Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was born in New York into a wealthy merchant family, was the most famous American writer of the 19th century, known as the father of American literature, and his masterpiece "A History of New York" (1809) was very national and promoted the development of national literature at the beginning of the founding of the United States. In 1828, while living in Spain, Owen published the historical work The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which comprehensively reviewed the legendary life of Columbus in the Age of Discovery, based on Columbus's several sailing experiences.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery, by Washington Owen / Translated by Dai Xiaoli / China Friendship Publishing Company / 2020-10-1
Compared with other historical works on Columbus of the same era, the book has a documentary advantage. In 1826, Owen was a librarian at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, where he collected many valuable materials about Columbus, including: collections of Columbus's nautical documents, documents on Spanish colonial history collected by the U.S. consuls, materials from the Royal Library of Madrid and the Library of the Jesuit College in San Isidro, and family archives provided by Columbus descendants. With the help of these books and precious manuscripts, as well as conversations with those who taught them, Owen was able to ensure the fullness and authenticity of the historical data to the greatest extent.
Washington Irving
At the same time, as a literary pioneer, Owen also used vivid literary brushwork, exhausted the ability of story description and atmosphere rendering, and narrated a large number of details related to the characters, events, and characteristics of the times. For example, columbus returned to Spain after discovering the New World for the first time in 1492, and was solemnly welcomed by the government, the public and the people, "Around the middle of April, Columbus arrived in Barcelona... Many young courtiers and Spanish gentlemen, together with the assembled masses, came to greet him and welcome him... At the head of the line were the Indians, who were coloured according to their savage style and dressed in their native gold ornaments... Following these displays is Columbus on horseback, surrounded by a beautiful and mighty contingent of Spanish knights. Countless people crowded the streets, the windows and balconies crowded with beauties, and the rooftops were full of spectators. Through these descriptions, we seem to witness the pomp and circumstance of the scene, sharing the highlights of Columbus's life, and pride and joy jump on the paper. Such a lively description is countless in the book, and one has to admire Owen's rich imagination and delicate brushwork.
Of course, during Columbus's life of great navigation, such moments of joy were fleeting. In this literary biographical historical work, we will read more twists and turns and persistence, more bitterness and blood and sweat behind the prominence of the people, and this is the real situation of the pioneers of the great cause.
Columbus discovers the New World
The reason why Columbus was able to become a pioneer of the great discovery of navigation is inseparable from his lofty ideals and beliefs, tenacious personality, excellent leadership, professional navigation skills and other personal qualities. Many people probably don't know how much time and effort Columbus spent on this before he embarked on his first expedition. From the beginning of his great ideas in 1474 to the realization of his first voyage in 1492, Columbus spent more than 18 years in the process of applying for sponsorship from various imperial courts such as Portugal and Spain, which were constantly fighting. During this time, he spent most of his time in hopeless pleading, suffering poverty, neglect, disappointment, humiliation, and ridicule (almost everyone saw him as a dreamer, a lunatic). If we compare Columbus's situation at this time with the glorious moments that follow, how much Irving's description of the grandeur of the welcome ceremony is, how ironic it is, which is also the cleverness of the great writer.
As for the other personal qualities of Columbus's success, Owen vividly portrayed columbus's first voyage. In the face of the crew's forced, questioning, fearing, and conspiring rebellion, Columbus watched the fire, soft and the one hand, with his rich navigation knowledge accumulated over more than 20 years to appease, and stimulate the crew's greed for the wealth of the New World, on the other hand, through tough means to deter, fully showing the image of a brave, resourceful, quite leader of the navigator image.
In addition, Columbus's voyage expeditions had their brutal side, such as the brutal colonial plunder of the Americas. However, Columbus's first voyage expedition was of great significance in the history of geographical development, and was approved by later generations, and the United States designated the second Monday of October every year as Columbus's Day to celebrate Columbus's historical journey to the Americas in 1492. Therefore, it is not surprising that owen, the great writer at the beginning of the founding of the United States, wrote a biography of Columbus, and mostly created the image of the master from the positive side, and even gave people a feeling of excessive glorification.
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