"ProdigiousPoop":

Comic Contextand
PsychologicalSubtext
in Irving's

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

Knickerbocker
History
JONATHAN A. COOK

Diedrich Knickerbocker'sA History

g7N of
New York,From theBeginningof the
WorldtotheEnd oftheDutchDynasty ( 1809) WashingtonIrving
produced the firstgreat narrativeof the comic imagination
in America.' A carnivalesquejeu d'espritthatcan be read on
a number of levels,the Knickerbocker Historyis a high-spirited
burlesque of antiquarian learningand local historythatboth
celebrates and spoofs the legendary half-centuryof Dutch
colonization in the new world;2it is a humorous critiqueof

(C)19q byThe Regentsof the University of California

I The presentessayconcerns itselfwiththe original i809 editionof Irving'sHis-

tory,generallyagreed to be thebest,mostoutspokenversionIrvingpublished:in sub-

sequent editionsIrvingadded and elaboratedcomicepisodes butbluntedtheedge of
his satireand bowdlerized the bawdy in order not to offendhis audience. For a full
analysisof Irving'sfivesubstantiverevisions(1812, 1819, 1824, 1829, and 1848), see
Michael Lawrence Black, "WashingtonIrving'sA History ofNewYorkwithEmphasison
the 1848 Revision,"diss., Columbia Univ.,1967. For a shorteraccount,see the intro-
ductionto A History ofNewYork, ed. Michael L. Black and NancyB. Black,vol. 7 of The
Complete WorksofWashington Irving(Boston: Twayne Publishers,1984), pp. xv-lxviii.
(For editorial reasons, the Twayne edition is based on Irving'sfinal 1848 revision;
while profitingfromthisedition'stextualapparatus and annotations,the interested
reader will probably prefer the 1809 text available fromthe Libraryof America.)
2 For overviews of Irving's sources for the History,see the introductionto
DiedrichKnickerbocker'sA HistoryofNew York,ed. StanleyT. Williamsand Tremaine

483
484 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

Enlightenmentphilosophy,historiography, political science,

and the legalisticbasis for the new republican ideology in
America;3it is a virtuosiccompendium of comic motifsbor-
rowed fromRabelais, Shakespeare, Cervantes,Butler,Swift,
Fielding,Sterne,and others;4itis a sardonicsatirecontaining
caricaturesof leading politicaland historicalfigureson both
the national and local level, in particularthe originalgenius
of American democracy,Thomas Jefferson.5 The Historyhas

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

McDowell (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1927), pp. xxxviii-li;and RobertS. Osborne,
"A Study of WashingtonIrving's Development as a Man of Lettersto 1825," diss.,
Univ. of North Carolina, 1947, pp. 179-203. On its melding of Dutch historyand
folklore,see Helen MorrisJohnson Loschky,"WashingtonIrving's Knickerbocker's
HistoryofNew York:Folk Historyas a LiteraryForm,"diss., Brown Univ.,1970; and
Elisabeth Paling Funk, "WashingtonIrving and His Dutch-AmericanHeritage as
Seen in A HistoryofNew York,The SketchBook,Bracebrzdge Hall, and Talesofa Travel-
ler,"diss., Fordham Univ., 1986.
3 For Irving's critique of Enlightenmentphilosophy and historiography, see
three studies by William L. Hedges: "Knickerbocker,Bolingbroke,and the Fiction
of History,"Journalof theHistoryofIdeas, 20 (1959), 317-28; Washington Irvzng:An
AmericanStudy,i802-i832 (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1965), chap. 3;
and "TheKnzckerbocker History as Knickerbocker's'History,'" in TheOld and NewWorld
Romanticism ofWashington Irving,ed. StanleyBrodwin (New York: Greenwood Press,
1986), pp. 153-66. More recently,William T. Gilmore argues that Irving'sHistory
constitutesan attackon the culturalpreeminenceof historyin the earlyrepublic(see
"The Literatureof the Revolutionaryand Early National Periods,"in TheCambridge
HistoryofAmericanLiterature:Volume I, I590-i820, gen. ed. Sacvan Bercovitch[New
York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994], pp. 664-68). For a discussionof the political
significanceof wind symbolismor "aeolism" in the History,see David Durant,
"Aeolism in Knickerbocker's A History ofNewYork," American 41 (1970), 493-
Literature,
506. On the Historyas a satire on American legalism and republican ideology,see
RobertA. Ferguson,Law and Letters in AmericanCulture(Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard
Univ.Press, 1984), pp. 154-70.
4 On the eighteenth-century derivationof Irving'snarrator,see James E. Evans,
"The English Lineage of Diedrich Knickerbocker,"Early AmericanLiterature,10
(1975), 3-13. On Irving's adaptation of English and other European comic tradi-
tions,see Martin Roth, Comedy and America:TheLostWorldofWashington Irving(Port
Washington,N.Y.: KennikatPress, 1976), chap. 8.
5 On political satire in the History, see Edwin Greenlaw,"WashingtonIrving's
Comedy of Politics,"The TexasReview,1 (1915), 290-306; George Tremaine Mc-
Dowell, "General James Wilkinsonin the KnickerbockerHistory ofNewYork," Modern
LanguageNotes,41 (1926), 353-59; Williamsand McDowell, eds., introduction,His-
tory,pp. lix-lxxiii;Michael L. Black, "PoliticalSatirein Knickerbocker'sHistory," in The
Knickerbocker Tradition:Washington Irving'sNewYork, ed. AndrewB. Myers(Tarrytown,
N.Y.: Sleepy Hollow Restorations,1974), pp. 65-87; Mary WeatherspoonBowden,
"Knickerbocker'sHistoryand the 'Enlightened' Men of New York City,"American
Literature,47 (1975), 159-72, and her Washington Irving(Boston: Twayne,1981), pp.
29-53; and Black and Black, introduction,History, pp. xxvi-xxix.
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 485
accordinglybeen examined fromall these perspectives,but
one significantaspect has not received criticalattention:the
whimsicallychildlike quality of Knickerbocker'sre-creation
of the past, withitsunabashedlyexuberant"low" humor.
Readers can hardly fail to observe that the image of
Dutch New York depicted in the Historyevokes a mythical
past that is both implicitlyand explicitlyassociated with

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

childhood. Knickerbocker'spreface ("To The Public"), for
example, reiteratesthe notion that the early historyof New
York is analogous to infancy. Describing the process of
composition Knickerbockerwrites,"I industriouslysat my-
self to work, to gather together all the fragmentsof our
infanthistorywhich stillexisted,and like my revered proto-
type Herodotus, where no writtenrecordscould be found, I
have endeavoured to continue the chain of historyby well
authenticatedtraditions."6A few paragraphs later he speaks
of "one of the grand objects contemplated in my work,
which was to trace the rise of sundry customs and institu-
tions in this best of cities,and to compare them when in the
germ of infancy, withwhat theyare in the presentold age of
knowledge and improvement" (p. 379; emphasis added).
And shortlyafterward he exonerates himselfby claiming
that "had I been anxious to commend my writingsto the
pampered palates of literaryvoluptuaries, I might have
availed myselfof the obscuritythat hangs about the infant
years of our city,to introduce a thousand pleasing fictions"
(p. 379; emphasis added).
Also contributingto the aura of infancyin the History
is the figure of Saint Nicholas, the legendary original of
Santa Claus and the patron saint of children,sailors, mar-
and (according to Knickerbocker)New Am-
riage, fertility,
sterdam/NewYork. Significantly, the image of this child-
dedicated, philoprogenitivesaint is featured on the bow of
the Goede Vrouw,the ship that delivers the firstDutch set-
tlers to the New World; and Nicholas's name is subse-
6 WashingtonIrving,A History ofNew York,FromtheBeg-nningoftheWorldto the
End oftheDutchDynasty... byDiedrichKnzckerbocker, in History,
Talesand Sketches,
ed.
James W. Tuttleton(New York: Libraryof America, 1983), p. 377; emphasis added.
Furtherreferencesto thisedition are cited in the text.
486 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

quently given to the settlement'sfirstchapel, whereupon he

"immediatelytook the infanttown of New Amsterdamun-
der his peculiar patronage, and has ever since been, and I
devoutlyhope will ever be, the tutelarsaint of thisexcellent
city" (p. 454).7 Finally,we may recall that the Historywas
designedly published on 6 December 1809, the holiday of
Saint Nicholas.
In his preface Knickerbockerassertsthat"in the conduct

