If the tale is an act of plagiarism then it has no right to remain our most famous short story, but if the tale is reexamined in terms of the changes made and in terms of Irving's artistry, then it may be possible to understand important aspects of the story that have been overlooked for a century and a half. Though it is true there are analogues that closely parallel portions of Irving's story, there have not been any evaluations of the changes he incorporated into the legend, changes that create specific correspondences to American life and thought the investigations of the tale's genesis fail to account for Irving's conscious artistry in the genre he was to make an American tradition. Since the tale's publication in The Sfetch Book in 1819, critics have insisted the account of the Dutch farmer who strays from city to mountain where he meets elves, drinks, becomes enchanted, and sleeps for twenty years, is no more than the transplanting of a German legend that Irving may have read while studying the language in Europe. PLUNG 'Rip Van Winkle,' the best known American short story, affords valuable insights into our national character, but much of our ability to interpret Washington Irving's message has been obscured by the recurrent cries of plagiarism, and by the continued search for similarities rather than differences between the American story and its European counterparts and predecessors. 'Rip Van Winkle': Metempsychosis and the Questfor Self-Reliance DANIEL L.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Rip van winkle summary