Satire, Irony, and Humor in The History of New York by Irving.
A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Washington Irving is often perceived by a contemporary reader as not more than an amusing and ironic literary work. There is a ground for that. At first nothing more was intended than a satire upon the Picture of New York, by Dr. Samuel Mitchell, just then published. "It was begun as a mere burlesque upon pedantry and erudition" (Warner). However, it turned out to be more than just a funny anecdote. The History became a famous parody on America at Irving's time. Ironically, it is satire and irony that make The History a very serious work. Behind the irony and satire, there is a very serious historical effort on the part of Irving.
Under the guise of Diedrich Knickerbocker, "a small elderly gentleman" who had mysteriously disappeared from his lodgings, leaving behind him a manuscript of "the only authentic history of the times that have been or ever will be published," Washington Irving published his "most unified and jubilant work" ("Washington Irving." University of Delaware Library).
As Black writes, "[T]he outstanding combination of fact that is interspersed with exaggeration, burlesque and biting sarcasm, mock solemnity, and extravagant irreverence laid a foundation of style for subsequent American humorists" and has been getting very high reviews: "[A] satire that has been called the first great book of comic literature written by an American. Purporting to be a scholarly account of the Dutch occupation of the New World, the book is a burlesque of history books as well as a satire of politics in his own time" ("Washington Irving," Smart Publishers). "The book is indeed an original creation, and one of the few masterpieces of humor. In spontaneity, freshness, breadth of conception, and joyous vigor, it belongs to the springtime of literature. It has entered into the popular mind as no other American book ever has, and it may be said to have created a social realm which, with all its whimsical conceit, has almost historical solidity"(Warner).
Everyone is a fool in The History including Knickerbocker himself: "...a very worthy, good sort of an old gentleman, though a little queer in his ways." He appears in front of the readers in a classic comical image of a writer: ". . . he would bounce out in a great passion, with his hands full of papers, and say something about `deranging his ideas'."
As Warner says: "The preliminary announcement of The History, the whole `Knickerbocker legend,' a fantastic creation, which in a manner took the place of history,
was a humorous and skillful piece of advertising." But that is, probably, the only innocent humoristic moment of The History.
Throughout The History Irving "satirizes pretentious historians and wittily deflates some shibboleths of American history" (Black). Irving's wording deserves admiration: "Thus it was the opinion of certain ancient sages, that the earth and the whole system of the universe was the Deity himself; a doctrine most strenuously maintained by Zenophanes, and the whole tribe of Eleatics, as also by Strabo and the sect of peripatetic philosophers." Even the name of Chapter Four of Book One - "Showing the great difficulty philosophers have had in peopling America - and how the aborigines came to be begotten by an accident - to the great relief and satisfaction of the author" is a fine example of what critics call "an ironic questioning of objective historical facts and historiographical skepticism" (Washington Irving: evolution).
In Chapter Five, Dietrich Knickerbocker asks what he calls himself "a gigantic question" - "[W]hat right had the first discoverers of America to land, and take possession of a country, without asking the consent of its inhabitants, or yielding them an adequate compensation for their territory?" The writer pretends to justify the rights of European colonists to the land, but in reality he reveals the falsity and injustice of their claims. He uses classic legal concepts of the right by discovery, by cultivation, by civilization, by extermination ("by gunpowder"), and by authority. His justification is impeccable, his arguments are consecutive and persuasive, and every paragraph is filled with satire so sharp and sarcasm so thick that the hidden true meaning becomes inevitably obvious for any reader.
For example, Irving cites the works of reputable lawyers Grotius and Puffendorf: "all mankind have an equal right to any thing, which has never before been appropriated, so any nation, that discovers an uninhabited country, and takes possession thereof, is considered as enjoying full property, and absolute, unquestionable empire therein." Therefore, all Europeans had to do was to prove that the land was uninhabited. An it was done - Indians are not people, they are not more than animals; various arguments are collected in support of this statement, and the fine conclusion comes out: "it was clearly evident, that this fair quarter of the globe when first visited by Europeans, was a howling wilderness, inhabited by nothing but wild beasts; and that the trans-Atlantic visitors acquired an incontrovertable property therein, by the right of Discovery." A brilliant strategy of proving one statement while in fact it only proves the very opposite is successfully repeated with every legal claim of cultivation, civilization, authority, etc. Ironically, not in a single case the author had to change a word in the arguments of the lawyers he refers to.
Before engaging into this argument, the writer notes: "[U]ntil this mighty question is totally put to rest, the worthy people of America can by no means enjoy the soil they inhabit, with clear right and title, and quiet, unsullied consciences." After his outstanding answer to this "mighty question" the mission is accomplished - the right is proved and conscience is calmed!
