Greatest Short Stories--with Jarom Ruby

May 14, 2021

Rip Van Winkle

<p>This is a reading of Washington Irving's, "Rip Van Winkle," narrated by Jarom Ruby.&nbsp;</p> <p>"<strong>Rip Van Winkle</strong>" is a short story by the American author <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving" title="Washington Irving">Washington Irving</a>, first published in 1819. It follows a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch-American" title="Dutch-American">Dutch-American</a> villager in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_history_of_the_United_States" title="Colonial history of the United States">colonial America</a> named Rip <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_(Dutch)" title="Van (Dutch)">Van Winkle</a> who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls asleep in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_Mountains" title="Catskill Mountains">Catskill Mountains</a>. He awakes 20 years later to a very changed world, having missed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution">American Revolution</a>.</p> <p>Inspired by a conversation on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostalgia" title="Nostalgia">nostalgia</a> with his American expatriate brother-in-law, Irving wrote the story while temporarily living in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham" title="Birmingham">Birmingham</a>, England. It was published in his collection, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sketch_Book_of_Geoffrey_Crayon,_Gent." title="The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.">The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.</a> While the story is set in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_(state)" title="New York (state)">New York</a>'s Catskill Mountains near where Irving later took up residence, he admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills." --Wikipedia.org</p> <p><br></p> <p>I apologize for the technical difficulties that produced a lower quality recording towards the end.&nbsp;</p>