Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief by James Fenimore Cooper

Lessons on greed and vanity from an inanimate narrator

Who would have thought that stodgy old James Fenimore Cooper would produce one of the weirdest novels in 19th century American literature? Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief, first published in 1843, is exactly what its title indicates: a novel written from the point of view of a glorified snot rag. Why a pocket handkerchief, you may ask? Using the accessory as a symbol of wealth and status allows Cooper to tell a moralistic fable on greed and vanity.

Like many an autobiography of its time, the book begins with a genealogical overview of its handkerchief narrator. The handkerchief, who identifies as a female, explains that she is descended from flaxseed that was bred in Massachusetts, packed in a keg and loaded on a British ship, stolen by French pirates in the Atlantic, then taken to Picardy where it was sown, grown, spun, and woven into a bolt of cambric. Having been cut from the center of this cloth, the narrator considers herself a political moderate, as opposed to her siblings that were cut from the left and right extremes of the sheet. The unadorned fabric of the hanky is then purchased by a down-on-her-luck French maiden who lovingly emblazons the cloth with embroidery and lace, thus producing an exceptional handkerchief that commands high prices. The narrator explains that handkerchiefs not only have the ability to see and hear what is occurring around them but also possess an added power of clairvoyance that even allows them to read the thoughts and feelings of those in their vicinity. This is fortunate because the handkerchief spends long stretches of the narrative shut up in drawers and chests, yet is still able to relate the human events taking place in the houses in which she dwells.

Cooper obviously wrote this work with some degree of satire in mind. Rarely if ever is it laugh-out-loud funny, however, and the handkerchief relates its story with the poker face of a classic comedy straight man. One wonders what a writer like Balzac, who specialized in comedies of manners with a bitingly satirical sense of humor, could have done with a premise like this. Cooper, on the other hand, is primarily known as a historical novelist, the Sir Walter Scott of colonial America. Humor isn’t exactly his strong point, so instead of satire what really shines through this bizarre story is the moral message that Cooper wishes to impart. The various hands through which the handkerchief passes illustrate the contrast between shallow materialism and virtuous love. Regardless of their French or American origin, the women who possess or covet the handkerchief are either saints or gold diggers; the men who court them run the gamut from noble gentlemen of pure intentions to opportunists looking for advantageous marriages to further their position in society. Those in the latter category suffer the most ridiculous lampooning from Cooper. Overall, the plot resembles something similar to a less skillfully executed take on one of Anthony Trollope’s Victorian romances, except for having the strange added dimension of being narrated by an inanimate object.

Nowadays we know Cooper best for his Leatherstocking Tales and other novels of adventure, war, and wilderness. He was, however, a more versatile author who frequently published fiction and essays of social commentary on political events in Europe, of which this novel is an atypical example. Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief is unlikely to make anyone forget The Last of the Mohicans, but this unusual literary curiosity does prove more entertaining than one might expect.
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The Literati by Edgar Allan Poe

Nothing if not critical
Given the macabre tales he wrote, and the rumors (some of them unfounded) of his alcoholic lifestyle and erratic behavior, it is easy to imagine Edgar Allan Poe as a deranged recluse shut up in a garret with no friend but his pen. On the contrary, however, Poe was a hard-working author and an active member of the literary community. In addition to his poetry and fiction, Poe penned many essays, articles, and reviews for literary journals. In 1846, for a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book, Poe wrote a series of articles entitled “The Literati of New York City,” in which he profiled various men and women of letters, critiqued their work, and even described their physical appearance and personalities. In 1850 these profiles, along with other articles of literary criticism by Poe, were collected in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, Volume III, under the collective title of The Literati. This volume is also included in the Delphi Classics ebook collection Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, published in 2011.

Of the roughly 75 writers critiqued by Poe, only a few still stand as household literary names today: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Fenimore Cooper, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Dickens. Habitual readers of classic lit will likely recognize several others, but most of Poe’s contemporaries have largely faded from memory. Probably about three-quarters of the authors Poe discusses are poets first and foremost, though Poe does cover some novelists and short story writers as well. His view of the New York world of letters is even broad enough to include journal editors, a physician who gives scientific lectures, and clergymen who write religious works. About a quarter of the authors are women, several of whom garner high praise from Poe. From his descriptions, Poe seems to have been acquainted with many of these figures, though he makes it hard to tell which may have been friends and which enemies.

