The American Historical Novel (on American Themes) Before 1860: The Early Novels of James Fenimore Cooper (1821-1831) (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from The American Historical Novel (on American Themes) Before 1860: The Early Novels of James Fenimore Cooper (1821-1831)

James Fenimore Cooper - so the popular legend runs-was a man who wrote stories about idealized Indians and the wilder ness, now read mainly by boys; who created Leatherstocking, the man without a cross; and who spent an irascible old age win ning petty lawsuits. Further reflection may call to mind that he was enamored of the sea as well as of the wilderness, and that one of his stories had something to do with a spy. All this, of course, is true; but that Cooper did much more than this, has been dis covered comparatively recently. The explanation is to be found, in part, in the fact that after Cooper's death in 1851, the vogue of his type of romance having passed also, his popularity suffered a decline reaching its lowest ebb between 1870 and 1880. Another reason is that the novelist's dying injunction that no biography be authorized was carried out so literally by his oldest daughter and literary executrix that many family papers of value were destroyed. She afterwards published in the fltlom'z'c Monthly for 1887 two reminiscent articles about her father, but these are rambling and uninformative in character. In - thirty years after the death of the novelist - Professor Lounsbury succeeded surprisingly well in piecing together the outward facts of Cooper's life.1 The, Correspondence of Cooper, just published,2 reveals little about the workmanship or about the personality of the/novelist, except by way of emphasizing the fact that his social' and political ideas meant more to him than his art. Cooper's own introductions, added to his works in 1849, the articles by his daughter, and the results of Lounsbury must suflice for the external evidence on Cooper's work; whatever conclusions are reached on internal evi dence may be modified when materials still in the possession Of the Cooper family are given up to the public.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.