Rip Van Winkle
"Rip Van Winkle" | |
---|---|
Short story by Washington Irving | |
Text available at Wikisource | |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Short story |
Publication | |
Published in | The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. |
Publication date | 1819 |
"Rip Van Winkle" (Dutch pronunciation:
Inspired by a conversation on nostalgia with his American expatriate brother-in-law, Irving wrote the story while temporarily living in Birmingham, England. It was published in his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. While the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains near where Irving later took up residence, he admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills."[1]
Plot
Rip Van Winkle, a
Rip awakens on a sunny morning, at the spot where he first saw the keg-carrier, and finds that many drastic changes have occurred; his beard is a foot long and has turned gray, his musket is badly deteriorated, and Wolf is nowhere to be found. Returning to his village, he discovers it to be larger than he remembers and filled with people in unfamiliar clothing, none of whom recognize him. When asked how he voted in the election that has just been held, he declares himself a loyal subject of
Rip discovers that his wife has been dead for some time, but is overall not saddened by the news. He learns via a village elder that the men he met in the mountains are rumored to be ghosts of the crew of the Characters
Composition and publication history
After a failed business venture with his brothers, Irving filed for bankruptcy in 1818.[2] Despondent, he turned to writing for possible financial support, although he had difficulty thinking of stories to write. He stayed in Birmingham, England, where his brother-in-law Henry van Wart had opened a trading firm.[3] The two were reminiscing in June 1818 when Irving was suddenly inspired by their nostalgic conversation.[4] Irving locked himself in his room and wrote non-stop all night. As he said, he felt like a man waking from a long sleep. He presented the first draft of "Rip Van Winkle" to the van Wart family over breakfast.[5]
"Rip Van Winkle" was one of the first stories Irving proposed for his new book,
Following the success of Rip Van Winkle in print and on stage, later celebrated editions were illustrated by
Themes and literary forerunners
One story in Judaism concerns Honi HaMe'agel, a miracle-working sage of the 1st century BC, who was a historical character but to whom various myths were attached. While traveling one day, Honi saw a man planting a carob tree and asked him about it. The man explained that the tree would take 70 years to bear fruit, and that he was planting it not for himself but for the generations to follow him. Later that day, Honi sat down to rest but fell asleep for 70 years; when he awoke, he saw a man picking fruit from a fully mature carob tree. Asked whether he had planted it, the man replied that he had not, but that his grandfather had planted it for him.[9][10]
In Christian tradition, there is a similar, well-known story of "The
Another similar story in the Islamic tradition is of
In the tenth chapter of his book
The story of "Rip Van Winkle" itself is widely thought to have been based on Johann Karl Christoph Nachtigal's German folktale "Peter Klaus",[4][11] which is a shorter story set in a German village. It tells of a goatherd named Peter Klaus who goes looking for a lost goat. He finds some men drinking in the woods and, after drinking some of their wine, he falls asleep. When he wakes back up, twenty years have passed.[4][21]
The story also bears some similarities to stories from East Asia, including the third century AD Chinese tale of "
The theme is taken up in numerous modern works of science fiction. In
Adaptations
The story has been adapted for other media over the past two centuries, in cartoons, films, stage plays, music, and other media.
- Theater:
- Film: Rip Van Winkle (1903 film),[25] Rip Van Winkle (1921 film).[25] Rip (2022 film).
- Music:
- George Frederick Bristow's 1855 Rip van Winkle opera.
- The 1882 Rip Van Winkle (operetta), a romantic opera adaptation.[25]
- The 1960s Tale Spinners for Children included a dramatization of the story.[29]
- Poetry: British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy wrote "Mrs Rip Van Winkle" from the perspective of the wife, who in the original story is voiceless.
- Cartoons and animated films:
- An episode of The Flintstones entitled "Rip Van Flintstone" (aired November 5, 1965).[30]
- An episode of Garfield and Friends entitled “Rip Van Kitty” (aired September 16, 1989)[31]
- An episode of the Laurel and Hardy cartoon seriesentitled "Flipped Van Winkles".