The fact is, whether reviewing an ally or a foe, Poe could be a brutal critic. He frequently asserts that a critic is not obligated to point out the merits of a work of art or literature but is duty-bound to point out its faults. In other words, even if Poe likes your work, he’ll still harp on your shortcomings. Though he says Longfellow may be America’s greatest poet, Poe still considers him overrated and spends a large, tedious portion of the collection accusing Longfellow of plagiarism. Poe proclaims Richard Henry Horne’s epic poem Orion to be the greatest poem ever written, but only after having spent about 15 pages lambasting Horne’s grammar, rhyme, meter, and imagery. With fans like Poe, who needs enemies? The only writer who gets unequivocal praise is Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was still relatively unknown at the time, and Poe thought he was greatly underrated. Though a born Bostonian, Poe has little regard for his fellow Bay Staters, the Transcendentalists, whom he regards as the “merest nobodies, fatiguing even themselves.”

As a fan of 19th century literature, I was hoping Poe’s critical essays might turn me on to some lesser-known fiction writers. Since Poe focuses so much on poetry, however, that hope didn’t really pan out. The sheer quantity and length of these essays was more than I bargained for, but I still found them interesting and educational. The Literati really provides the reader with a glimpse of Poe’s idiosyncratic personality and venomous sense of humor, but most fans of Poe’s fiction would find these articles irrelevant to an appreciation of his stories. Those studying poetry, however, would do well to read Poe’s criticism, if for no other reason than to learn how not to write verse.
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Lionel Lincoln by James Fenimore Cooper

Stodgy Gothic drama set in the American Revolution
Early in his career, James Fenimore Cooper got the idea of writing a series of 13 historical novels about the American Revolution, with one book set in each of the original 13 American colonies. Cooper abandoned the series idea, however, after the first novel, set in Massachusetts, did not live up to the expectations of the author or the public. That book, published in 1825, is Lionel Lincoln. The title character is descended from a British aristocratic family. Though born in Boston, he was raised in England on the family’s historic estate and even serves as a member of parliament. At about the age of 25, he returns to the town of his birth as a major in the British Army. When the story begins, Boston is in a state of unrest. The Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party have already taken place, and the American colonists continue to protest against taxation without representation and other British abuses of power. Over the course of the book, Lionel either witnesses or participates in the battles of Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill.

Writing a half century after the historical events depicted, Cooper is American literature’s foremost fictional chronicler of the Revolution. In his writings on the conflict, including his novels The Spy and Wyandotté, Cooper doesn’t depict the British as evil monsters like so many of today’s movies. Instead, he reminds us that the Revolution was almost a civil war, in that Tories and rebels lived side by side as neighbors and even family. Cooper is very sympathetic to the British side of the war—in fact, most of the characters in Lionel Lincoln are British—but he also expresses great reverence for the colonists’ fight for independence.

Upon his return to America, Lionel is taken in by relatives whom he soon suspects may be involved in supporting the colonists’ underground resistance movement. From this, the reader expects an espionage novel similar to The Spy. Such hopes are dashed, however, when it later becomes apparent that the novel is not so much about the American Revolution as it just happens to be set in it. The book eventually develops into a Gothic novel of family secrets more in the vein of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, but nowhere near as good as either.

As expected from a book this old, there is a lot of cumbersome language to overcome, but that’s also part of the charm for lovers of classic books. The attention span of early 19th-century readers was far more forgiving than their 21st-century counterparts, so one also has to put up with Cooper’s lethargic pacing. In a failed attempt to heighten suspense, Cooper has an annoying habit of not revealing the names of characters, merely referring to them as “the stranger” or “the gentleman” far too long before disclosing their identities. The reader’s hopes that these might turn out to be real historic Bostonians is never gratified. The cast includes British generals like Howe and Burgoyne, but real-life American heroes are absent. George Washington is mentioned frequently in conversation but doesn’t appear in person. As is often the case in Cooper’s novels, Lionel and his love interest—the idealized hero and heroine—are surrounded by a quirky cast of characters who cram the text full of colorful conversation, humorous accents, and irrelevant asides. Lionel’s best friend, Captain Polwarth, is a rotund glutton who constantly waxes rhapsodic about gastronomic pleasures at the most inappropriate moments.