The process of civilizing of American Indians is a matter of a particular concern for Irving. Speaking of the colonization process, he says that Indians were being "blessed with bowels of charity and philanthropy" of Europeans, while in fact he is appalled at the way Europeans were treating the Indians so much that he does not even try to disguise that; and a bitter sarcasm he uses to describe it is better than any criticism:
They introduced among them the comforts of life, consisting of rum, gin and
brandy - and it is astonishing to read how soon the poor savages learnt to estimate these blessings - they likewise made known to them a thousand remedies, by which the most inveterate diseases are alleviated and healed, and that they might comprehend the benefits and enjoy the comforts of these medicines, they previously introduced among them the diseases, which they were calculated to cure. By these and a variety of other methods was the condition of these poor savages, wonderfully improved; they acquired a thousand wants, of which they had before been ignorant, and as he has most sources of happiness, who has most wants to be gratified, they were doubtlessly rendered a much happier race of beings.
But it was not the Early Period of America that made The History so popular in its time - it is a political satire on the contemporary times. The images of the three Dutch governors play a central role here: "Walter the Doubter," William the Testy," and "Peter the Headstrong." Walter the Doubter was easily recognized by the contemporaries of Irving as Adams, William the Testy - as Jefferson, and Peter the Headstrong - as Madison.
No doubts, Irving's contemporaries could appreciate it much better that the readers do now. However, many things the author wrote about are still true in our days.
For example, the author parodies the social and political life of the United States talking about the division of the New Amsterdam citizens into two parties: "The important benefit of these distinctions is obvious. How many . . . patriots are there, whose knowledge is bounded by the political vocabulary, and who, were they not thus arranged in parties would never know their own minds, or which way to think on a subject; so that by following their own common sense the community might often fall into that unanimity." He actually talks about the main flaw of the new society - "people are never tempted to think independently" (Warner).
Irving is laughing at the greatest guarantees the United States democracy - the freedom of speech and consciousness and reveals how it really works: "As the majority were perfectly convinced that they alone thought right, it consequently followed, that whoever thought different from them thought wrong - and whoever thought wrong and . . . persisted in not being convinced and converted, was a flagrant violator of the . . . liberty of conscience, and a corrupt . . .member of the body politic, and deserved to be lopped off and cast into the fire."
Although there is a lot more of a political satire and it takes a central place in The History, it is not the only theme. There is also what many critics call a "mock-epic" of the important historical events. The satire is less bitter here, the humor is more innocent and entertaining.
For example, the reasons for wars - they are truly noble: "May 20, 1642. The English of Hartford have violently cut loose a horse of the honored companies that stood bound upon the common. May 9, 1643. The companies horses pastured upon the companies ground, were driven away by them of Connecticut or Hartford, and the herdsman was lustily beaten with hatchets and sticks."
Battles are made light of and become jokes and anecdotes; ancient gods participate in battles and travels, and they are comically described, like Juno being "ox-eyed" and winning "a pair of black eyes over night, in one of her curtain lectures with old Jupiter." Adding to the comical effect is the narrator, Diedrich Knickerbocker, who "actually tries to present a serious history" ("Washington Irving," University of Delaware Library).
One of the brightest satirical pictures in The History is a battle with a general Won-Poffenburg, "a parody on the fameless expedition of the general James Wilkinson to New Orleans in 1806." The siege that lasted nine hours is compared to Troy's siege that lasted ten years; and the outcome of the final battle is unbelievable: "Nothing, save the dullness of their weapons, the damaged condition of their powder, and the singular accident of one and all striking with the flat instead of the edge of their swords, could have prevented a most horrible carnage." The grand battle at the fort was over with not a single soldier killed!
Nevertheless, The History is more than just an anecdote. The History creates a romantic mythology of the history, surrounding the past with the attractive and mysterious aura. In the same time The History is a sharp parody on the rational traditions of classicism of the 18th century with an attitude to history as a textbook and guidance for living, an attempt to understand the social life on the examples from the ancient times.
Finally, it is impossible to leave out the favorite technique of Irving that he first used in The History. The narrator, Dietrich Knickerbocker, escapes from reality into the world of romantic fantasy, into the legendary past of the Hendrick Hudson times, just like the heroes of other Irving's works do, for example, Rip Wan Winkle. There, in the patriarchal New Amsterdam of their dream, they find what they don't have in the contemporary life, in America of business, politics, and money transactions. Irving's characters are going away, leaving behind contemporary times, just like the Pioneers were leaving for the West, escaping from the new, hectic, overwhelming life, and just like many people are trying to escape in our days, for example, by choosing Internet over reality or by taking narcotics to runaway from the problems.
Serious and funny in The History are grown into each other. Irving's outstanding satire, irony, and humor make the reader not only laugh, but also think about different matters. The History, being much more serious work than it seems at the first glance, as any good work, carries a lot of meaning in our days. Yes, not everyone knows a lot about events and characters of The History, but many issues Irving writes about still appeal to readers.
Irving, Washington. "A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty."Questia Online Library. <http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=54751024>
Irving, Washington. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05. 20 Oct. 2005.