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

of thisinestimableworkI have adopted no individualmodel"
(p. 378); but it is the purpose of thisessayto demonstratethat
theHistory is in factpredicatedon a schemaof humandevelop-
ment and thatthe earlygrowthof the biologicalindividualis
the ultimatehistoricalmodel: Irving in effectdraws on the
ancient analogy of human body and body politic for his
chronicle.Thus the movementof theHistoryfromthe begin-
ning to the end of Dutch hegemonyfiguresas a physiological
and psychologicalallegorystartingwithconceptionand birth
and moving on through infancyand early childhood. More
particularly,the trio of Dutch governorsat the centerof the
History,Wouter Van Twiller ("Walter the Doubter"), Wil-
helmus Kieft("Williamthe Testy"),and Piet Stuyvesant("Pe-
ter the Headstrong"), embody the oral, anal, and genital or
phallic phases of childhood developmentaccordingto a stan-
dard psychoanalyticmodel, establishedby Freud. By examin-
ing these associationsas exemplifiedby clustersof comic im-
ageryand episode, the underlyingformalunityof theHistory
is revealed.8
7 Irving'sascriptionof patronage here is a topicaljoke, for as Charles W. Jones

has shown,the local New Yorkcult of Saint Nicholas was actuallycreated in the late
eighteenthcenturybyJohn Pintardand othersas an anti-British, patrioticgesture;
the New-YorkHistoricalSociety,whichPintardhelped found in 1804 and to which
Irving dedicated the Knickerbocker History(afterjoining in October 1809), also pro-
moted Saint Nicholas as a retroactive,mythicalfixtureof colonial Dutch culture.
Irving, in turn, along withJames Kirke Paulding, Clement Moore, and Gulian
Verplanck,was largely responsible for establishingthe modern popularityof the
saintin the guise of "Santa Claus" (see Jones,"KnickerbockerSanta Claus," TheNew-
YorkHistoricalSocietyQuarterly,38 [1954], 357-83; see also his SaintNicholasofMyra,
Bari, and Manhattan:Biographyofa Legend[Chicago: Univ.of Chicago Press, 1978],
pp. 326-49).
8 Criticshave disagreed on whetherIrving'sHistory possesses formalor thematic
unity.Calling the Historya "thundering,amorphousjeremiad," StanleyT. Williams
goes on to note: "It is dangerous to speak of the book as a burlesque on a single
 IRVING'S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 487

Like the traditionalnumber of ages of

both the individual and the world,the Historyis divided into
seven narrativeunitsor books. The firsttwo books farcically
encapsulate a time scheme fromthe creationof the world to
the settlementof New Amsterdam, the third narrates the
reign of WalterVan Twiller,the fourththatof WilliamKieft,

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

and the fifth,sixth,and sevenththatof PeterStuyvesantand
the end of Dutch rule in New Amsterdam.A close reading of
Irving's text demonstratesthat a sustained correspondence
unites each phase of the Historywitha distinctphase of early
human development,beginningwiththe act of conception.
Thus the firstbook is largelygivenover to mockingthediffer-
enttheoriesthathave been proposed to explain thecreationof
the world and the peopling of America-an exercise of
pseudo-eruditionthathas an impliedsubtextin the paradoxi-
cal mystery and simplicityof human sexual reproduction.Two
of the fourchapter titleshere reveal the potentialfordouble
entendre contained withinthe narrator'sburlesque on the
follyof thelearned: chapter2 is entitled"Cosmogony orCreation
of theWorld.Witha multitude of excellent
Theories,bywhichthe
Creationofa Worldisshewntobenosuchdiffi cultMatteras common

theme; itssatireis social, literary,and political,and it assails the foiblesof humanity.

It is not a rapier,like thatused by one of Irving'steachers,Swift,but a true Dutch
blunderbuss, shooting in all directionsat those idiosyncrasiesin men and women
which so amused the Salmagundians" (The Life of Washington Irving,2 vols. [New
York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1935], I, ii6). Henry A. Pochmann calls the History"an
aggregation of tales told in chapters and books ratherthan a continuous storyor
history"("WashingtonIrving:Amateuror Professional?"in CriticalEssayson Washing-
tonIrving,ed. Ralph M. Aderman [Boston: G. K. Hall, 19go], p. 164). For Mary
Bowden "the book is reallya seriesof separate sketcheshavingno common themeor
tone, withonly Irving'switand stylein common" (Washington Irving,p. 36). On the
other hand, for Robert Ferguson "Irving's emotional rejectionof law-fictionally
portrayedthroughthe collapse of New Amsterdam-supplies a dramaticunityand
thematiccoherence that set A HistoryofNew Yorkapart fromhis other imaginative
works"(p. 155). In a manner analogous to myown developmentalmodel Ferguson
goes on to note that "the golden age of Wouter Van Twiller allows a nostalgic
renditionof infancyand early boyhood.... Chronologically,the reignsof William
the Testyand Peter the Headstrong move on to depict adolescence and early man-
hood withexplicitreferencesto Irving'svocational daydreams,firstin the law and
then in the military"(p. 169).
488 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

Folkswouldimagine";and chapter4 reads "Shewingthegreattoil

and contentionwhichPhilosophers havehadinpeoplingAmerica.
AndhowtheAborigines cametobebegotten byaccident-tothegreat
satisfaction
and reliefoftheauthor."The implied associationbe-
tween the creation of the earth, the peopling of the New
World, and human coition is occasionallymade explicit. In
chapter2, forexample, amidsthis reviewof philosophicaland

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

scientifictheoriesof creation,Knickerbockermocks Plato as
"thattemperatesage, who threwthecold waterof philosophy
on the formof sexual intercourse,and inculcatedthedoctrine
of Platonicaffection,or theartof makinglove withoutmaking
children.-An exquisitelyrefinedintercourse,but much bet-
ter adapted to the ideal inhabitantsof his imaginaryisland of
Atlantis,than to the sturdyrace, composed of rebelliousflesh
and blood, who populate the littlematterof factisland which
we inhabit" (pp. 392-93). He goes on to mention the theory of
Hesiod, "who generated the whole Universe in the regular
mode of procreation,"as well as other mythographerswho
believed "that the earth was hatched fromthe great egg of
night,whichfloatedin chaos, and was crackedbythe hornsof
the celestialbull" (p. 393)-a prescientific,
metaphoricalap-
proximationto the actual process of human fertilization.
In chapter3 Knickerbockermakesfunof theBible-based
theoriesthatheld Noah's threesons as the progenitorsof the
races of mankindand Noah himselfas thediscovererofAmer-
ica, while in chapter 4 he burlesques the historians and
ethnographerswho puzzled overtheoriginsoftheindigenous
peoples of America. Adducing a host of conflictingtheories
setforthbyvariouswriters,Knickerbockerrefersto thosewho
speculate that the aborigines came to North America from
eitherAsia or Europe as having "fastenedthe twocontinents
togetherby a strongchain of deductions"(p. 409)-a process
thatcomicallyconflateslogical,geological,and sexual realms
of discourse. He goes on to mentionone individualwho liter-
ally acts out the same comic incongruity:the Scottishsavant
John Pinkerton (1758-1826), the author of a Modern Geogra-
phy (1802) and Reflectionson Paris (i8o6), whom Knicker-
bocker facetiouslycharacterizesas
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 489
that industrious old gentleman, who compiles books and manufac-
tures Geographies, and who erst flungaway his wig and cane, frol-
icked like a naughty boy, and committed a thousand etourderies,
among the petitesfilles of Paris-he I say,has constructed a natural
bridge of ice, fromcontinentto continent,at the distance of four or
five miles from Behring's straits-for which he is entitled to the
grateful thanks of all the wandering aborigines who ever did, or
ever will pass over it. (p. 409)

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

(Ironically,theeroticallysusceptiblesavant-the characteriza-
tion is of course a comic fabrication-is the most credible
theorist among the authorities cited by Knickerbocker.)
Knickerbocker'slast ethnologicaltheoristis the FrenchJesuit
Charlevoix(Irving'ssource formuchof the historicalspecula-
tion being mocked here), who concludes thatthe New World
was peopled "by accident." Playing on the sexual and
antiphilosophicalimplicationsof such a conclusion,Knicker-
bocker ends chapter 4 witha bawdyjoke on the notion "that
the people of thiscountryhad a variety offathers,which as it
may not be thoughtmuch to theircreditby the common run
of readers, the less we say on the subjectthe better"(p. 41 i).
In otherwords,NorthAmerica was peopled accordingto the
same "accidental" manner by which the rest of the world is
peopled-sexual intercourse.
If in Book I of the Historythere is an undercurrentof
sexual double entendre in the conflationof naturalcreation,
ethnographicspeculation, and human procreation,Book II
hintsat an analogybetweenthe Dutch settlementof New.Am-
sterdamand theprocessofhumangestation.Afterthe"discov-
ery"of the New York region by Hendrick Hudson, sailingon
behalf of the Dutch East India Company,the originalDutch
settlersemigrateto America on a maternallynamed ship,the
GoedeVrouw(the "Good Woman" or "Good Wife").Likened to
Noah's ark and physicallymodeled by its Dutch builders on
"the fairformsof theircountrywomen,"the GoedeVrouwis in
fact a floatingfertilitysymbol: "Like the beauteous model,
who was declared the greatestbelle in Amsterdam,it was full
in the bows,witha pair of enormous cat-heads,a copper bot-
tom,and withal,a mostprodigiouspoop!" (p. 435). The ship,
490 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

in Knickerbocker'splayfullypolysemouslanguage, featuresa
pair of large, breastlike "cat-heads" (projecting beams on
which the anchor is hoisted and secured) and a "prodigious
poop" thatcombinesbothvisual(sexual) and verbal(scatologi-
cal) punning: "poop" as the aftermostdeck or sternof a ship
(the vessel'srear end, as it were), and "poop" as a child'sterm
fordefecationand/orbreakingwind (the OED dates the latter