Lionel Lincoln is a poor novel, perhaps the worst Cooper novel I’ve read thus far, but amid all the tedious histrionics I still enjoyed reading the author’s perspective on the Revolution.
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International Short Stories: American, edited by William Patten

From canon to commonplace

Washington Irving

What the rather confusing title/subtitle combination of International Short Stories: American doesn’t tell you is that this is one book of a trilogy which also includes volumes of French and English stories. This particular volume, a collection of 22 short stories by American authors, was edited by William Patten and published by P. F. Collier & Son in 1910. The selections contained within are an odd mix of the classic and the obscure. Glancing down the table of contents one can see that the book begins with some of the greatest names in American literature, followed by some also-rans, and then, with a few exceptions, concluding with the barely-heard-ofs. The result is that the first half of the book reads like a greatest stories of all-time collection, while the latter half comes across as a promotional showcase for up-and-coming unknowns.

In general, not surprisingly, the better-known authors provide the best stories. The book opens with Nathaniel Hawthorne, who’s not one of my personal favorites, but his story “The Prophetic Pictures” is better than his usual fare. This is followed by a line up of heavy hitters including Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Fenimore Cooper and Bret Harte. Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was likely America’s first literary masterpiece, and it still holds up excellently today. In the perfect combination of horror and humor, Irving manages to satirize American folklore while creating his own enduring piece of it. From Poe we get not one of his macabre horror tales but rather the satisfying treasure hunt adventure “The Gold-Bug.” Cooper’s offering, “Corporal Flint’s Murder,” is a solemn tale of White vs. Native American conflict, like a scene lifted straight out of the Leatherstocking Tales. From the mining camp sketches of champion yarn-spinner Harte comes “Uncle Jim and Uncle Billy,” a well crafted and vividly drawn tale of two inseparable claim partners who reach a critical point in their relationship.

So far so good, but overall the collection takes a downward dive from there. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s entry “The Notary of Perigueux” is a bit of a disappointment, given his illustrious name. Still, there are gems here and there. O. Henry delivers an entertaining tale with “The Count and the Wedding Guest.” Of the writers I would consider second-tier authors, Frank Stockton scores with a comedic yarn and Anna Katharine Green provides a tale of suspense reminiscent of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One of the best stories, “Miss Tooker’s Wedding Gift,” is by an author I’ve never heard of, John Kendrick Bangs. It concerns an idle rich man who goes to great lengths to prove his worth to the woman he loves, with hilarious results. Other pleasant surprises spring from the pens of F. Hopkinson Smith and Charles G. D. Roberts. Too many of the remaining selections are mediocre at best, with the worst being two brief fables by George Ade that amount to little more than dumb punch lines. When taken as a whole, however, the balance sheet is favorable, and the collection hits more than it misses.

You’re not going to find many tales of profound insight or emotional power here. Editor William Patten’s intention seems to have been to pleasantly entertain, so, with few exceptions, what you get are clever, lighthearted tales with surprise endings. This is by no means the best collection of century-old short fiction I’ve ever read, but it’s pretty good overall. Readers who like this sort of thing might also check out the Stories by American Authors series, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1884, of which volumes III, VI, and X are the best.

