Rip Van Winkle
by Washington Irving

Rip Van Winkle: Genre 1 key example

Key Examples in Rip Van Winkle

Genre
Explanation and Analysis:

Although "Rip Van Winkle" is easily recognizable today as a short story, its genre was not so easy to pin down at the time it was written. In The Sketchbook of Sir Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., the longer work in which the story appeared, Irving experimented with several genres. These included travel writing, the "sketch," the folktale, national literature, and historical fiction.