James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper by Jarvis.jpg
Portrait by John Wesley Jarvis
Born September 15, 1789(1789-09-15)
Burlington, New Jersey
Died September 14, 1851 (aged 61)
Cooperstown, New York
Occupation Novelist
Genres Historical Fiction
Literary movement Colonial Realism
Notable work(s) The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Among his most famous works is the Romantic novel The Last of the Mohicans, which many consider to be his masterpiece.

Contents

Life and work

Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey, and later settled in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York.

He joined the Navy and obtained the rank of Midshipman before leaving in 1811.

He anonymously published his first book, Precaution (1820). He soon issued several others: The Spy (1821); The Pioneers (1823), the first of the Leatherstocking series featuring Natty Bumppo, the resourceful American woodsman at home with the Delaware Indians and especially their chief Chingachgook, not wholly an Indian nor a white man; and The Pilot (1824); Lionel Lincoln (1825) ; Last of the Mohicans (1826), a book that in the nineteenth century was one of the most widely read American novels. The book was written in a second-story storefront-apartment in Warrensburg, New York, just north of where most of the book's plot takes place. Leaving America for Europe Cooper published in Paris The Prairie (1826) and The Red Rover (1828).

These novels were succeeded by: The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish (1829); by The Notions of a Traveling Bachelor (1828); and by The Waterwitch (1830), one of his many sea-stories. In 1830 he entered the lists as a party writer; in a series of letters to the National, a Parisian journal, he defended the United States against a string of charges brought against them by the Revue Britannique. For the rest of his life he continued skirmishing in print, sometimes for the national interest, sometimes for that of the individual, and not infrequently for both at once.

This opportunity to make a political confession of faith appears not only to have fortified him in his own convictions, but to have inspired him with the idea of elucidating them for the public through the medium of his art. His next three novels, The Bravo (1831), The Heidenmauer (1832) and The Headsman: or the Abbaye of Vigneron (1833), were expressions of Cooper's republican convictions. The Bravo depicted Venice as a place where a ruthless oligarchy lurks behind the mask of the "serene republic." All were widely read on both sides of the Atlantic, though The Bravo was a critical failure in the United States.[1]

In 1833 Cooper returned to America and immediately published A Letter to My Countrymen, in which he gave his own version of the controversy in which he had been engaged and sharply censured his compatriots for their share in it. This attack he followed up with The Monikins (1835) and The American Democrat (1835); with several sets of notes on his travels and experiences in Europe, among which may be remarked his England (1837), in three volumes, and with Homeward Bound and Home as Found (1838), notable as containing a highly idealized portrait of himself.

All these books tended to increase the ill feeling between author and public; the Whig press was virulent and scandalous in its comments, and Cooper plunged into a series of actions for libel. Victorious in all of them, he returned to his old occupation with something of his original vigor and success. A History of the Navy of the United States (1839), supplemented (1846) by a set of Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers, was succeeded by The Pathfinder (1840), the fourth "Leatherstocking" novel; by Mercedes of Castile (1840); The Deerslayer (1841), the last in the series of books about Natty Bumppo; by The Two Admirals and by Wing and Wing (1842); by Wyandotte, The History of a Pocket Handkerchief, and Ned Myers (1843); and by Afloat and Ashore, or the Adventures of Miles Wallingford (1844). Of particular interest to naval historians is the autobiography of Ned Myers, fully titled "Ned Myers, Or, A Life Before the Mast."

Later life

Photograph by Mathew Brady c.1850

He turned again from pure fiction to the combination of art and controversy in which he had achieved distinction, and in the two Littlepage Manuscripts (1845—1846) he wrote with a great deal of vigour. His next novel was The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak (1847), in which he attempted to introduce supernatural machinery; and this was succeeded by Oak Openings, The Two Admirals, and Jack Tier (1848), the latter a curious rifacimento of The Red Rover; by The Sea Lions (1849); and finally by The Ways of the Hour (1850), another title with a purpose, and his last completed novel.