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

meaning fromat least the mid eighteenthcentury).To eluci-
date the scatologicalpun furtherwe mayciteFreud's observa-
tion that"fromthe veryfirst,childrenare at one in thinking
thatbabies mustbe born throughthebowel."9Since the Goede
Vrouwdoes indeed give birthto a prodigiousnew settlement,
such an idea may well underlie Knickerbocker'salliterative
and allusive punning here. It should be noted thatthe Goede
Vrouwis also a comicallyhermaphroditicalvessel, bearing a
figureheadin the "goodly image of St. Nicholas" who is pro-
vided with"a pipe thatreached to theend of thebow-sprit"(p.
435). Endowed withoutsized physicalcharacteristics of both
sexes, the Goede Vrouwis an exuberant emblem of human
generative powers, the image of the philoprogenitivesaint
leading the way.
The Dutch colonists on the Goede Vrouw found the
settlementof Communipaw on the west side of the Hud-
son, which Knickerbockercharacterizes as "the egg from
whence was hatched the mightycityof New York!" (p. 437).
But the colonists soon relocate across the river to Manhat-
tan; whereupon Knickerbockernotes the favorablephysical
geography of lower Manhattan, remarkingthat it seemed
"as though nature had kindly designated the cradle, in
which the embryo of this renowned citywas to be nestled"
(p. 449). Lower Manhattan thus representsa combination
of cradle and womb, and it is appropriate in this regard
that the only "history" that Knickerbocker mentions for
this early settlementinvolves a dispute between charac-
ters named Ten Broek ("Ten Breeches") and Hardenbroek
9 "The Sexual Life of Human Beings," in The StandardEditionof theComplete

Psychological
Works ofSigmundFreud,ed. and trans.JamesStrachey,24 vols. (London:
Hogarth Press, 1953-74), XVI, 319. Furtherreferencesto this edition of Freud's
worksare cited in the text.
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 491
("Tough Breeches") over the question of whetherto estab-
lish a systemof piers or canals in the new settlement,the
latter in imitation of their practice in Holland. Knicker-
bocker plays here on the English word "breeches,"meaning
either short pants or the human posterior.But as Elisabeth
Funk notes, he also covertlyplays on the Dutch meanings
of "broek,"which denotes breeches,a bellyingsail, a marsh,

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

or bottomlands.1oThis semantic collocation of breeches,
bellyingsail, bottomlands,canals, water,and civic growth-
we may also recall the "breech birth,"in which the feet or
"breech" of the infantappears first,and the homonymous
noun "breach," meaning a break or opening-collectively
hints at a displaced rendition of the birth process, as the
city of New Amsterdam commences life at the bottom of
Manhattan Island. Thus it is significantthat at the end of
this dispute, during which Ten Breeches is reported to
have "battered and belaboured" Tough Breeches (p. 451),
the cityis no longer an "embryo"but an "infantsettlement"
(p. 452). At the conclusion to Book II Knickerbockeragain
employs related imagerywhen he remarks: "How long the
growingcolony mighthave looked to its parent Holland for
supplies, like a chubby overgrown urchin, clinging to its
mother'sbreast,even afterit is breeched, I will not pretend
to say" (pp. 457-58). New Amsterdamhas clearlyemerged
from its womblike origins and now leads an autonomous
existence,and with the reign of its firstgovernorwe begin
the History'spsychologicalallegoryof oral, anal, and phallic
phases of childhood development.
According to the Freudian paradigm,in the conflictbe-
tween "pleasure principle" and "realityprinciple"the child
finds successive instinctualgratificationin oral, anal, and
genital (or phallic) erotogeniczones. In the oral stage,which
begins withbreast feeding and covers roughlythe firstyear
of life,the ingestionof nutrimentprovides the chief source
of instinctualgratification.In the anal stage, lasting from
about age one to three,the child'slocus of pleasure is shifted
to the release and retentionof the bowels. Finally,in the
10 See Funk, pp. 45-46; on Irving'sfulluse of the "broek"motif,see pp. 44-62.
492 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

genital or phallic stage, fromabout age three to fiveor six,

the (male) child's penis becomes the focus of instinctual
attention-a stage ending withthe resolutionof the Oedipus
Complex."I In Irving'sKnickerbocker Historythe three Dutch
governors-Walter the Doubter,Williamthe Testy,and Peter
the Headstrong-inhabit worlds of oral, anal, and phallic
gratification.12
This applies both to their own modalitiesof
behavior and to thatof theirsubjects,forthe symbolicequa-

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

tion of gubernatorialbody and body politicis a related fea-
ture of the psychologicalparadigm at work here. Irving in
effecttelescopes a total of seven actual Dutch governorsbe-
tweenthe establishmentof the colonyand itstakeoverby the
English a half-centurylater into only three. The adjustment
of the historicalrecord is no doubt influencedby the brief
tenure and obscurityof the firstfourgovernorsas compared
withthe last three;but italso convenientlymatchesthe tripar-
titedivisionof childhood psychologicaldevelopment.An ex-
aminationof each governorand the characteristic featuresof
his reign willdemonstratethese correspondences.'3
11 For a summaryof this process, see Freud, "InfantileSexuality,"in Standard

Edition,VII, 173-206; and "Sexual Life,"and "The Developmentof the Libido and
the Sexual Organizations,"in StandardEdition,XVI, 313-38. For a recentevaluation
of Freud's developmentalmodel, see AnthonyStorr,Freud(New York: Oxford Univ.
Press, 1989), pp. 20-29. As Storr notes, Freud's theoryof oral, anal, and genitalor
phallicphases of human developmenthas proved of durable utilityamid thediscred-
iting or revising of many other aspects of Freudian theory(followingStorr and
others,I henceforthuse "phallic" for Freud's "genital"stage of development).For a
more extensiveoverviewof the credibilityof oral and anal stages as well as oedipal
dynamics,see Seymour Fisher and Roger P. Greenberg,The Scientific Credibility
of
Freud'sTheoriesand Therapy(New York: Basic Books, 1977), chaps. 3 and 4. For a
spiriteddebunkingof the whole Freudian project,see the recentwritingsof Freder-
ick Crews.
12 It is pertinentto note thatthe nicknamesof each governormayalso be related
to these three phases: the "oral" personality(Walterthe Doubter) is passive,depen-
dent, and subject to doubts; the "anal" personality(Williamthe Testy)is parsimoni-
ous, orderly,and obsessive-compulsive;the phallic personality(Peter the Head-
strong)is concerned withdisplaysof potency.See Storr,pp. 22-23.
13 The firstfour"DirectorsGeneral" of thecolony,whomIrvingpasses over,were
Cornelis May (1624-1625), WillemVerhulst(1626), Peter Minuit(1626-1632), and
BastiaenJansz Krol (1633). The reignsof Irving'sthreegovernorswere Van Twiller
(1633-1638), Kieft (1638-1647), and Stuyvesant(1647-1664). As Loschky notes,
"Historiansfrequentlychide IrvingforneglectingthefirstfourDirectorsGeneral,or
Governors,to rule the colony.But when we recall the scantinessof the earlyrecords
fromwhich Irving could have drawn his facts,and consider as well how fewpeople
IRVING 'S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 493
The "golden age" of Walterthe Doubter embodies a full-
scale "oral" culturedominated by a man whose infantileself-
absorptionis the comic source of his politicalwisdom.Walter
is repeatedlydescribed in termssuggestinginfancy:he is "a
man, shut up withinhimselflike an oyster,and of such a
profoundlyreflectiveturn,thathe scarcelyever spoke except
in monosyllablesyetdid he never make up his mind,on any

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

doubtfulpoint" (p. 463). Not only is his conversationlimited
to monosyllables,but his shape suggeststhe physicalpropor-
tionsof babyhood: "His body was of an oblong form,particu-
larlycapacious at bottom;whichwas wiselyordered by provi-
dence, seeing thathe was a man of sedentaryhabits,and very
averse to the idle labour of walking.His legs,thoughexceed-
ing short,were sturdyin proportionto theweighttheyhad to
sustain." Like that of an infant, "his head was a perfect
sphere" while "his face, that infallibleindex of the mind,
presented a vast expanse perfectlyunfurrowedor deformed
by any of those lines and angles, whichdisfigurethe human
countenance withwhatis termedexpression"(p. 464). Sleep-
ing twelve hours a day, this overgrowninfantinhabits the
soporificworld of the nursery:he presides in council "in a
huge chair of solid oak" thatsuggestsa highchair;whiledelib-
erating he makes "certain regular gutturalsounds," which
mightbe interpretedas either snoringor gurgling;and, fi-
nally,he occupies himselfwith a "long turkishpipe," like a
child witha pacifier(p. 465). Walter'sfirstjudicial decision,
which sets a precedent for his peaceful reign,also has rele-
vant physiologicalimplications.This involves a dispute be-
tween two burgers over a settlementof accounts. Parodying
the wisdom of Solomon, as in the famous case of the two
harlotsclaimingcustodyof a child (I Kings 3: 16-27), Walter
weighs the two account books as a means of finding out
which side has the "weightier"argument.He finallydecides
"thatone wasjust as thickand as heavyas the other"(p. 467),

there were for the firstDirectorsto govern . . . how great a crimecan we account it
that Irving seeminglymislaid the firstfour Directors?"(pp. 22-23). See Loschky,
chaps. i and 2, for a detailed analysis of Irving's Historyin comparison with the
historicalrecord of New Amsterdam.
494 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

a conclusion suggestingthat Walter has learned his judicial

wisdom at his mother'sbreast.
If Walteris an adept at ingestion,his politicalassociates
are modeled on him in appearance and behavior: his
burgomasters "were generally chosen by weight-and not
only the weight of the body,but likewisethe weightof the
head" (p. 469). The alimentarymottoof Walter'sreign is in
fact writtenover the council chamber and reads, "The sow

