Contested representation of Dutch Americans in Washington Irving’s A History of New York

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the representation of Dutch Americans in New York in Washington Irving’s (1809) historical text entitled A History of New York. It argues that Irving’s text engages in the spatial and cultural dispute between the Dutch and English colonies in America in the 17th and 19th centuries. The study shows how the historical depiction of the early Dutch colony in the 17th-century America in Irving’s text serves as a political critique of the 19th-century America. It also shows the reassertion of Irving’s text about the contribution of Dutch culture to American history, which was not acknowledged in any of the historical writings of his time. Furthermore, this study shows that Irving’s multilayered strategy of using Dutch colonists both for portraying a more inclusive and pluralist America and for a political parody complicates his representation of the Dutch ethnic community and thus results in their stereotypical caricatures. The study uses the concept of representation and the New Historicism method to reveal the connection between the depiction of the 17th century and the context in the 19th century and to unmask the underlying ideological biases in the text.