Cooper spent the last years of his life in Cooperstown, New York (named for his father). He died of dropsy on September 14, 1851, a day before his 62nd birthday. His interment was located at its Christ Episcopal Churchyard where his father William Cooper was buried.

Legacy and criticism

Statue in Cooperstown, New York.

Cooper was certainly one of the most popular 19th century American authors. Cooper's work was admired greatly throughout the world. While on his death bed, the Austrian composer Franz Schubert became an avid reader of Cooper's novels. His stories have been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe and into some of those of Asia. Balzac admired him greatly, but with discrimination.

Though some scholars may dispute Cooper being classified as a Romantic, Victor Hugo pronounced him greater than the great master of modern romance, and this verdict was echoed by a multitude of less famous readers, who were satisfied with no title for their favorite less than that of “the American Scott.” As a satirist and observer he is simply the “Cooper who's written six volumes to prove he's as good as a Lord” of Lowell's clever portrait; his enormous vanity and his irritability find vent in a sort of dull violence, which is exceedingly tiresome. He was most memorably criticized by Mark Twain whose vicious and amusing "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences" is still read widely in academic circles. His reputation today rests upon the five Leatherstocking tales and some of the maritime stories; his presentation of race relations and native Americans has generated much comment, not all of it sympathetic.

Cooper was also criticized heavily for his depiction of women characters in his work. Contemporary critic James Russell Lowell referred to it poetically in A Fable for Critics: "...the women he draws from one model don't vary, / All sappy as maples and flat as a prairie."[1]