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

that'sstill/Sucks all the swill"(p. 472). Walterand his advis-
ers are, in effect,both porcine and infantinein theirunself-
conscious adiposity and their single-mindedconcentration
on sucking up their food. Knickerbockerfacetiouslyclaims
that the unique tranquilityof Walter'sreign stemsfromthe
physiologicalprinciple that fat people are noncontentious;
yet such tranquilityis also analogous to the infant'ssense of
peace and securitywhen satiatedwithnourishment,particu-
larlyafterbreast feeding.'4
Not only is Walter fixatedin a paradise of oralityand
ingestion,but the populace shares thistendencyas well. The
earlyNew Amsterdamers,who remindthe narratorof"those
happy days of primeval simplicity,which float before our
imaginationslike golden visions"(p. 479), limitthemselvesto
life's simple pleasures of eating,drinking,and sleeping.'5 It
comes as no surprise,then,thatthe folkof New Amsterdam
mimictheirgovernorin his infantileeating habits.Thus the
people consume large meals of "sturdy,substantialfare"such
as "slicesof pork fat,friedbrown,cut up intomouthfuls,and
14 As Freud remarks in a famous sentence, "No one who has seen a baby
sinkingback satiated fromthe breast and fallingasleep withflushedcheeks and a
blissfulsmile can escape the reflectionthat this picture persistsas a prototypeof
the expression of sexual satisfactionin later life" ("Infantile Sexuality,"Standard
Edition,VII, 182).
15 Roth identifiesNew Amsterdamunder Walteras a versionof the mythologi-
cal land of Cockaigne by way of Rabelais: "Rabelais' masterpiece [Gargantua]is
certainlythe highestexpressionof the Cockaigne mythin literature,and mostof the
featuresof Rabelais' comic universe flowinto Irving's New York. The Rabelaisian
universeis inhabitedby tremendouseaters and drinkers,but behind those towering
gluttonsare equally tremendousstoresof foodstuffs;and, on a higher level of the
fiction,the world itselfis alimentary,if not literally,
then metaphoricallyso" (Comedy
and America,p. 130). For local folklorictraditionsof Dutch rotundity, see RobertC.
Wess, "The Use of Hudson-Valley Folk Traditionsin WashingtonIrving'sKnzcker-
bocker HistoryofNewYork,"NewYorkFolklore Quarterly, 30 (1974), 212-25.
 IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 495
swimmingin doup or gravy"or "balls of sweetened dough,
friedin hog's fat,and called dough nutsor olykoeks"(p. 480).
Also typicalof thisage of oral gratificationis the tea party,the
chief social amenity, during which a loaf of sugar was sus-
pended "bya stringfromthe ceiling,so thatitcould be swung
frommouthto mouth-an ingeniousexpedient"(p. 48i ) that
suggestsa serviceable,all-purposeteat.'6 It is onlyappropriate
that the inhabitantswear several layersof garmentsresem-

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

bling both diapers and the protectiveapparel of infancy.
Hence, the women wear multiplelayersof petticoats;and "a
finelady,in those times,waddled under more clotheseven on
a fairsummer'sday,than would have clad the whole bevyof a
modern ball room" (p. 484). Similarly, the fashionablegentle-
men would go about clad in "halfa scoreofbreeches"(p. 486).
With all its physicalneeds amply taken care of, the "city"of
New Amsterdamunder WalterVan Twillerexistsin a blissful
if precarious state of oral oblivion. So when news arrivesof
Yankee harassmentat the Dutch fortof Goed Hoop at Hart-
ford,the peace-lovingWalterexpireswitha finalgurgle.Wal-
terdoes not so much die as evaporate withthe lastpuffof his
pipe,a cartoonlikeexpirationsuitedtotheself-absorbedinfan-
tileworld he inhabits.
With Walter'sdeath New Amsterdam.enters a new era
under a new governor, Wilhelmus Kieft or "William the
Testy."He is "a brisk,waspish,littleold gentleman"obsessed
by the profunditiesof the law and otherabstrusephilosophi-
cal and scientificstudies.As a numberof criticshave pointed
out, Williamis a tellingsatiricalcaricatureof Thomas Jeffer-
son, whose personalityand presidencyIrvingsatirizesexten-
sivelyhere.'7 Yet the characterizationof William the Testy
i6 Writingof the infant'ssucking instinct,Freud notes: "A portion of the lip

itself,the tongue,or any other partof the skinwithinreach-even the big toe-may
be taken as the object upon which thissuckingis carried out. In thisconnectiona
grasping-instinct may appear and may manifestitselfas a simultaneousrhythmic
tuggingat the lobes of the ears or a catchinghold of some partof anotherperson (as
a rule the ear) for the same purpose" ("InfantileSexuality,"StandardEdition,VII,
i8o).
17 Chapter i of Book IV is accordinglygiven over to ridicule of William's(or

Jefferson's)pretensions to universal knowledge and his devotion to impractical

theoryover commonsensicalfact. Moreover,by comicallyrepresentingWilliam as
fightinghis English neighborsto the East by means of ineffectual"proclamations"
496 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

also suggestsa personalityfixatedat theanal stageof develop-

ment,as Irvingconflatespoliticalsatireof his own era witha
scatological"purge" of his subject. Froma psychologicalper-
spectiveWilliam'sanal orientationis well suited to his politi-
cal situation.In the anal stage children"encounterthe exter-
nal world as an inhibitingpower, hostile to theirdesire for
pleasure, and have a glimpse of later conflictsboth external

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

and internal" (Freud, "Sexual Life," StandardEdition,XVI,
315). This intrusivepresence is representedin the History by
the growingmenace of Yankee settlementsin Connecticutat
the beginningof William'sreign,particularlythe unwelcome
presence of Yankee "squatters" on Dutch territory.Upon
hearing of Yankee demands for the surrenderof the Dutch
fortat Hartford,William'sreactionis the desire to fightthe
Yankees exclusivelyby "proclamation."While this incident
parodies Thomas Jefferson'scontroversialNon-Importation,
Embargo, and Non-IntercourseActsduringhis second presi-
dency,there is more at work here than topical satire alone:
William's officialproclamationagainst the Yankees is also a
symbolicact of defecation. Thus, after his council gives "a
universalgruntof acquiescence" to itsissuance,the proclama-
tion is

immediately dispatchedwithdue ceremony, havingthe greatseal

of theprovince,whichwas about thesize of a buckwheatpancake,
attachedto itbya broad red ribband.GovernorKiefthavingthus
ventedhisindignation,feltgreatlyrelieved-adjourned thecoun-
cilsinedie-put on his cockedhatand corduroysmallclothes,and
mountinga tallrawboned charger,trottedout to hiscountryseat,
which was situatedin a sweet,sequesteredswamp,now called
Dutch street,but more commonlyknownby the name of Dog's
Misery. (p. 517)

and declarations of "non-intercourse,"Irving skewersJefferson'spacifistand le-

galistic foreign policy in the years leading up to the War of i812. On the anti-
Jeffersonsatire in the History,see Greenlaw,pp. 299-305; Williamsand McDowell,
eds., introduction,History,pp. lxi-lxxiii;Williams,Life,I, 117-18; Black, "Political
Satire," pp. 71-73; Bowden, "Knickerbocker'sHistory," and Washington Irving,pp.
39-44 (Bowden argues thatthe portraitof Kieftparodies De WittClintonas well as
Jefferson);and Ferguson,pp. 157-58.
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 497
The scatologicalhintsare pervasivehere,fromthe reliefWil-
liam feels over the successfulemissionof his "proclamation"
to the toilet-likeambience of his "countryseat" to which he
subsequently"trottedout."'8
To continue the analogy,William takes inordinateplea-
sure in his "proclamation"in the same way that a child de-
lightsin his own bowel movements,a featureof the anal stage

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

of developmentwhen theyrepresentthe child's "gift"to the
world: "They are clearlytreatedas a part of the infant'sown
body and representhis first'gift':by producing themhe can
express his active compliance withhis environmentand, by
withholdingthem,his disobedience" (Freud, "InfantileSexu-
ality,"StandardEdition,VII, i86). Williamsees his firstprocla-
mationagainst Yankee encroachmentas such a gift:

The proclamationwas perfectin all itsparts,wellconstructed,

well
written,well sealed and well published-all thatwas wantingto
insureits effect,was thatthe Yankees should standin awe of it;
but, provokingto relate,theytreatedit withthe most absolute
contempt,applied itto an unseemlypurpose,whichshallbe name-
less,and thusdid thefirstwarlikeproclamationcome to a shame-
fulend-a fatewhichI am crediblyinformed, has befallenbuttoo
many of its successors. (p. 519)

