The James Logan Courier

By Tim Johnson
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

LIAOZHONG, China—This rural county seat in northeast China has an Internet cafe on almost every street, 63 in total, and most of them are full of young people passing time.

Parked in front of computer screens, they move through virtual dungeons to slay ogres and gather gold in online games.

But it's not mere idleness. Many of the gamers are working.

Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author of the early 19th century. He is perhaps best known for his short stories, his most famous being The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip van Winkle (both appearing in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon), but he was a prolific writer of essays, biographies, and other forms as well. He and James Fenimore Cooper were the first American writers to earn acclaim in Europe, and Irving is said to have mentored authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe.


Washington Irving Click the video screen to watch an 1889 film version of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, streaming in 256k MPEG. According to Wilford B. Wolf's review posted at the Internet Archive, the film is "A series of short (about 20-30 sec) scenes that depict the Irving classic "Rip Van Winkle". The first two parts appear to be shot in Edison's studio in New York, which opened up to allow in natural sunlight. The remaining reels, where Van Winkle leaves with the dwarves and drinks to oblivion, appear to be shot outside."

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Read Washington Irving's The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West, one of 18 of his works available from Project Gutenberg