La Legendo De Dorm-Valeto
1820
Washington Irving's ghost story invented an American mythology. Set in a drowsy Dutch valley near the Hudson River, it follows Ichabod Crane, a lanky, bookish schoolteacher with a passion for ghost stories and a keen eye for Katrina Van Tassel's substantial inheritance. His rival is Brom Van Brunt, a brawny local hero whose practical jokes mask something far more dangerous. When Ichabod pursues Katrina through the woods on a autumn night, he encounters a headless specter riding through the hollow, and the story pivots from colonial romance to genuine terror. Irving writes with wit and warmth, mocking his superstitious protagonists even as he lets the darkness win. What happened to Ichabod remains deliciously unclear. This is American Gothic's founding text, a tale that asks what happens when the past refuses to stay buried.