Stories in this collection

The Prophetic Pictures by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving 

The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allan Poe 

Corporal Flint’s Murder by James Fenimore Cooper 

Uncle Jim and Uncle Billy by Bret Harte 

The Notary of Perigueux by H. W. Longfellow 

The Widow’s Cruise by F. R. Stockton 

The Count and the Wedding Guest by O. Henry 

Miss Tooker’s Wedding Gift by John Kendrick Bangs 

The Fable of the Two Mandolin Players and the Willing Performer by George Ade 

The Fable of the Preacher Who Flew His Kite, But Not Because He Wished To Do So by George Ade

The Shadows on the Wall by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 

Major Perdue’s Bargain by Joel Chandler Harris 

A Kentucky Cinderella by F. Hopkinson Smith 

By the Waters of Paradise by F. Marion Crawford 

A Memorable Night by Anna Katharine Green 

The Man From Red Dog by Alfred Henry Lewis 

Jean Michaud’s Little Ship by Charles G. D. Roberts 

Those Old Lunes! by W. Gilmore Simms 

The Chiropodist by Bayard Taylor

“Mr. Dooley on Corporal Punishment” by F. P. Dunne 

Over a Wood Fire by Donald G. Mitchell 

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The Crater, or Vulcan’s Peak by James Fenimore Cooper

From Robinson Crusoe to Utopia

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Crater, or Vulcan’s Peak, harkens back to the days of great maritime explorers like Captain Cook, when unknown lands were ripe for discovery. Though published in 1847, the story begins in 1796. Mark Woolston (pronounced “Wooster,” as Cooper goes to great lengths to point out) is a skilled seaman from Pennsylvania. Shortly after marrying his sweetheart, he ships out as second mate on the Rancocus, a vessel bound for Fiji and Canton. Along the way it stumbles upon some uncharted rocks in the middle of the Pacific. To make a long story short, Woolston and his faithful sidekick Bob Betts end up marooned alone on a small volcanic island (the “crater” of the book’s title). The ship remains intact, but is surrounded by rocky barriers that prevent its escape to the open ocean.

The two set about to “Robinson Crusoe it” on their new island home. Like the hero of Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel, the survival of the duo is greatly aided by access to their ship’s stores. The environment of the crater, however, is far less forgiving than Crusoe’s island. Since the crater is merely barren rock, devoid of vegetation, Woolston and Betts must first set about creating soil before they can engage in agriculture to feed themselves. Through ingenious means, they manage to eke out an existence in their forced isolation, but will Woolston ever see his bride again?

About halfway through the book, the story takes an unexpected turn, one that to some extent defies belief, but in the spirit of adventure the game reader should be willing to overlook improbability. I don’t know much about Cooper’s writing process, but it appears to have gone something like this: He decides to write a novel of 30 chapters. He establishes the setting, introduces the characters, and gives them a problem to solve. When that problem is solved, he creates another one, and so on, until he hits his 30 chapter limit. His plotting lacks any overall structure or buildup of momentum. It’s the same meandering approach one finds in The Deerslayer. The Crater starts out with the makings of a thriller, but it ends up being an experience similar to sitting next to Cooper on the couch while he plays Minecraft, constructing his own private utopia out of blocks of adobe brick, sandal wood, whale oil, and volcanic tufa. What the story really lacks is adversity. Things are just too easy for Woolston. Only in the final chapters does Cooper introduce some trouble into paradise.

Though The Crater may not be the most artful story he ever constructed, Cooper fans will enjoy the book for what it reveals about its author. Cooper uses Woolston’s island as a microcosm in which to express his social and political views. He outlines his ideal of a democratic society and the roles that law, commerce, journalism, religion, and politics should play in it. Sadly, Cooper won’t let go of class distinctions, continually asserting that a gentleman must be born a gentleman. Once white trash, always white trash in Cooper’s world. His dream democracy is surprisingly monarchical. Though he explicitly refutes the hereditary divine right of kings, one gets the idea he would have been very happy had George Washington been made ruler for life.

Though Cooper is best known for his Leatherstocking Tales of early America, he wrote books in an admirably diverse assortment of settings and genres. Those who enjoy the Natty Bumppo novels should really explore some of the author’s more off-the-beaten-path works. The Crater can be frustratingly slow, monotonous, and disorienting at times (if ever a book needed a map, it’s this one!), but if you’re a Cooper fan, it’s definitely worth reading.
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The Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper

A series overview

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was born on this day 225 years ago. In celebration of America’s first blockbuster author, let’s take a look back at his famous series The Leatherstocking Tales and a couple of other books that may be of interest to fans of the series.

