In the context of my latter-day dream visions project, I have been reading and thinking about "Rip Van Winkle" as an early American fiction that may or may not inherit the medieval dream vision genre. I'm not ready yet to write the full argument about that, but I do have some preliminary ideas and thoughts that abut on it. In particular, I am interested in story frames and in unreliable narrators.
The frame story
"Rip Van Winkle" opens with a parenthetical discussion of the stories alleged provenance, which claims it was found among the papers of an old man of Dutch descent, Dietrich Knickerbocker. This note suggests the story is part of Knickerbocker's amateur history of the Dutch settlers of New York, and it introduces the idea that Knickerbocker's writing is not very good, not very significant, and that Knickerbocker himself might have found something more productive and useful to do with his time. The main takeaways here are to reinforce Washington Irving's focus on the Dutch in New York, also on display in "The Headless Horseman"; and a hint that the narrator will be interested in issues related to productivity, to what one contributes to the community or to posterity or to something larger than oneself in any case. This latter theme, which ties personal value to personal work ethic and productivity, is something that persists into the 20th century and can be seen in Baum's "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" as well.
The main body of the story itself begins with descriptive passages that phase from geographic (lavish descriptions of the Catskills), to municipal (as the focus comes to the village where Rip resides), to the domestic (with descriptions of Rip's family and home situation), to Rip Van Winkle himself (his preferences, desires, attitudes). This incremental refinement of focus is not unusual in medieval dream visions. My dissertation advisor Anne Brannen, in an unpublished MA thesis, describes the structure of the medieval dream vision as entering increasingly narrow locales of increasing sacredness - From the World, to the Forest, to a Sacred Grove, and so on, or from a town, to a cathedral, to a particular saint's chapel, etc. Following this paradigm lends significant focus to Rip's interior attitudes and motivations, since these are the most focused "setting" in the story.
Once we get to Rip himself, the opening period of his wakefulness, which in a traditional dream vision would establish the main theme of the poem, the issue that will be explored within the dream itself, features plenty of deadpan complaints about Mrs. Van Winkle and about her belligerence toward and criticism of poor Rip, who just wants to enjoy his leisure and ignore his responsibilities, etc. This reinforces the work- and productivity-related theme that was introduced in the note about Dietrich Knickerbocker. One might expect the dream portion of the story to explore this theme.
The narrator
The narrator of "Rip Van Winkle" presents himself as tolerant of the title character's work ethic and hostile to Mrs. Van Winkle's aggressive and intolerant treatment of her husband. He repeatedly describes her as "a termagant." Upon looking at the actual presented situation, though, it's clear she is desperately trying to provide for her family despite her husband's abject failure as a provider. The narrator praises Rip's laziness and condemns his wife's complaints as shrewishness - However, I don't believe we as readers are meant to accept the narrator's assessment.
Instead, I believe we are dealing with a narrator similar to Chaucer's many Geffreys, who, despite being named for their prodigiously intelligent author, are themselves presented as being Deeply Stupid. The narrator of the Canterbury Tales praises the pilgrims, in many cases, for their worst crimes and failings. The Knight, for example, receives accolades based on his service on a privateer ship (half a step away from piracy) and for having killed so many of his jousting opponents (which is not unlike if we were to praise a modern boxer for killing his opponents, or a football player for killing players on the opposing team). The nun is praised for her fashionable jewelry, because instead of a crucifix her rosary concludes with a medallion that says "Love Conquers All" in Latin. As readers we are meant to understand these to be failings, even though the narrator praises them as strengths and accomplishments.
For both Chaucer and Washington Irving, this is a source of humor. The work-and-productivity-related theme is reinforced by both the narrator's affectionate attitude about Rip's leisurely demeanor and his hostility to Rip's wife (including what borders on celebrating on Rip's behalf at the revelation that the poor woman had a stroke and died during Rip's 20-year nap).
I'll have much more to say about this text, later. Especially if I can make a link between the word 'termagant' and the avian world.