The proclamationis a "wellconstructed"masterpiece;yetthe

"unseemlypurpose" to whichit is subjectedironicallyunder-
lines the connection between William'sproclamationand its
physiologicalequivalent. For the "shameful end" here is a
pun on the practicalbut insultinguse to whichthe proclama-
18 As Williams and McDowell note, "Kieft's 'cocked hat and corduroy small
clothes'and his 'raw-bonedcharger'would easilysuggestto a reader in 1809 Jeffer-
son's notorious saddle-horse which he rode between Washingtonand Monticello,
and his democratictastein breeches,so annoyingto Americanaristocrats"(introduc-
tion,History,p. lxi). Moreover,"Dog's Misery"is clearlyan anti-Jeffersonian barb,
thisbeing the name given to one wingof MonticellowhereJeffersonexperimented
on animals (see Black and Black, eds., History,
p. 332n). On the other hand, Kieft's
estate in a "sweet sequestered swamp" would seem to be as much a spoofing of
Monticelloas furtherevidence of the scatologicalimagerysurroundingKiefthere.
Significantly,Williamat his "countryseat" submitsto the "petticoatgovernment"of
his dominating wifejust as a child submits to the coercive toilet trainingof his
motheror father.
498 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

tion is put in an era when wastepaperwas devoted to human

hygiene.
Failing to "purge the land fromthese rapacious intrud-
ers," William "resolutelyresolved to double the dose" (pp.
519-20). But in spite of his rhetorical threats the Dutch
troops at the Fort of Goed Hoop are ignominiouslykicked
out by the Yankees. Receiving this communicationWilliam

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

goes into a tantrum,at which time his ire is vented in a
revealingmanner:
Language cannot express the prodigious fury,into which the
testyWilhelmus Kieft was thrown by this provoking intelligence.
For three good hours the rage of the littleman was too great for
words, or rather the words were too great for him; and he was
nearly choaked by some dozen huge, mis-shapen, nine cornered
dutch oaths, that crowded all at once into his gullet. A few hearty
thumps on the back, fortunatelyrescued him from suffocation-
and shook out of him a bushel or two of enormous execrations,
not one of which was smaller than "dunder and blixum!"-It was
a matter of astonishment to all the bye standers, how so small a
body, could have contained such an immense mass of words with-
out bursting. Having blazed off the firstbroadside, he kept up a
constant firing for three whole days-anathematizing the Yan-
kees, man, woman, and child, body and soul, for a set of dieven,
schobbejaken, deugenieten, twist-zoekeren, loozen-schalken,
blaes-kaeken, kakken-bedden, and a thousand other names of
which, unfortunatelyfor posterity,historydoes not make particu-
lar mention. (p. 525)

Here again wordsare symbolically associatedwiththealimen-

in
tarycanal a comic reenactmentof the symbolicequivalence
of proclamationand defecation.'sFreud notes that"children
who are makinguse of thesusceptibilityto erotogenicstimula-
tion of the anal zone betraythemselvesby holding back their
19 The image of Williamchokingon a stringof "huge, misshapen,nine cornered
dutch oaths" has a probable literarysource in a scene fromBen Jonson'sPoetaster
(Act V, scene iii) in whichthe poet Crispinus(a caricatureofJohn Marston)is made
to disgorgea series of ungainlywords-a parodyof Marston'sinflateddiction-in a
therapeuticsatirical"purge"; this scene was in turn based on a similarepisode in
Lucian's Lexzphanes.For a discussion of the literarycontextof Jonson's "purge" of
Marston, which subsequentlyinspired Shakespeare's "purge" of Jonson in Troilus
and Cressida,see James P. Bednarz, "Shakespeare's Purge of Jonson: The Literary
Context of Troilusand Cressida,"in ShakespeareStudies,Vol. 2 i, ed. Leeds Barroll
(Rutherford,N.J.:Farleigh Dickinson Univ.Press, 1993), pp. 175-212.
IRVING 'S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 499
stool tillits accumulationbringsabout violentmuscularcon-
tractionsand, as itpasses throughthe anus, is able to produce
powerfulstimulationof the mucous membrane.In so doing it
mustno doubt cause not onlypainfulbut also highlypleasur-
able sensations" ("InfantileSexuality,"StandardEdition,VII,
i86). Williamseems to be engaged in a similarprocess.Chok-
ing on his "enormous execrations"that"posterity"willnever
know-scatological puns lurkin bothnouns-William never-

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

thelessarticulatesseven insultingDutch epithets,the firstfive
of which mean, respectively, "thieves,""scoundrels"or "beg-
gars," "good-for-nothings," "quarrelers,"and "rogues" (liter-
ally "sly jokers"). The last two, on the other hand, mean
"blowhards" or "braggarts"(literally"blowjaws") and "bed-
shitters" epithetsthatduplicate the mirroringhere of oral
and anal emissions and illustrateonce again William's anal
characterization.20
Perhaps the mostfamiliarfeatureof the "anal" personal-
ity is a tendency toward stinginessresultingin the classic
"anal" type,the miser.Hence it comes as no surprisethatthis
is a prominentfeatureof Williamthe Testy'sreign. At some
point William"stumbledover a grandpoliticalcabalistic word"
(p. 535)-economy-a word thatis capable of "drawingthe
purse stringsand buttoningthe breechespocketsof all philo-
sophical legislators"(p. 536) and that is ultimatelyresponsi-
ble for William's miserlyoutlayson defense and other civic
necessities.In factthistalismanicword "at once explains the
whole systemof proclamations,protests,emptythreats,wind-
mills,trumpeters,and paper war, carried on by Wilhelmus
the Testy" (p. 537). William's one-word motto,like Walter's
rhymingcouplet before him, is the key to his ineffectual
statecraftas well as to the implied source of his instinctual
gratification.
As was apparent during the earlier reign of Walter,the
citizens of New Amsterdam are again symbolicallyallied
withtheirgovernor'spersonalitytype.One of William'slegis-
lative acts aptlydemonstratesthe interdependenceof politi-
20
For a linguisticanalysisof these terms,see Funk, pp. 326-27. See also Clar-
ence M. Webster,"Irving's Expurgation of the 1809 HistoryofNew York,"American
Literature,
4 (1932), 293-95.
500 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

Cal and psychologicaltendenciesin the populace: when Wil-

liam tries to prohibitsmoking in New Amsterdam,"a mob
of factious citizens had even the hardihood to assemble
around the littlegovernor'shouse, where settingthemselves
resolutely down, like a besieging army before a fortress,
theyone and all fellto smokingwitha determinedpersever-
ance, that plainlyevinced it was theirintention,to funkhim

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

into terms with villainous Cow-pen mundungus!" (p. 543).
This excrementalaroma-"mundungus" is "any foul smell-
ing tobacco" (OED)-has its effect,and William relents in
his prohibitionof tobacco. Not surprisingly, even after this
episode the people of New Amsterdampersistin theirten-
dency to mirrortheirleader's censorious "anal" tendencies.
For with the excessive smoking of short-stempipes (which
William has enforced) theirbrains become hot and dry,and
as a result the people again become as fractiousas their
"testy"governor.Irving'sdepictionof the politicalfactional-
ism created by William's legalisticreign assumes a relevant
anatomical configuration:

The wise people of New Amsterdamtherefore,afterfor some

time enduring the evils of confusion, at length, like honest
dutchmen as they were, soberly settled down into two distinct
parties, known by the name of Square head and Platter breech-
the former implying that the bearer was deficient in that rotun-
dity of pericranium, which was considered as a token of true
genius-the latter that he was destitute of genuine courage, or
good bottom,as it has since been technically termed-and I defy
all the politicians of this great city to shew me where any two
parties of the present day, have split upon more important and
fundamental points.
(P. 548)

The pseudoscientific Swiftian terminology,recalling the

High Heels and Low Heels of the island of Lilliput,resolves
itselfinto a Swiftianscatologicalpun. Moreover,in his equat-
ing of the two politicalparties to nonsphericalformsof the
human head and hindquarters,Irvingreduces New Amster-
dam politicsto a contestof lamebrainsand lightweights and
simultaneouslytransformsWilliam the Testy'ssubjects into
IRVING 'S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 501
the twin globes of the human fundament.21 To amplifythe
joke Irving introduces several scientificauthoritiesto gloss
this partydivision,includingan appropriatelynamed figure
whose pedagogy has established the practical link between
buttocks and brain: "the breechology of professor
Higgenbottom,which teaches the surprizingand intimate
connectionbetween the seat of honour,and the seat of intel-