- Tales of Washington Irving, a one-hour animated television special about "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle".[25]
- A Academy Award.[32]
- Comics
- Disney's "Rip van Goofy" (February 1, 1966)[33]
- Boys' Life's Dink & Duff comic strip has Dink, an African-American Cub Scout, lapse into a coma and awakens in 2068. A boy addresses him as "Rip van Dinkle" and explains that during the past 80 years the United States has been replaced by an authoritarian monarchy. Dink eventually awakens back in 1988.
- Television
- E. G. Marshall played the title character in a 1958 episode of Shirley Temple's Storybook.
- Wishbone showed the dog imagining himself as the title character, complete with the men playing nine-pins and his mistaking the George Washington Inn for his old hangout, the King George Inn.[34][35]
Statue
There is a
In popular culture
The name Rip Van Winkle has been used to name
- infrastructure (Rip Van Winkle Bridge),[36][37]
- consumer goods (Old Rip Van Winkle whiskey)[38][39] and
- Music:
- American composer George Whitefield Chadwick wrote a concert overture entitled Rip Van Winkle in 1879, when he was a student in Leipzig.
- American Doom metal band Witch perform a song entitled "Rip Van Winkle" detailing the story in song form
- American Doo-wop band The Devotions released their novelty song single "Rip Van Winkle" in 1961 on Delta Records
- American psych-rock band Shannon and the Clams released a song called ‘Rip Van Winkle’ on their third album ‘Dreams from the Rat House’.
- Literature:
- In Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, the name "Rip Van Winkle" is attributed to a fellow prisoner as a riddle in order to understand that the man has been imprisoned for 20 years.
- Video games:
- The 1990 video game Super Mario World features an enemy known as "Rip Van Fish" which constantly sleeps unless disturbed.
- Disney’s 2003 MMO Toontown Online featured buildings with names based on puns and pop-culture references, one of these buildings, in the Donald’s Dreamland area of the game, was named "Rip Van Winkle’s Wrinkle Cream". The same building also features in the 2014 fan-made revival of the game Toontown Rewritten.
- In the 2018 video game Red Dead Redemption II, outlaw John Marstonjokingly claims that his name is Rip Van Winkle when questioned by Pinkerton Agent Milton, seemingly in a effort to mislead and mock him.
- Television:
- In the 1961 The Twilight Zone episode "The Rip Van Winkle Caper", four gold thieves place themselves in suspended animation for 100 years in order to escape the law and, upon revival, spend their stolen fortune with impunity.
- In the 1963 The Twilight Zone episode "In His Image", Rip Van Winkle is mentioned after a man realizes his hometown has greatly changed in supposedly one week.
- In the 1992 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics", 147-year-old Captain Montgomery Scott is revived after 75 years in a transport buffer.
- In the 1994 film Star Trek Generations, 138-year-old Admiral James T. Kirk comes back to life after being "suspended" in a Nexus for 78 years.
- In the BBC television show Doctor Who, the tenth episode of the ninth series (titled "Sleep no More") involves a machine called Morpheus which can condense a full night's worth of sleep into mere minutes. People who refuse to use Morpheus are colloquially called "Rips", referencing Rip van Winkle.
See also
- Epimenides
- Rip Van Winkfrom The Beano
- Seven Sleepers, the Christian and Islamic story of a group of youths who hid inside a cave at Ephesus to escape Roman persecutions and emerged some 300 years later.
- The Bedbug, the story of Prisypkin, who was frozen in the basement for fifty years.
References
- ^ Pierre M. Irving (1883). The Life and Letters of Washington Irving. Vol. 2. G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 176.
- ISBN 978-0-465-00853-7.
- ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-465-00853-7.
- ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4.
- ISBN 978-0-465-00853-7.
- ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4.
- ISBN 978-0-465-00853-7.
