becomes the object of curiosity to the townsfolk, who most likely would have sent him off to the funny farm, if not for his daughter (who must have been at least 210-years-old (?!?)). She recognizes him and takes him in. End of Story.

In the public domain and available everywhere on the internet or here
Also, a pleasant audio available here

… A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.

…the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them… (hmmm…odd jobs…less obliging husbands?...come on in....) show less

I knew of Rip Van Winkle, but had never read it. The fact it is by a US author, and set in the US was a surprise, as was the fact Rip slept for only 20 years. It purports to have been found in the papers of an amateur historian, Diedrich Knickerbocker, who was especially interested in the legends of the Kaatskill [sic] mountains, along the Hudson. The story itself mentions the “magical hues” of “these fairy mountains” at the start.

But the mood switches to folklore, more than magic. Rip lives in a village of Dutch settlers and their descendants: everyone loves him - except his wife, who nags and complains (not without some justification, as he’s too busy helping others to support his family).
“Morning, noon, and night, her show more tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence.”

Image: “His children were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody.” - illustration by Arthur Rackham (Source)

He goes to shoot squirrels, and sees a strange gathering:

Image: “A company of odd-looking persons playing at ninepins.” - illustration by Arthur Rackham (Source)

When he awakes from slumber and returns to the village, he doesn’t initially realise how long he slept. He’s puzzled and alarmed at how the village has changed and that he can’t recognise anyone. It turns out, he missed the whole American Revolution (against the British King), and he doesn’t understand people talking about things like citizen rights, elections, and Congress.

Image: “A troop of strange children ran at his heels, hooting after him and pointing at his grey beard..” - illustration by Arthur Rackham (Source)

Outwardly, this is quite funny, but it’s existential terror, too. Seeing his now adult son:
“He doubted his own identity… ‘I’m not myself - I’m somebody else.’”

But it then wraps up very neatly, happily, and far too quickly.

Plagiarism?

This is very similar to a German story, Peter Klaus published in 1800, nineteen years before Irving’s. Was it a conscious appropriation, and does it matter?

Short story club

I read this with The Short Story Club, which you can join here.

You can read this story HERE, with over 30 of Arthur Rackham’s ethereal illustrations. show less

The Rip Van WInkle is better known by name than actuality. To avoid confusion let me advise that Van WInkle sleeps only twenty years not a hundred and time goes by in the usual way. Crucially he misses the American Revolution and so when he sleeps, George III is King and when he awakes the American Republlic has come into existence. It is a well told story, a little old fashioned and mysogynistic in its view of marriage, perhaps. It is chiefly good fun. Three other short stories here too.

Rip Van Winkle is a laid back man with an overbearing wife in America that is currently controlled by Great Britain. He goes up into a mountain to escape his wife and falls asleep. He wakes up twenty years later, but he does not realize that it is 20 years later. He comes to his home town and everything seems very different to him. He is questioned about his reasons for being at the town and is asked who he supports. Not knowing of the Revolutionary War he tells everyone that he supports the King of England. Rip then asks the crowd if they knew anything about Rip Van Winkle and eventually his daughter takes him in. Now, Rip Van Winkle is still laid back and can now enjoy his passiveness without his overbearing wife.

I can see the humor show more of a man looking to escape his overbearing wife. I think it is even funnier that he just went up the mountain to escape her for the moment, but to wake up and come back 20 years later and realize that she is no longer around. I just enjoy the humor of an extremely passive man pretty much getting a happy ending, because he falls asleep. I also liked when Rip yelled long live the king when being questioned about who he supports. You can’t help, but shake your head at his ignorance due to not being around during the revolution. show less