Peter Irving

Peter Irving (born October 30, 1772 in New York ; died June 27, 1838 there ) was an American journalist and writer.

Life

Irving's parents were the Scottish emigrant William Irving and his English wife Sarah (née Sanders). He was the second oldest of five sons in the New York merchant family. His younger brother was Washington Irving (* 1783), who would become the most successful American writer of his generation. In fact, it was Peter Irving who was the first to show the family literary ambitions. Although he studied medicine, he hardly ever practiced as a doctor after his license to practice medicine. By 1800 he was already one of the illustrious personalities of the cultural and political life of New York, at that time the capital of the United States. He was a member of several literary clubs, debating circles and Masonic lodges and was soon close to Aaron Burr , Vice President of the USA since 1800.

In 1802 he began his journalistic career and became editor-in-chief of the Morning Chronicle , which he founded on Burr's instigation, and which he chaired until December 1805. After Burr's political career after the deadly duel with Alexander Hamilton came to a sudden end and his confidants even more than previously hostility on the part of both the Federalist party as the Republicans have faced, Peter Irving began in 1806 from Europe to a Grand Tour to Companies. In 1808 he was temporarily back in New York, but returned to Europe the following year, where he was to stay until 1836.

From 1809 he was in Liverpool to manage the local branch of the Irving family business; His brother Washington followed him there in 1815, but neither of them could avert bankruptcy in 1818. Peter eventually settled in Paris, where he devoted himself to his literary projects. During his years at the Morning Chronicle , he had focused primarily on purely political comments, while Washington published his first works of fiction, the Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle , in the pages of the newspaper . Washington Irving's satirical History of New York began as a joint venture between the brothers, but Peter's contribution was limited to the first drafts. With the sketchbook , Washington finally found a broad readership and recognition as a writer on both sides of the Atlantic in 1819/20; For his part, Peter published the novel Giovanni Sbogarro in London and New York in 1820 under the pseudonym Percival Gordon ; A Venetian Tale, taken from the French. As the subtitle suggests, it was not a standalone work, but a translation of the pirate romance Jean Sbogar by the French Charles Nodier , although in some places it was considerably expanded, embellished and modified.

The volume barely brought the hoped-for success, and from now on Peter Irving was always to be in the shadow of his much more successful brother, so that he was only courted as the brother of the famous writer Washington Irving on social occasions. The following years in Paris he mainly indulged in idleness, especially since he increasingly suffered from health problems. In 1836 he returned to New York after 27 years and was housed by his relatives, but died barely two years later.

Works

• Giovanni Sbogarro: A Venetian Tale (Taken from the French) . 2 volumes. CS Winkle, New York 1820. ( Digitized at the Hathi Trust Digital Library)
• Peter Irving's Journals. Edited by Leonard B. Beach, Theodore Hornberger, and Wyllis E. Wright. New York Public Library, New York 1943.

Secondary literature

• Wayne R. Kime: Pierre M. Irving's Account of Peter Irving, Washington Irving, and the Corrector. In: American Literature 43: 1, 1971. pp. 108-114.
• Francis Smith: Peter Irving, Translator of Jean Sbogar. In: Franco-American Review 1, 1937. pp. 342-46.