The Leatherstocking Tales consist of five episodes in the life of Nathaniel Bumppo, an early American hunter, trapper, woodsman, and guide. Natty is a white man, but has lived much of his life among Indians, specifically the Delaware tribe of New York state. Despite his affinity for the Native American lifestyle and culture, Natty does have frequent dealings with white men. He trades in furs and meat, hires himself out as a guide, and even fights alongside the British Army in the French and Indian Wars. As a boy he received the basics of a Christian education from some Moravian missionaries, though he cannot read or write. His bicultural upbringing has led him to develop a unique personal philosophy and code of ethics. He often speaks of each person living according to his or her own “gifts.” Indians and white men were made with different gifts. For example, it is a white man’s gift to go to the Christian Heaven after death, while it is a red man’s gift to meet his ancestors in the happy hunting ground. It is an Indian’s gift to take the scalp of a vanquished foe, while such a practice goes against the gifts of a white man.

In general the novels of the series are romantic adventures, often meant to impart a moral lesson. One recurring theme throughout the books is a burgeoning environmentalism which is quite remarkable considering Cooper was writing before Emerson and Thoreau. Natty often scolds the pioneers for their wastefulness and laments the loss of timber and game that has resulted from the white man’s westward encroachment into the wilderness. His longing for the pristine forests of an untouched America parallels Cooper’s own nostalgia for the idyllic, sparsely settled landscape of western New York that he enjoyed in his youth. Natty’s preservationist attitude toward America’s forests and rivers is similar to his feelings toward the continent’s native population. With the dwindling of the wilderness comes the gradual decimation of the Indians and the loss of their more eco-friendly way of life. Cooper is no doctor of ethnography, and he often depicts the Native Americans as “noble savages,” but he always displays respect and reverence for the Indians and has certainly made an effort to do his research on the subject. Considering the age in which he was writing, he shows an exceptional amount of enlightened racial sensitivity towards his Indian characters. His black characters, on the other hand, don’t fare as well, and are often depicted as benevolent but unflattering stereotypes.

The five episodes of Natty Bumppo’s life that comprise the Leatherstocking Tales were not published in chronological order. To read the fictional narrative in its correct chronological sequence, the books should be read in alphabetical order, as listed below. Click on the titles below to read full reviews.

The Deerslayer, or The First Warpath (1841)
The first novel in the series takes place in the early 1740s, in and around Otsego Lake in central New York state. Natty Bumppo is a young man known for his hunting prowess, and is therefore referred to throughout the book by the nickname of Deerslayer. Though he is renowned as a crack shot, he’s never yet had to use his rifle in man-to-man combat. War has just been declared between Britain and France (the French and Indian Wars), however, and Deerslayer awaits a rendezvous with his Delaware Indian comrade Chingachgook. Together they plan to fight on the side of the British. Their plans are delayed, however, when a white family living on the lake is attacked by a hostile band of Huron Indians, and the Deerslayer must come to their rescue. This novel is essentially an action/adventure tale and not much else, yet it’s unfortunately also quite slow-moving and dull. The last of the books in  the series to be published, it is also the poorest in quality. (3 stars)

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 (1826)
This is the best-known of Cooper’s novels, and for good reason. Unlike its clumsily plotted prequel, this romantic adventure is suspenseful and riveting. The story takes place in 1757, during the French and Indian Wars. A troop of British soldiers are marching through the Adirondack Mountains, escorting two general’s daughters to their father’s fort. They run into Natty, now known by the name of Hawkeye, his companion Chingachgook, and the latter’s son Uncas. The British party has been deliberately led astray by their Indian guide, a Huron loyal to the French. Hawkeye sets them straight and volunteers the services of himself and his friends to guide the soldiers and their precious cargo through the hostile wilderness. The book has a few awkward and antiquated moments, but still it’s held up well over the past two centuries and deserves its place in the American literary canon. If you’re only going to read one book by Cooper, this should be it. The film adaptation with Daniel Day-Lewis is hardly faithful to the novel at all. (Remember, in that movie, the British were the bad guys.) (4.5 stars)

