The Power of the Known

Thomas Cole – A View of the Two Lakes and Mountain House, Catskill Mountains, Morning (1844) The Power of the Familiar

Two days ago, during my presentation at Duquesne University (see my previous post for more details), I asked a student to recall a passage that had effectively drawn him into a piece of writing.

Without hesitation, he identified the opening of Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle.”

Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They ar...