Riassunto
Riassunto di Rip Van Winkle
A chi è rivolto
For readers who enjoy folk tales, early American literature, and gentle humor with a sting of melancholy, as well as stories of time, change and belonging.
Che cos’è questo libro
Rip Van Winkle is a short story by the American writer Washington Irving. It first appeared in 1819 in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., a collection of tales and essays Irving published while living in England. He wanted to give the young United States a story with the feel of old folklore, set among the Dutch villages of the Hudson River valley.
The tale is presented as a manuscript left behind by Diedrich Knickerbocker, a fussy old historian of the Dutch settlers. It follows a good-natured, lazy man in a village below the Catskill Mountains, and a walk he takes one autumn day that changes his life. In about five minutes you get the setting, the people, the strange meeting on the mountain, and the ideas that make the story last. First, meet the village and the man.
In questo riassunto
- 1An idle man in a Dutch villageFree
- 2A scolding wife and a faithful dog
- 3The strange men on the mountain
- 4Change, belonging and how it is told
Punto chiave 1 di 4
An idle man in a Dutch village
The story opens in a quiet village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, settled by the Dutch in the days of Peter Stuyvesant. The weather there shapes the scenery, and the mountains change color with every shift of light. The village matters to everything that follows.
In one of its old houses lives Rip Van Winkle, a descendant of a brave soldier but not much of a soldier himself. Rip is kind, cheerful and always ready to help a neighbor. The village children love him, because he mends their toys and tells them tales. The village dogs do not bark at him.
His one great fault is that he hates profitable work. He will carry a neighbor's load or fish all day without complaint, yet his own farm falls to ruin, his fences collapse and his cattle wander into the corn. This sets up the humor of the opening, and it also raises a question: is idleness a sin, or only another way to live?
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Rip Van Winkle
- Rip is a good-natured villager who readily helps his neighbors but neglects his own farm and household.
- Dame Van Winkle
- Dame Van Winkle is Rip's outspoken wife, who manages their household and scolds him for his idleness.
- Wolf
- Wolf is Rip's faithful hunting dog, sharing his master's fear of Dame Van Winkle and accompanying him outdoors.
- Nicholas Vedder
- Nicholas Vedder is the village innkeeper who presides over the gathering where Rip spends his idle hours.
- The stout old man
- The stout old man is a mysterious stranger whose mountain encounter draws Rip away from his familiar surroundings.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 8,600 words
- Reading timeAbout 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Rip Van Winkle
What is Rip Van Winkle about?
It is about an easygoing man in a Dutch village in the Catskills who avoids work and flees his scolding wife. A walk into the mountains leads him to a strange meeting that changes his whole life.
When was Rip Van Winkle written?
Washington Irving published it in 1819 in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. It is a work of fiction, though Irving based it on German and local folk legends and gave it a Hudson Valley setting.
Who is Diedrich Knickerbocker in Rip Van Winkle?
He is an invented Dutch-American historian, supposed to have written down the tale. Irving used him as a comic narrator in earlier works too, and the name later became a nickname for New Yorkers.
Is Rip Van Winkle hard to read?
The plot is simple. The humor and storytelling keep it easy to follow.
What is the main message of Rip Van Winkle?
The story reflects on time, change and belonging. It treats idleness with humor rather than blame, and it shows how a young nation, quick to change, could still long for an older, slower world.