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The headless horseman who haunts Sleepy Hollow in Washington Irving’s ghost story has become an iconic figure in American popular culture, thanks to many film and TV adaptations, ranging from a 1922 silent movie to an episode of Scooby Doo.
John Yorke looks at how this deceptively simple tale made Irving an overnight literary superstar when it was published in an 1820 collection of short stories that also included Rip van Winkle, and why it was so influential on the work of the next generation of American writers including Herman Melville and Mark Twain.
Elizabeth Bradley has edited two Penguin Classic editions of Washington Irving's work and is Vice President of Programs and Engagement at Historic Hudson Valley.
Brian Jay Jones is the author of Washington Irving: An American Original and several other best-selling biographies.
Reader: Riley Neldam
By BBC Radio 44
77 ratings
The headless horseman who haunts Sleepy Hollow in Washington Irving’s ghost story has become an iconic figure in American popular culture, thanks to many film and TV adaptations, ranging from a 1922 silent movie to an episode of Scooby Doo.
John Yorke looks at how this deceptively simple tale made Irving an overnight literary superstar when it was published in an 1820 collection of short stories that also included Rip van Winkle, and why it was so influential on the work of the next generation of American writers including Herman Melville and Mark Twain.
Elizabeth Bradley has edited two Penguin Classic editions of Washington Irving's work and is Vice President of Programs and Engagement at Historic Hudson Valley.
Brian Jay Jones is the author of Washington Irving: An American Original and several other best-selling biographies.
Reader: Riley Neldam

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