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

lect" (p. 549). The body politic is taking a satiricalbeating
here-both in this penultimatestage of William'sreign and
in the divisiveera in which Irving was writing-as the dirty
businesss of politics becomes an all-consumingactivityfor
William'swaywardsubjects.
William'sreign effectively ends withthe rise of the New
England confederation,althoughhe still"keptconstantlyfir-
ing offhis proclamationsand protests,like a sturdylittlesea
captain, firingoffso many carronades and swivels"(p. 556).
Apparentlyfixatedat the anal stage of development,"he at
length became as completelyburnt out, as a dutch family
pipe" and expires by "animal combustion"(p. 559). Like Wal-
ter the Doubter, William seems to transmigrateratherthan
die, making way for a new Dutch governor,Piet Stuyvesant
or "Peter the Headstrong," whose charactersuggeststhatwe
have entered a new stage in the conflationof psychological
and historicaldevelopmentillustratedby the History.
The most notable feature of Peter's anatomy is his
"wooden leg, which was the only prize he had gained, in
bravelyfightingthe battlesof his country;but of which he
was so proud, thathe was oftenheard to declare he valued it
more than all his other limbs put together;indeed so highly
did he esteem it, that he caused it to be gallantlyenchased
and relieved withsilverdevices" (p. 565). As thisdescription
implies,Peter'sdominantcharactertraitis martialardor,the
outward manifestationof whatmightbe called his phallocen-
tric or phallocratic identity,which begins with his given
21 Such imagery has led Marvin E. Mengeling to fastidiouslyremark: "One
could almostmake a case forthe 'anal vision'of Diedrich Knickerbocker,ifone were
so inclined (I am not so inclined),because so much of his bawdyhumor involvesthe
human posterior"("The Crass Humor of Irving'sDiedrich Knickerbocker,"Studies
in AmericanHumor,I [1974], 67).
502 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

name.22The combined virileand autocraticnature of Peter's

reign is conveyed by a characteristictropejustifyinghis in-
transigence:"The clock thatstandsstill,and pointsresolutely
in one direction,is certainof being righttwicein the fourand
twentyhours-while othersmay keep going continually,and
continuallybe going wrong"(pp. 566-67). Peter'sgubernato-
rial rule is marked by a steadilyincreasingbattleagainstene-
mies fromwithoutand within,hence his "phallic"personality

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

is well suited to the temperof his times.
If Peter's wooden leg is a symbolof his phallocentrism,
his right-handman, Antony Van Corlear, is a mock-heroic
embodiment of the same trait. Van Corlear, Peter's trum-
peter and militarypoint man, makes a cameo appearance
during the reign of Williamthe Testybut emerges as a char-
acter only under Peter the Headstrong. The relationshipbe-
tween the two, suggestingboth psychologicaldisplacement
and allegorical doubling, is so close as even to implyan ana-
tomicallinkage. Thus when he is firstsummoned into Peter's
presence to explain his function,Van Corlear playshis instru-
mentso well thatPeter"straightway conceivedan astonishing
kindness for him; and ... ever afterretained him about his
person, as his chief favourite,confidentialenvoy and trusty
squire" (p. 570). Van Corlear had earlier been characterized
as being "famous for his long wind and his huge whiskers,
and who as the storygoes, could twangso potentlyupon his
instrument,as to produce an effectupon all withinhearing,
as though ten thousand bagpipes were singingmost lustlyi'
the nose" (p. 526). Perpetuallyblowing at his trumpet,An-
tony becomes Peter's bewhiskered,ithyphallicmascot. An-
tony'sfirstassignment,whichplays on his comic priapism,is
to send Peter'schallenge to the Yankee Amphyctionicleague
in Connecticut. After sounding his challenge in their faces
Antony returns to New York, "stopping occasionallyto eat
pumpkin pies, dance at countryfrolicks,and bundle withthe
beauteous lasses of those parts-whom he rejoiced exceed-
inglywithhis soul stirringinstrument"(p. 582). The punning
22
Accordingto Donald R. Noble,Jr.,Irvingconveysa sexual double entendrein
Stuyvesant'sfirstname (see "WashingtonIrving's 'Peter' Pun," AmericanNotesand
Queries,
8 [1970], 103-4).
IRVING 'S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 503
language here could hardlybe more bawdyin itscelebration
of a joyous and priapic virility.23
While the true phallic hero, Antony Van Corlear, em-
bodies a psychological displacement of Peter Stuyvesant's
phallocentricidentity,he has a dramatic counterpartin a
castrating,false phallic hero, Jacobus Von Poffenburgh,the
Dutch high commander in charge of FortCasimer.As a tar-
get for Irving'spoliticalsatireVon Poffenburghrepresentsa

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

mordantcaricatureof General JamesWilkinson,the double-
dealing commanding general of the Armies of the United
StatesunderJeffersonand Madison and the firstgovernorof
the new Louisiana Territory.Irvinghad observed Wilkinson
during Aaron Burr's trial in Richmond in the spring and
summer of 1807; hence the portraitof the bloated, self-
importantVon Poffenburghis closelymodeled on the pomp-
ous, posturing,and duplicitousWilkinson.24
Yet over and above this political caricature Von
Poffenburgh'sfatuousbehaviorsuggestsotherdimensionsto
his character.As an example of the ancientcomic typeof the
milesgloriosus,Von Poffenburgh,like his literaryancestorFal-
staff,is notable forhis panoply of mock-heroicendowments,
chief of which is his endowment of hot air. Appropriately
enough, Von Poffenburgh'smilitaristic Germansurnameactu-
ally means "mountain of wind." He is "a huge, full bodied
man, whose size did not so much arise fromhis being fat,as
windy;being so completelyinflatedwithhis own importance,
23 Ferguson claims thatVan Corlear is a "figureforthe artist.Antony'screativity
and boisterous good humor are rooted in the acceptance of his music by political
authority,his imperviousnessto legal wrangling,his easy conquests of everyavail-
able heart,and his good fortunein 'having never been married'" (p. 156). On Van
Corlear's mix of historicalmodels, see Loschky,pp. 67-70.
24 What made Wilkinsonparticularlyodious to Irvingwas the factthatin Octo-
ber 18o6 Wilkinsonhad accused Burr, his co-conspiratorand Irving's fellowNew
York Federalist,of treason during Burr's ill-fatedsouthwesternexpedition-this
despite rumorsof Wilkinsonhimselfbeing in the pay of the Spanish government,an
allegation thatlater turned out to be true. In "GeneralJamesWilkinson"McDowell
firstpointed out the parallels betweenVon Poffenburghand Wilkinson;Black ("Po-
liticalSatire," pp. 73-78) adds furtherdetails and suggestsa connectionbetween
Von Poffenburgh'sloss of FortCasimer and Wilkinson'sinabilityto removeSpanish
garrisonson the Sabine River.On Wilkinson,Burr,and Irving'sattendance at the
latter's trial, see Williams,Life, I, 96-98; and Philip McFarland, Sojourners(New
York: Atheneum, 1979), pp. 61-69, 74-85.
504 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

thathe resembledone of those puffedup bags of wind,which

old Eolus, in an incrediblefitof generosity,gave to thatvaga-
bond warrior Ulysses" (p. 599). Von Poffenburghis thus a
caricatureof both comic and phallictumescence;he is, more-
over, a descendant of the grotesquelyinflatedgiants of ro-
mance like Spenser's Orgoglio, who representsa personifica-
tion of pride and phallic tumescence.25 In dress Von
Poffenburghis "crownedwithan overshadowingcocked-hat,

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

and girded witha leathernbelt ten inchesbroad, fromwhich
traileda faulchion[a curved sword]of a lengththatI dare not
mention"(p. 599). His weaponryis literallyunspeakable be-
cause of its enormous size-or perhaps the reverse. Having
invested Fort Casimer on the Delaware River, Von
Poffenburghspends his timemarching"on the top of his little
rampart-like a vain gloriouscock pidgeon vapouringon the
top of his coop" (p. 6oi) and exerciseshis militaryardor by
attackingcabbages, sunflowers,and pumpkinswith"histrusty
sabre, of fulltwo flemishells in length"(p. 602).
Given his symbolicidentityas false phallic hero, it is
appropriate that Von Poffenburgh,unlike the joyous and
procreativeVan Corlear, is associated withdisplaced acts of
violation and castration.In fact,an act of castrationis sug-
gested when in a show of disciplineVon Poffenburghorders
one of his soldiers,the old veteran Kildermeester,to cut off
his "immoderatequeue" of hair (p. 602). ("Queue" is French
slang for "penis," a meaning dating at least as far back as
Rabelais.) Vowing resistance to this violation of his man-
hood, Kildermeesterfalls ill of a fever and dies before his
"queue" is cut off,having defiantlydirected before he died
"that he should be carried to his grave with his eel-skin
25 The characterizationof Orgoglio ("pride") reveals his kinship with Von
Poffenburgh:"The greatestEarth his uncouth motherwas, /And blustringAeolus
his boasted sire, / Who with his breath, which through the world doth pas, / Her
hollow womb did secretlyinspire,/ And fild her hidden caves with stormieyre,/
That she conceived; and treblingthe dew time,/ In which the wombes of women
do expire, / Brought forththis monstrousmasse of earthlyslime / Puft up with
emptie wind, and fild with sinful crime" (The Fairie Queene,Book I, Canto VII,
stanza 9, in EdmundSpenser'sPoetry:Authoritative ThirdEdition,ed.
Texts,Criticism:
Hugh Maclean and Anne Lake Prescott[New York: W. W. Norton, 1993], p. 83).
On Orgoglio as an embodiment of phallic tumescence, see John W. Shroeder,
"Spenser's Erotic Drama: The Orgoglio Episode," ELH, 29 (1962), 140-59.
IRVING'S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 505
queue stickingout of a knot hole in his coffin"(p. 603).26
The sequel to the Kildermeesteraffair,however,suggests
that it is Von Poffenburghhimselfwho is fearfulof castra-
tion, for the image of the old soldier whom he attemptedto
deprive of his "queue" continues to haunt the general:
"This magnanimous affairobtained the general great credit
as an excellent disciplinarian,but it is hinted that he was
ever after subject to bad dreams, and fearfulvisitationsin

