Knickerbocker Group

The Knickerbocker Group was a somewhat indistinct group of 19th-century American writers.[1] Its most prominent members included Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and William Cullen Bryant. Each was a pioneer in general literature—novels, poetry and journalism. Humorously titled after Irving's own pen name, many others later joined the club. These include James Kirke Paulding, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Joseph Rodman Drake, Robert Charles Sands, Lydia Maria Child, Gulian Crommelin Verplanck, and Nathaniel Parker Willis,[2] most of whom were also frequent contributors to the literary magazine The Knickerbocker.

The Knickerbocker group was established by Washington Irving in the early 19th century in New York City.[3] Irving was one of the first Americans to earn money from being a professional writer.[4] Irving was seen as a writing pioneer by Gilmore who said that he was "an innovator who established American writing on a new footing as a viable profession."[5] Irving has been "hailed as the father of American literature" and Bradbury considers him to be the "pioneer of American literary Romanticism."[6]

The group's penchant was writing heroic or epic stories in a sophisticated manner. They especially utilized parody, satire and romanticism. The Knickerbocker Group lived in New York City.

The short story The Black Vampyre has been viewed as a commentary on the Knickerbocker group, condemning them to be "vampires" that benefit on the behalf of others. The work criticizes plagiarism and authorship in the early-19th-century literary scene.[7]

  1. ^ Gale, Cengage Learning (13 March 2015). A study guide for "Smaller Movements and Schools". Gale, Cengage Learning. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4103-2090-2.
  2. ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 30. ISBN 0-86576-008-X
  3. ^ Bradbury, Malcolm (1996). Dangerous pilgrimages : trans-Atlantic mythologies & the novel. Secker & Warburg. p. 60. OCLC 610268870.
  4. ^ Bradbury, Malcolm (1996). Dangerous pilgrimages : trans-Atlantic mythologies & the novel. Secker & Warburg. p. 55. OCLC 610268870.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Bradbury, Malcolm (1996). Dangerous pilgrimages : trans-Atlantic mythologies & the novel. Secker & Warburg. OCLC 610268870.
  7. ^ Burduck, M. L. (2014-01-01). "Early-19th-Century Literature". American Literary Scholarship. 2012 (1): 219–242. doi:10.1215/00659142-2680081. ISSN 0065-9142.