- ^ Babylonian Talmud Taanit 23a Hebrew/Aramaic text at Mechon-Mamre Archived 2020-08-09 at the Wayback Machine
- The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Thorn, John. "Saint Rip". nyfolklore.org. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ Quran Surah Al-Kahf
- ^ "Surat Al-Kahf (18:9–26)". The Holy Qur'an – القرآن الكريم.
- ^ Renda, G'nsel (1978). "The Miniatures of the Zubdat Al- Tawarikh". Turkish Treasures Culture /Art / Tourism Magazine.
- ^ Ibn Kathir, Stories of the Prophets, translated by Shaikh muhammed Mustafa Gemeiah, Office of the Grand Imam, Sheikh al-Azhar, El-Nour Publishing, Egypt, 1997, Ch.21, pp.322-4
- ^ ISBN 978-3-16-153260-3.
- ^ ISBN 9780691170152.
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius (1972). Lives of Eminent Philosophers: Books I-V. Translated by Hick, R. D. Cambridge: Harvard. p. 115.
- ^ Welch, Deshler (9 May 1887). The Theater. Vol. 3. New York City, New York: Theatre Publishing Company. p. 139. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ Bates, Alfred (1906). The Drama; Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization: American Drama. Vol. 20. London, England: Historical Publishing Company. p. 121. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ A translation of the tale is available on Wikisource: Peter the Goatherd.
- ^ "Muchukunda". Mythfolklore.net. October 16, 2007. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- ^ "Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 51". Vedabase.net. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
- ^ Jefferson, Joseph; Boucicault, Dion (1895). Rip Van Winkle (Introduction). Dodd, Mead and Company. pp. 401–403. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9780786492794. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- OCLC 1263778902.
- ^ "Performances". thesigmanbrothers.com. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
- ^ "Winners Announced For The BroadwayWorld 2021 Chicago Awards". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
- ^ "Tale Spinners for Children". artsreformation.com. Archived from the original on 2013-08-13. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
- ^ "IMDb Pro: Rip Van Flintstone Business Details". pro.imdb.com. July 27, 2007. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- ^ "Rip Van Kitty/U.S. Acres: Grabbity/The Big Catnap Business Details". IMDb Pro. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
- ^ "Will Vinton's Personal Website". Willvinton.net. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
- ^ "Rip van Goofy". Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (5). 26 (305). Gold Key. February 1, 1966.
- ^ Moore, Scott (November 5, 1995). "In Dogged Pursuit of Literacy". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
- The Sun Sentinel. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
- ^ "Rip Van Winkle Bridge". nysba.ny.gov.
- ^ Moran, Nancy (August 13, 1970). "One-Way Tolls Confusing Some Drivers". The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ISBN 9780967420806.
- ^ Gabriel Trip (October 18, 2013). "The case of the Missing Bourbon". The New York Times.
Sources
- Irving, Washington (1921). Rip Van Winkle. Illustrated by Wyeth, N.C. – via Internet Archive.
- Irving, Washington (6 September 2022). Rip Van Winkle. Harvard Classics – via Bartleby.
- Irving, Washington (1946). Rip Van Winkle (Audiobook). Decca. Archived from the original on 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2007-05-27 – via KiddieRecords.
- Dickson, W.K.L. (1896). Rip Van Winkle (Film) – via Internet Archive.
- 'Karl Katz', a comparison. Archived from the original on 2009-10-28 – via Internet Archive.
- Irving, Washington (1948). Rip Van Winkle (Radio play). Theatre Guild on the Air. Internet Archive
Further reading
- "'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' – Irving's Fictions of Revolution". cowbeech.force9.co.uk.
- "'Rip Van Winkle' Study Guide". Cummings Study Guides.
- "Washington Irving in Birmingham". Birmingham.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2003-11-11.
External links
- The full text of Rip Van Winkle at Wikisource
- Media related to Rip Van Winkle at Wikimedia Commons
- Rip Van Winkle public domain audiobook at LibriVox