List of writings

Date Title: Subtitle Genre Topic, Location, Period
1820 Precaution [2] novel England, 1813-1814
1821 The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground [3] novel Westchester County, New York, 1778
1823 The Pioneers: or The Sources of the Susquehanna [4] novel Leatherstocking, Otsego County, New York, 1793-1794,
1823 Tales for Fifteen: or Imagination and Heart [5] 2 short stories written under the pseudonym: "Jane Morgan"
1824 The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea [6] novel John Paul Jones, England, 1780
1825 Lionel Lincoln: or The Leaguer of Boston novel Battle of Bunker Hill, Boston, 1775-1781
1826 The Last of the Mohicans: A narrative of 1757 [7] novel Leatherstocking, French and Indian War, Lake George & Adirondacks, 1757
1827 The Prairie [8] novel Leatherstocking, American Midwest, 1805
1828 The Red Rover: A Tale [9] novel Newport, Rhode Island & Atlantic Ocean, pirates, 1759
1828 Notions of the Americans: Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor non-fiction America for European readers
1829 The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish: A Tale [10] novel Western Connecticut, Puritans and Indians, 1660-1676
1830 The Water-Witch: or the Skimmer of the Seas [11] novel New York, smugglers, 1713
1830 Letter to General Lafayette politics France vs. US, cost of government
1831 The Bravo: A Tale [12] novel Venice, 18th century
1832 The Heidenmauer: or, The Benedictines, A Legend of the Rhine novel German Rhineland, 16th century
1832 No Steamboats short story  
1833 The Headsman: The Abbaye des Vignerons [13] novel Geneva, Switzerland, & Alps, 18th century
1834 A Letter to His Countrymen politics Why Cooper temporarily stopped writing
1835 The Monikins [14] novel Antarctica, aristocratic monkeys, 1830s; a satire on British and American politics.
1836 The Eclipse [15] memoir Solar eclipse in Cooperstown, New York 1806
1836 Gleanings in Europe: Switzerland (Sketches of Switzerland) travel Hiking in Switzerland, 1828
1836 Gleanings in Europe: The Rhine (Sketches of Switzerland, Part Second) travel Travels France, Rhineland & Switzerland, 1832
1836 A Residence in France: With an Excursion Up the Rhine, and a Second Visit to Switzerland [16] travel  
1837 Gleanings in Europe: France travel Living, travelling in France, 1826-1828
1837 Gleanings in Europe: England travel Travels in England, 1826, 1828, 1833
1838 Gleanings in Europe: Italy travel Living, travelling in Italy, 1828-1830
1838 The American Democrat : or Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America non-fiction US society and government
1838 The Chronicles of Cooperstown The Chronicles of Cooperstown history Local history of Cooperstown, New York
1838 Homeward Bound: or The Chase: A Tale of the Sea [17] novel Atlantic Ocean & North African coast, 1835
1838 Home as Found: Sequel to Homeward Bound [18] novel Eve Effingham, New York City & Otsego County, New York, 1835
1839 The History of the Navy of the United States of America history US Naval history to date
1839 Old Ironsides [19] history History of the Frigate USS Constitution, 1st pub. 1853
1840 The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea [20] novel Leatherstocking, Western New York, 1759
1840 Mercedes of Castile: or, The Voyage to Cathay novel Christopher Columbus in West Indies, 1490s
1841 The Deerslayer: or The First Warpath novel Leatherstocking, Otsego Lake 1740-1745
1842 The Two Admirals novel England & English Channel, Scottish uprising, 1745
1842 The Wing-and-Wing: le Le Feu-Follet [21] (Jack o Lantern) novel Italian coast, Napoleonic Wars, 1745
1843 Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief [22], also published as
  • Le Mouchoir: An Autobiographical Romance
  • The French Governess: or The Embroidered Handkerchief
  • Die franzosischer Erzieheren: oder das gestickte Taschentuch
 novelette Social satire, France & New York, 1830s
1843 Richard Dale    
1843 Wyandotte: or The Hutted Knoll. A Tale [23] [24] novel Butternut Valley of Otsego County, New York, 1763-1776
1843 Ned Myers: or Life before the Mast [25] biography of Cooper's shipmate who survived an 1813 sinking of a US sloop of war in a storm
1844 Afloat and Ashore: or The Adventures of Miles Wallingford. A Sea Tale [26] novel Ulster County & worldwide, 1795-1805
1844 Miles Wallingford: Sequel to Afloat and Ashore [27] novel Ulster County & worldwide, 1795-1805
1844 Proceedings of the Naval Court-Martial in the Case of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, &c.    
1845 Satanstoe: or The Littlepage Manuscripts, a Tale of the Colony [28] novel New York City, Westchester County, Albany, Adirondacks, 1758
1845 The Chainbearer; or, The Littlepage Manuscripts novel Westchester County, Adirondacks, 1780s (next generation)
1846 The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin: Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts novel Anti-rent wars, Adirondacks, 1845
1846 Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers biography  
1847 The Crater; or, Vulcan's Peak: A Tale of the Pacific [29] (Mark's Reef) novel Philadelphia, Bristol (PA), & deserted Pacific island, early 1800s
1848 Jack Tier: or the Florida Reefs [30]
a.k.a. Captain Spike: or The Islets of the Gulf		 novel Florida Keys, Mexican War, 1846
1848 The Oak Openings: or the Bee-Hunter [31] novel Kalamazoo River, Michigan, War of 1812
1849 The Sea Lions: The Lost Sealers [32] novel Long Island & Antarctica, 1819-1820
1850 The Ways of the Hour novel "Dukes County, New York," murder/courtroom mystery novel, legal corruption, women's rights, 1846
1850 Upside Down: or Philosophy in Petticoats play satirization of socialism
1851 The Lake Gun [33] short story Seneca Lake in New York, political satire based on folklore
1851 New York: or The Towns of Manhattan [34] history Unfinished, history of New York City, 1st pub. 1864

Sources for this table include:

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

  1. ↑ Porte, Joel. The Romance in America: Studies in Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, and James. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1969. p. 20

External links

Sources

Other

Persondata
NAME Cooper, James Fenimore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American novelist
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Burlington, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1851
PLACE OF DEATH Cooperstown, New York