American Literature / Unit 6 AML 0510 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Irving's Borrowed Plots and the Question of Originality
Captions available
The idea
Scott's advice sent Irving to German folklore, and both famous tales adapt European material to the Hudson Valley. What is American is not the plot but the setting, the speech and the history: a national literature made by relocation rather than invention.
In practice
German plots, Dutch New York.
Where people slip
Originality here means naturalizing, not inventing.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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