Late Winter

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Place, Mood, and Character in Washington Irving's Ghostly Tale, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

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"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving , first published in 1820, is the quintessential American ghost story. I read it every Autumn before Hallowe'en, and I am always impressed by Irving's abilities. Irving was a great tale-teller with a gifted imagination, and a talent for vivid, drawn-out descriptions. The Headless Horseman actually appears in the story only briefly. The rest of the time, Irving carefully develops a strong sense of place, mood, and character, three elements necessary for a successful ghostly tale. For instance, in helping the reader experience Sleepy Hollow, a real place quite familiar to him, Irving writes: "Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker...
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Source of the Butlerian Jihad in the Dune Universe

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For Dune fans, here is an interesting article that finally makes clear the source of the name and inspiration for the Butlerian Jihad in Frank Herbert's science fiction universe. I printed it today (5/29/2014) from the microfilm archives of The Herald held at the Everett (WA) Public Library. Frank Butler was our family attorney before his retirement. Article citation and annotation:  Wootton, Sharon. "Stanwood Butler Did It." The Herald [Everett, WA] 03 Dec. 2000, Books sec.: 2D. Print. Frank Butler, attorney from Stanwood, Washington, is identified as the source for the Butlerian Jihad in Frank Herbert's Dune universe.
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A Frighteningly Brief Introduction to the Gothic in Fiction, Music, T.V., and Film

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Jackson the Cat "The Gothic tale, characterized by its setting and atmosphere--the former tending toward ill-storied mansions located in remote, rustic areas, the latter toward gloom and impending disaster--flourished for many years: from the age of Horace Walpole and Anne Radcliffe into the early twentieth century, when it died with Edith Wharton. The genre also typically featured an unlikely, melancholy hero who confronts a half-remembered legend concerning a dark presence who once terrorized the region in life and is still rumored to haunt the land in death, or an innocent who was tortured to death sometime in the distant past and who is said to still walk the land after nightfall." -James Person  From its awkward beginnings in the late 18th century with Horace Walpole's pseudo-medieval novel,  The Castle of Otranto ,  the literary style known as "Gothic"  has grown to become very popular. While there are pure Gothic stories, often elem...
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