睡谷传奇的艺术魅力
浪漫的表现手法
《睡谷传奇》是在英国小说家司各特的启迪下创作的，深受浪漫主义的熏陶。在作品中，欧文把情感倾注于对英格兰怀旧式描述中，他赞扬乡村和自然，对自然与文学的天然关系表示出由衷的敬佩。欧文写故事时，就像一位热心而博学的导游，耐心引领读者，告诉游客关于当地的地理、历史、传说、风俗，其中夹杂着他本人幽默睿智的评论。《睡谷传奇》中宛如仙境的自然描写，给小说罩上了一层浓浓的神秘色彩。这些梦幻般的自然场景，不仅是故事发生的背景，更是故事情节的一个重要部分，在烘托气氛、推动情节发展、反映人物心情等方面都发挥着重要作用。在故事的开头，有一段对沉睡谷的描写，作者还通过克莱恩的眼睛描述了夕阳下的哈德逊河的壮观场景。欧文使用绘油画的手法，把夕阳下的美景展现在读者面前。这里随着视线的由远及近的变换，可以看到大自然魔术般变幻的色彩。大自然的勃勃生机表现为宁静壮阔的美，使读者身临其境、留连忘返。作者在字里行间流露出对大自然深深的眷恋，同时为故事的发展铺垫了轻松的气氛。同时，景色描写还有效推动情节发展。为了制造恐怖的气氛，作者把夜晚塑造得异常阴森。在故事开头，宁静的睡谷里有各种巫术仪式、离奇的传说和奇幻的景象；教堂下山谷下汹涌幽暗的河流、被大树浓荫遮蔽的路和桥、以及发生在这里的无头骑士的传说，都为故事发展作出了充分的铺垫。故事中的景色还随着主人公克莱恩心情的变换而发生神奇的变化。“一切景语皆情语”，景色不再客观无情，而是染上了浓烈的主观色彩，承载着克莱恩深刻的感情。
幽默风趣的语言
作者在《睡谷传奇》幽默风趣的语言，无处不在的揶揄搞笑也使得读者常常忍俊不禁。文中幽默风趣的语言首先表现在奇特的比喻上。作者还使用夸张手法，增加幽默效果。不容他人阻碍他的爱情的布鲁姆，性子比暴烈的阿喀琉斯更甚。阿喀琉斯是《伊利亚特》中的英雄，由于统帅阿加门农把已经许给他的战利品——他所深爱的一个美丽女孩送走了。这种夸张手法增加了布鲁姆在克莱恩心目中的威摄力。此外，作者还对个性突出的人和动物，在取名上都花了不少功夫。主人公克莱恩(Crane)与他的外表恰如其分地吻合；布鲁姆是一个体格强壮的年轻人，作者给他取了个绰号“骨头布鲁姆”(Brom Bones);克莱恩借来的老马性情暴烈，被称为“火药”等（Gunpowder）;布鲁姆的马匹象他本人一样，又淘气又大胆，因此得名“鬼大胆”（Dare devil）。这些绰号的使用把一个个有趣的形象展现在读者面前，为故事增加了许多幽默风趣的气氛。
摘自《睡谷传奇的艺术魅力》肖成龙（上海金融学院）南方论刊2009年第11期
My perspectives:
Firstly, I would like to admit that Washington Irving, the first American writer enjoying the international reputation and also a representative of American Romanticists in early American literary history, won the great title of “Father of American Literature.” His works range from the fantastic tales to the serious historical biographies. The readers across the Atlantic were most fascinated by his English literary manner and the beautiful American setting in his imaginative fictions, and by the artistic and elegant qualities in Irving’s works, as well as its satire which appears genial or ungentle. These qualities have raised American literature to a place in the world's literature. Irving helps to discover “real America” and he caricatures the ridiculous aspects of American life: materialism, complacency and smugness with his remarkable satirical essays. He is a detached observer and commentator of the rather panoramic life of his time; he is a satirist, critic and judge of that age with his unique feature. Through transplanting the European folklore to American land, Irving created American legends, but this method is often regarded as a severe imitation of European literature. But it still has a great impact on America, including the latter writers’ writing style and the way of southwestern humor etc. Each coin has two sides, and in terms of it, we should take the essence and discard the dregs.
Then, as for the ideas of the writer, Xiaochenglong, I do agree with him and the following I will have a detailed illustration of these features mentioned above in my own point of view.
The first feature of romantic technique of expression is prominent through the fiction.
The classics written in graphic format can give young adults a new perspective of great literature. This collection has an excellent graphic format with detailed illustrations from beginning to the ending. All of the essential and relevant elements of the story are included to give the reader an accurate adaptation of the original work. Young adult readers will enjoy the full horror of the story under the graphic description of surroundings. This is an excellent addition to the graphic novel collection that will allow struggling readers the ability to understand some of the classics in a simpler format, while the graphic illustrations will appeal to reluctant readers. Under the influence of European literature, he is also excellent in quotation with rhetoric devices to achieve the delicate and humorous description, involving the using of alliteration、metaphor、simile and so on. That is a magic way of making characters in the legend of sleepy hollow lively and vivid.
The second character of humorous and witty language also impressed readers. The recipe lies in that Irving made these the plain dramatic people more theatrical with his talent for humor and the readers found the familiar characters that are quite similar to their imagined Ichabod and Brom or even more vivid and lively. In his novels he seldom discusses but shows the living circumstances and the characters’ personality by developing the plots step by step. In addition, his tone of wit and humor makes the story told in the leisurely and pleasing way. A great many illusions and fantasies can be found in his fiction, which serve only as the method to render the story more fascinating and absorbing, not as the terminal aim. We can perceive the humor through the all article, from the exaggeration of the schoolmaster’s appearance and actions and the sharp contrast of characters of the two rivals in love to the contrast comparison between human and animal of their funny nicknames. Throughout the detailed illustrations of things, for instance, the party in Katrina’s house, Ichabod was even treated and regarded as a tool to promote the affections between Bones and Katrina. What’s more, Ichabod’s encounter with the Headless Horseman is the dramatic climax of the story. The absurd ending makes readers laugh with scorn and unconsciously think what a stupid person he is.
Actually, in the novel, Ichabod Crane is “a precocious effete New Englander, shrewd, commercial, a city-slicker, who is rather an interloper, a somewhat destructive force, in village life, and who comes along to swindle the villagers.” Ichabod Crane is the target of satire in the story as a destroyer not in harmony with the self-satisfied region. Due to his narrow-mindedness, avarice, snobbery and credulity, so he couldn’t succeed in wooing Katrina and is finally driven out of the region of the Dutch through a humor way.
All in all, this novel has demonstrated the real background in America at that time. In characterization of Ichabod and Brom Bones, Irving successfully targeted an archetype half built in the public imagination, and skillfully localized the figures in foreign stories into American legendary characters. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow portrays the contradictory culture long reflected in the American literature. We appreciate his contributions to the advance of writing in American history, now what we can learn from him is the practical attitude and passion for writing.