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

the night-when the grizlyspectrumof old Kildermeester
would stand centinel by his bed side, erect as a pump, his
enormous queue struttingout like the handle" (p. 603). A
grotesque phallic monster,Kildermeester'snightmare im-
age, with its threat of an older and more virile male, sug-
gests a nemesis figure originatingin a displaced image of
the fatheras subconscious threat,according to the oedipal
scenario.27 In any case, Von Poffenburgh'srepressed castra-
tion anxiety (the obverse of his overweeningbraggadocio)
portendsdefeat for thismilitaryimposter.
As we soon discover,in the course of Peter the Head-
strong'sreign a contestof phallic heroes transpires,withone
contender proving his impotence and the other his mettle.
The contrastin potenciesbetweenVon Poffenburghand Van
Corlear is especiallymade manifestin Book VI, which,withits
marshalingof armiesand mock-heroicbattleat FortChristina,
representsthe dramaticclimax of the History.The Book be-
ginswithVon PoffenburghfoolishlyallowingFortCasimerto
be seized bythe Swedish leader,Risingh,who takesadvantage
of the general's self-infatuationto get him drunk: "so lustily
did the greatVon Poffenburghplythe bottle,thatin less than
four short hours he made himself,and his whole garrison,
who all sedulouslyemulated thedeeds of theirchieftain,dead
26
Michael L. Black has demonstratedthat Kildermeesteris based on the case
of Colonel Thomas Butler,an old veteranwho, at the instigationof Wilkinson,was
convicted by a court martial in i1805 for refusing to cut his hair according to
Wilkinson'soriginal order of i 8o i; he died of yellowfeverbefore the sentencewas
carried out (see Black, "PoliticalSatire," p. 75; and Black and Black, eds., History,
PP. 343-44).
27 We may note that, unlike almost all the other Dutch names in the History,
there is apparently no Dutch source for the name "Kildermeester"(see Funk, p.
358); thus it is probablya facetiouscoinage suggesting"killthe master."
506 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

drunk" (p. 614). Von Poffenburghthus debases and unmans

himselfthroughalcoholic indulgence; and "when broughtto
himselfby a sound drubbing,bore no littleresemblanceto a
'deboshed fish;'or bloated sea monster,caughtupon dryland"
(p. 615). Von Poffenburgh'sdisgracein losingFortCasimeris
confirmedby Peter Stuyvesant'scontemptuousdismissal of
him fromservice.
The fall of Fort Casimer sends Peter Stuyvesanton a

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

recruitingvoyageup the Hudson withhis trustytrumpeterin
order to marshal the Dutch tribesto combat their Swedish
colonial rivals.And on thisvoyage Van Corlear distinguishes
himselfby performinga magical featwithhis oversizednose,
an organ analogous to his "soul stirring"instrumentin its
phallic resonances: "It must be knownthen thatthe nose of
Antony the trumpeter was of a very lusty size, strutting
boldly from his countenance like a mountain of Golconda;
being sumptuouslybedecked withrubies and other precious
stones-the true regalia of a kingof good fellows,whichjolly
Bacchus grantsto all who bouse it heartilyat the flaggon"(p.
626). Ornamented with"precious stones"(the punningequi-
valentof "familyjewels" in today'sslang) and associated with
mythicalwealth,Van Corlear's olfactoryorgan proves to be
an effortlessprovider when it effectuatesthe killingof "a
mightysturgeon"by reflectingthe sun's "potentbeams" at its
underwater target. By so doing, Van Corlear's fabulous
nose-apparently a combinationof fishingpole and primi-
tive ray gun-proves to be an embodiment of the primal
generative energy of the universe (though with a comic-
diabolic hint of brimstonein its composition,as the Dutch
crewmembersremarkupon consumingthe giantfish).
The contrastbetweenVan Corlear and Von Poffenburgh
as antitheticalallegoricaldoubletsshould bynow be clear.Van
Corlear is an ithyphallichero and Von Poffenburgha detu-
mescent one. Van Corlear enhances his manhood through
drinkwhile Von Poffenburghdebases his own. Van Corlear is
a musical horn of plenty;Von Poffenburghis an emptyblad-
der and a mountainof wind. Van Corlear catchesmightyfish
withhis magical "pole"; Von Poffenburghmassacreshumble
vegetableswithhis unmentionableweaponry.Finally,whereas
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 507
Von Poffenburghis responsibleforthe loss of FortCasimer,
Van Corlear is ultimatelyto be creditedwiththe Dutch victory
at Fort Christina.For another emblem of Antony'smagical
potencyenables Peter Stuyvesantto defeat his Swedish coun-
terpart,Risingh,during theirsolo encounteron the fieldof
battle.The decisivevictorycomes about afterPeterhas tempo-
rarilystunned Risinghwitha blow fromhis wooden leg and
then proceeds to attackhim withanothernon-lethalweapon:

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

The bewildered
Swedestaggered
withtheblow,and in themean
timethe waryPeter,espyinga pocketpistollyinghard by (which
had dropped fromthewalletof his faithful squireand trumpeter
Van Corlearduringhis furiousencounterwiththedrummer)dis-
charged it full at the head of the reelingRisingh-Let not my
readermistake-it was nota murderousweaponloaded withpow-
der and ball,buta littlesturdystonepottle,chargedto themuzzle
witha double dram of true dutch courage,whichthe knowing
Van Corlear alwayscarriedabout himbywayof replenishinghis
valour. (p. 657)

Van Corlear's "pocket pistol," or more properly "stone

pottle"-which probably derives from the "pistol" of sack
that FalstaffoffersPrince Hal at the Battle of Shrewsbury(I
HenryIV, V, iv)-is of special significancehere, for a "pot-
tle" is a two-quartcontainerwhile "stone" is a covertpun on
"testicle":in sum, Van Corlear's "double dram of true dutch
courage" is the symbolic equivalent of testosterone.Van
Corlear is thus triplyblest withphallic powers,firstwithhis
"soul stirringinstrument,"second with his bejeweled nose,
and now with his "pocket pistol" or "stone pottle." More-
over, if Von Poffenburgh'sabuse of alcohol is originallyre-
sponsible for the loss of Fort Casimer,the conquest of Fort
Christinais gained by means of the more potentliquor con-
tained in Van Corlear's "stone pottle."
In the last book of the History,
chroniclingthe demise of
Dutch sovereigntyin New Amsterdam,the close relationship
betweenPeterand Van Corlear entersitsterminalphase. The
book begins in the heroic mode, withthe governorand his
trumpetermakingan expeditiontodeal directlywiththeunre-
solved issue of Yankee encroachmentbynegotiatingwiththe
Amphyctionicleague of New England. For theirexpedition
508 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

Petergoes "bracingon his thighthattrustybrasshiltedsword,

which had wroughtsuch fearfuldeeds on the banks of the
Delaware," while Van Corlear has "his sturdystone pottle
whichhad laid low the mightyRisingh,slung under his arm,
and his trumpetdisplayed vauntinglyin his righthand" (p.
686). Yet despite thisformidablephallic displayat the outset
Peter'snegotiationswiththeland-hungryEnglishcolonistsare
ineffectual;indeed, theyare soon interruptedby news of the

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

impending arrival of an English fleet in New Amsterdam.
Peter's fightingspirit is galvanized by this threat to Dutch
sovereignty, but he is soon handicapped by the death of An-
tony,his vital musical mascot,who perishes on "a dark and
stormynight"whileattemptingto swimacross the narrowsat
upper Manhattanon anotherrecruitingmission.As we might
expect, Antony dies with his phallic power intact; for after
again "bracing to his side hisjunk bottle,well charged with
heart inspiringHollands" (pp. 707-8), he sallied forthto the
tip of Manhattan, where he "took a heartyembrace of his
stone bottle" and jumped into the turbulentstream,in the
middle of which"he was observedto strugglemostviolentlyas
ifbattlingwiththe spiritof thewaters-instinctivelyhe put his
trumpetto his mouthand givinga vehementblast-sunk for-
ever to the bottom!"(p. 708). Afterhe "instinctively"
attempts
a finalsonic ejaculation the forcesof chaos overcomethe lusty
trumpeter,as eros is vanquished by thanatosin the cycle of
nature.28
As in the cases of the twopreviousgovernors,the people
of New Amsterdamdemonstratethesame instinctualorienta-
tion as theirleader; but afterthe mock-heroicvictoryat Fort
Christina they more resemble the disgraced false phallic
hero, Von Poffenburgh,than the true one, Van Corlear.
Thus the news of the impending arrivalof the English puts
the New Amsterdamersin a martial posture well fortified
28 That Van Corlear is almost an appendage of Peter'sanatomyis again hinted
in the descriptionof Peter'sreactionto his trumpeter'sdeath. Here Peteris likened
to "some lorn pilgrim"who "sees stretchedcold and lifeless,his faithfuldog-the
sole companion of his lonelyjourneying,who had shared his solitarymeal, who had
so oftenlicked his hand in humble gratitude,who had lain in his bosom, and been
unto him as a child-So did the generous hearted hero of the Manhattoescontem-
plate the untimelyend of his faithfulAntony"(p. 709).
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 509
with"resolutions"and absurd gesturesof defiance.But with
the Englishofferingthema painless surrenderthe Dutch are
in fact littleinclined to fight.Typical of the pusillanimous
New Amsterdamersat thisjuncture is one Dofue Roerback,
whose preeminence among the people was based on the fact
that"he was the firstthatimprintednew year cakes withthe
mysterioushieroglyphicsof the Cock and Breeches,and such

