February 13th, 7pm

While everyone is familiar with ”Rip Van Winkle,” and through it the name of its author, how much do
you really know about either? Was Irving’s intent just to write a pleasant story based upon a Germanic
folktale or was there a deeper meaning and purpose to it? And who was Washington Irving? An author
surely, and one of the very few before Mark Twain who earned a living from his writing, but other than
“Rip” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” what do you know about the man, who was also a merchant,
a lawyer, and a diplomat? Both the story and the man will prove fascinating to you.

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Michael A. Lofaro, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee, is the author or editor of twenty-
three books, an online database, over eighty articles, and has received over sixty fellowships, grants, and
awards. One of his favorite topics is the intertwining of early American literature, history, and culture.

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