Romanticism
is tied closely to nationalism. It is associated with the rise of nationalist movements in the
Italian and German states in the nineteenth century, as well as with the struggle of smaller
European states for independence and autonomy. Romanticism's contribution to the rise of
nationalism came through its focus on folktales and highly valuing the importance of
regionalism, common people, and ethnicity.
This nationalist aspect of
Romanticism emerges in Irving's story, which was part of his nation-building project as an
author in a new republic. The story is unequivocally set in the United States, near Boston and
the Charles River and is permeated withand supernatural elements particular to the Americas. For
example, early in the story, the folkore begins as the narrator mentions Kidd, the pirate,
burying a treasure under a huge oak near the Charles River. The narrator then says:
The old stories add, moreover, thatpresided at the hiding of the
money, and took it...
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