Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

watching the America of the founders pass away. He did not care, however, to work out these thoughts to
the extent that his successors did. Another commentator wrote:
A tour of the prairies, a work that deserves more reputation was conceived as another
Sketch Book, with a single romantic theme—the march of the rangers through the Indian
country. But here Irving was too close to his subject. The Indian stories were not in his
vein. The companions of his voyage did not project their shadows against historic
backgrounds…the material that Cooper found so rich was for him too thin. (Canby, 181).
As with his earlier works, Irving’s participation in the romantic style, combined with his emotional
character, caused him to write shorter and less thoughtful narratives. Although, as in the above examples
from the Tour, Irving sometimes sought to direct his reader’s reasoning, the “ambiance” which his works
created generally left to the reader the responsibility of thinking on his own.
Irving’s writings established the foundations for writers such as Cooper, Hawthorne, and
Longfellow, who built upon Irving’s treatment of the Indians in his creation of a much deeper critique of
American republicanism. One author wrote, “We must with emphasis recur to the thought … that it was
Irving who through his legends and his descriptions developed in his countrymen local sentiment and pride
in the natural grandeur of their country.” (Hellman, 154). Many regard Irving as the first American author.
As such he set the stage for the greater works of his successors. Irving inspired both Hawthorne and
Longfellow. (Baym, 952). He read and enjoyed the works of both Hawthorne and Cooper and took a sort
patron’s role in their careers. (Pierre Irving, Vol. 4, 133). He greatly respected Cooper. (Pierre Irving,
Vol. 4, 313). Irving possessed a special fondness for the works of his contemporary, poet William Cullen
Bryant, whose poems he published and whose works he reviewed. (Everett, 88). While Irving may not have
troubled himself with the deeper concerns of his successors, he actively and dutifully worked to create an
American literary identity. If his works did not themselves pose great intellectual problems, they did create
a precedent for later authors to do so.
In establishing the foundations for the tradition of the American Indian and the American West in
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