Today in literary history: June 23

Here's what happened on June 23 in literary history.

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Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle” was first published June 23, 1819.

Irving began his writing career as a journalist of sorts, publishing essays as Jonathan Oldstyle. Later, as Diedrich Knickerbocker, he released a comic history of the Dutch regime in New York.

Around that time, tragedy struck — his fiancée died at just seventeen years old — and Irving spent a few years somewhat adrift.

Eventually, he made his way to England to check on a family business; while there, he met Sir Walter Scott, who encouraged him to return to his writing.

Within a few years, he released the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent; it contained “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and other works he considered his best.

The book was a huge success that gave Irving the confidence that he could live on his writing; more broadly speaking, it marked both the first American short stories (although the best-known of the two are adapted from German folktales) and the first time that Europeans recognized American literature as outstanding.

Irving continued writing until the end of his life, concluding with a five-volume biography of George Washington, after whom he was named.

Other facts of note about Irving: he served as US minister to Spain under President John Tyler; he fought for stronger copyright protections for writers; he coined “Gotham” as a nickname for New York City and the phrase “the almighty dollar”; and flags were flown at half-staff upon his death.

Sources: ThoughtCo., Encyclopedia Britannica, Biography.com, Mount Vernon official website

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Christopher Latham Sholes patented a typewriter on June 23, 1868.

Sholes, whose career included stints as a printer, a journalist, and a politician, had first patented a numbering machine with one friend; another friend was then inspired to suggest that they build upon this device to create a letter-printing machine, too.

The three eventually created a typewriter — not the first, or even close to the first one — but, crucially, they entered a partnership with the gun manufacturer Remington, which had the resources to mass-produce and market it.

A few years into this partnership, the keyboard layout we still use today, known as QWERTY, emerged. 

It has been theorized that the rearrangement was made to reduce the odds of a breakdown (for instance, by spacing out letters that are often used next to each other, so the bars aren't striking one another), but the more likely explanation is that the alphabetical arrangement was confusing and inefficient for those translating Morse code.

Regardless of its origin, the fact is that Remington eventually developed typing courses, which trained typists on the QWERTY layout, thus making them loyal to the setup.

Attempts to sway users to new layouts, like the Dvorak method (in the 1930s and 1940s) and the KALQ layout (in the early days of smartphone) have been unsuccessful — we're just too used to QWERTY.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, Smithsonian magazine, BBC

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Haruki Murakami, the best-selling and award-winning author of such novels as Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Norwegian Wood, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, completed his first ultramarathon on June 23, 1996.

The Lake Saroma Ultramarathon event features a 100-kilometer race, which Murakami did, and a 50-kilometer one in Hokkaido, Japan.

Murakami had picked up running when he became a writer, figuring that he needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle if he were to spend so much of his day sitting at a desk.

His two passions have, unsurprisingly, come together in a memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

Sources: Runner’s World, Literary Hub