ABSTRACT
We can thank the satirist Washington Irving for giving New York City its most enduring and endearing nickname) one replete with historical double meanings. In 1807) Irving equated New York City with Gotham) an old English town whose residents pretended to be simpleminded in order to keep the king from taking over their village. As the English put it) "more fools pass through Gotham than stay in it.)) This name lasted because it captured what the historian William R. Taylor called "the ironic persona of the city.)) It suggested a place that was at once "unique and representative))) a part of the nation) yet different from it. In being "outlandish) crazy) yet somehow typical,)) New York provided perspective on America and much material for satire throughout the early national and Jacksonian periods. l
The English origin of the term was paradoxical because Irving) who was named after America)s first president) wrote in the post-Revolutionary period and promoted the development of national identity through a national literature. In fact) he insisted on using "the original Indian name) Manna-hatta))) as a mark of independence from Europe. Furthermore) his History of New York (1809) was notable) not just for its humor) but also because it drew on the pre-British past of the nascent nation. While mocking the rotund) contented Dutch) he was also criticizing the lean) aggressive British and their Yankee
descendents. Irving cleverly used the colonial era to reflect on postcolonial dilemmas. In the process, he suggested that New York and America were more complicated than they seemed.2