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

like magical devices" (pp. 704-5); thismaestroof party-cake
decor demands that Peter capitulate to the English. Faced
witha populace more inclined to resentthe intransigenceof
their governor than to resisttheir colonial enemy,Peter is
forced to capitulate. But holed up in the atticof his Bowery
residence he stubbornlyresists actually signing the agree-
mentof surrenderuntilit is

hoistedtohimontheendofa pole,andhaving scrawledhisnameat

thebottom ofit,heexcommunicated themallfora setofcowardly,
mutinous,degenerateplatter-breeches-threw at
thecapitulation
theirheads,slammeddownthewindow, andwasheardstumping
downthestairswiththemostvehement indignation.The rabble
tooktotheirheels;eventheBurgomasters
incontinently werenot
slowinevacuatingthepremises,
fearinglestthesturdyPetermight
issuefromhisden,andgreetthemwithsomeunwelcome testimo-
nial of his displeasure. (p. 717)

The punning language of this passage makes it clear that

Peter is condemning his citizenryforbeing devoid of manli-
ness in all senses of the term.For whereastheyare potentially
incontinentof bladder and bowels throughfear,Peter is still
capable of a "testimonial"of true courage and preserveshis
honor intactdespite defeat. Not surprisingly, at his eventual
death from"cholera morbus" Peter is stilltenaciouslyretain-
ing his masculine endowment by "holding out, to the last
gasp, withmost inflexibleobstinacy,against a whole armyof
old women,who were bentupon drivingthe enemyout of his
bowels, after a true Dutch mode of defence, by inundating
the seat of war,withcatnip and penny royal" (p. 726). With
this mock-heroicdefense of his bowels against an army of
officiouswomen, the personal reignof Peterthe Headstrong
comes to an end. It is significantthat the death of each of
510 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

Irving'sthree governorscan be related to his instinctualori-

entation: the oral Walterexpires with"his peaceful soul ...
having escaped in the last whiffthatcurled fromhis tobacco
pipe" (p. 507); the anal William "undergo[es] a kind of ani-
mal combustion"(p. 559); and the phallic Peter"clinchedhis
witheredhand, as if he feltwithinhis gripe thatswordwhich
waved in triumph before the walls of Fort Christina,and
givinga grim smile of exultation,sunk back upon his pillow,

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

and expired" (p. 726).

Martin Roth has explored the extensive

literaryancestryof Irving'sHistory, in particularitsrelationto
what he at one point calls "the infantileworld of burlesque"
(Comedyand America,p. 130). In his studyof Irving and the
law Robert Ferguson has characterized the Historyas "an
acting-outof childhood experience and arrested adolescent
frustrations" (Law and Letters,
p. 169). Based on the foregoing
analysis,we have seen that the Knickerbocker Historyactually
subsumes a comprehensivecomic allegoryin whichthe "peo-
pling" of North America suggests the idea of human re-
production while the "infant history"of Dutch New York
parallels the process of childhood psychologicaldevelopment
according to a Freudian model; in effectthe body politicof
New Amsterdamdevelops according to the instinctualman-
dates of the childhood body. It is useful to note that the
association in the Knickerbocker Historybetween sexual and
scatologicalhumor and a developmentalmodel also accords
withFreud's general argumentinJokesand TheirRelationtothe
Unconscious (1905) thatjokes, humor,and the "comic"all give
access to instinctualpleasures associated with infancyand
childhood. Like its comic predecessor, TristramShandy
(1767)-Laurence Sterne'sextended burlesque on the hero's
procreation, gestation,birth,and infancy-Irving's History
creates a whimsical,improvisatory worldin whichcomic ana-
logues to infantileomnipotence, polymorphous perversity,
and instinctualgratification are expressed througha process
of what might be called creative comic regression. Such a
IRVING S KNICKERBOCKER HISTORY 511
procedure accords withWilliamL. Hedges's observationthat
"Irving gives us fantasiesof flagrantwish-fulfillment,
direct
appeals to the regressiveinstinct-the Americandream as a
returnto the womb."29
Thus, as an ironicexpressionof nostalgiafora lostworld
of childhood and Dutch colonial history,the Knickerbocker
Historygrows out of a unique blend of biographicaland his-
torical imagination. A pampered youngest son, the last of

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

eleven children,Irving was well suited by temperamentand
upbringingto reimaginethe instinctualmodes of childhood
experience.30So we find that Irving's narrativepersona in

29 "WashingtonIrving: Nonsense, the Fat of the Land, and the Dream of Inno-
cence," in The ChiefGloryofEveryPeople:Essayson ClassicAmericanWriters, ed. Mat-
thewJ.Bruccoli (Carbondale and Edwardsville:SouthernIllinoisUniv.Press, 1973),
p. 158. Hedges similarlyremarks,"one must recognize the nonsense of Knicker-
bocker humor as psychologicallyregressive,part of an escape from responsibility
and conflictwhichis characteristicof Irvinggenerallyand whichis at once the great
strengthand weakness of his work" ("Nonsense," pp. 148-49). Significantly, Knick-
erbocker'sother best-knownliterarycreations,"Rip Van Winkle"and "The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow," have elicited analogous, if only incidental,psychoanalyticcom-
mentary.Terence Martinhas suggested thatIchabod Crane is stuckat the oral stage
of development: "Irving couples the oral stage and imaginativeindulgence; both
signifychildhood" ("Rip, Ichabod, and the American Imagination,"American Litera-
ture,31 [1959], 143). Philip Young has described Rip Van Winkle as "the ego ar-
restedat the infantilelevel in an Oedipal situation;under pressurehe revertsall the
way back to the sleep of the womb" ("Fallen from Time: The MythicRip Van
Winkle,"KenyonReview,22 [1960], 568). (For a revealingexaminationof the sexual
humor of "Rip Van Winkle," see also William P. Dawson, "'Rip Van Winkle' as
Bawdy Satire: The Rascal and the Revolution,"ESQ: AJournaloftheAmerican Renais-
sance, 27 [1981], 198-206.) JeffreyRubin-Dorsky,in Adriftin theOld World:The
PsychologicalPilgrimageofWashington Irving(Chicago: Univ.of Chicago Press, 1988),
has produced an informative"psychological"reading of Irving'sEuropean writings
from The SketchBook to The Alhambra,but his focus is primarilyon the author's
working-outof personal anxietiesand insecuritiesin relationto largerquestions of
national identity:"Irving's most compelling subject as a writer-the displaced self
adriftin a mutable world-which was, of course, autobiographical in substance,
coincided with the uneasiness and uncertaintyof the American people as they
contemplatedthe fateof the nation in the earlydecades of the nineteenthcentury"
(p. xv). Although Irving's later fictionaland historicalworks only intermittently
show the comic ingenuitythatanimateshis earlyKnickerbockerwritings,theysome-
timesdramatizea comparable opposition betweenthe playful,imaginativeworldof
childhood and the more practical,rational world of adulthood that supersedes it.
On thisphenomenon, see especiallyMartin.
30 In an autobiographicalmanuscriptfragment writtenin the early 1820S Irving
wroteof his childhood: "When I was veryyoung I had an impossibleflowof spirits
that often went beyond my strength.Every thingwas fairyland to me" (quoted in
512 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE

the History,the aged and eccentricDiedrich Knickerbocker,

representsa conflationof both infancyand old age, firstand
second childhood-a psychologicalpun bridgingthe begin-
ning and end of life. Knickerbocker'sname, which Irving
borrowedfroma prominentAlbany-areaFederalist,Herman
Knickerbocker(1779-1885) of Schaghticoke,New York,actu-
ally means-contrary to Knickerbocker'sown whimsicalety-

Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-pdf/49/4/483/305896/2933730.pdf by guest on 15 August 2020

mologies (p. 631 )-"baker of earthenmarblesor balls,"or in
other words a manufacturerof child's play.3' Imaginatively
empowered by his regressive comic persona, Irving face-
tiously yet nostalgicallyreworked the archetypal myth of
America as a new world in which human nature mightbe
restoredto a prelapsarian stateof innocence-the mythsur-
vivingdespite (or because of) its repeated disconfirmation.
Irving'sfusingof an allegoryof childhood developmentwith
thisnationalmythicleitmotifconceivablyrevealsa psychologi-
cal componentin itsmakeup. Consequently,theKnickerbocker
Historyis the firstimportant"fictive"embodimentof the loss
of innocence and dispossessionfromparadise thatservesas a
recurrenttheme in American literature.We mightsay with
little exaggeration that Diedrich Knickerbocker is the
prepubescentfatherof us all.

BostonUniversity

Williams,Life,II, 255). For a full account of Irving'schildhood, see Williams,Life,

chap. 1.
31 It is a matterof dispute whetherIrving had actuallymet Herman Knicker-

bocker (also spelled "Knickerbacker")when he wrote the History(see Black and

p. 302n). Funk notes of the derivationof Irving'sfamouspseud-
Black, eds., History,
onym: "The firstname, Diedrich,is the German versionof the Dutch Diederick ....
The origin of the [last] name is Knikkerbakker,baker of earthen marble(s) or any
small,hard ball, perhaps some kind of confection"(p. 359).