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea (1840)
This installment in the series is set in 1759 and takes place in the vicinity of Lake Ontario, including the British fort of Oswego, in northwestern New York. Once again Natty, now known as Pathfinder, and his Indian friend Chingachgook meet a party of travelers in the forest. A sailor is escorting his niece to her uncle, a sergeant at the fort. The Pathfinder agrees to guide them there, and not surprisingly they are attacked by hostile Indians. Though the plot synopsis may sound remarkably similar to The Last of the Mohicans, this novel is set apart from the others by two notable differences. The first is that in this novel the Pathfinder has a love interest. The second is that much of the action takes place aboard boats on Lake Ontario. Outside the Leatherstocking series, Cooper wrote a lot of Melvillian sailing stories, and his enthusiasm for nautical subject matter is evident here. He devotes a lot of ink to the contrasting of three main characters and their specialized skill sets: the Pathfinder, whose area of expertise is the forest; the sailor Charles Cap, who knows the sea; and the young soldier Jasper Western, an expert at sailing the Great Lakes. The plot is slow going at first, but it gets better in the book’s latter half. This is neither the best nor the worst of the series. (3.5 stars)

The Pioneers, or The Sources of the Susquehanna (1823)
This was Cooper’s second novel, and his first success. The story takes place from 1793 to 1794 in Templeton, New York, a fictionalized surrogate for the author’s hometown of Cooperstown. What sets this book apart from the others is that it mostly takes place in a civilized setting and is primarily concerned with depicting the life of early settlers in a frontier town. It features an ensemble cast of characters representing a cross section of American pioneers, including immigrants of various nations and workers of every class. Natty, referred to here as the Leatherstocking, is now in his seventies, but still lives in a cabin on the shores of Lake Otsego, making his living as a hunter. Indians do not figure largely in this tale, but environmentalism does, as Natty views the effects of white settlement on his beloved wilderness with sorrow and vexation. He wants no part in the problems of village society, but somehow he can’t avoid being implicated in the doings of the settlers. This book bears little similarity to The Last of the Mohicans, nor is it anywhere near as well-known, but in its own way it’s every bit as good. (4.5 stars)

The Prairie: A Tale (1827)
The final episode in the series takes place in 1805 on the Great Plains. A wagon train of settlers from Kentucky is heading westward across this sea of grass. About 500 miles west of the Mississippi River, possibly in Nebraska, they run into Natty, now in his eighties and referred to simply as the trapper. He makes the acquaintance of the settlers, and helps them find a suitable campsite. Soon, however, the party is attacked by a band of hostile Sioux, who steal their cattle and horses and leave them stranded on the prairie. The trapper provides the settlers with as much assistance as he can, but when he discovers they’re hiding dark secrets of their own, he ends up getting caught between a rock and a hard place. This is definitely not one of the better books in the series. It’s boring at times, and far-fetched at others. As a final send-off for a beloved character, it’s a bit of a disappointment. But for fans of Cooper it’s not without its charms, and if you’ve gotten this far, you might as well see the series through to the end. (3 stars)

Of related interest

The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground (1821)

America’s first literary hit, The Spy was Cooper’s second novel, immediately preceding The Pioneers. It takes place during the American Revolution in Westchester County, New York, a territory contested by both sides of the conflict, where tories and patriots often lived side by side. When a British officer dons a disguise in order to visit his family behind enemy lines, it is construed as an act of espionage. Stylistically, The Spy is quite similar to The Pioneers. Though both books are romantic adventures, their primary aim is to depict the life and society of their respective periods in American history, and both employ a diverse ensemble cast of characters to that end. Observant readers will notice that two characters from this book, Sergeant Hollister and Betty Flanagan, go on to make cameo appearances in the first of the Leatherstocking Tales. (3 stars)

Wyandotté, or The Hutted Knoll: A Tale (1843)

My favorite Cooper novel, Wyandotté, covers some of the same themes as The Leatherstocking Tales and The Spy—the settlement of the frontier, relations between whites and Indians, the effect of civilization on the natural environment, and the romance and tragedy of war. A British veteran of the French and Indian Wars retires from military service and builds a fortified homestead in the secluded forests of western New York. When the American Revolution breaks out, he fears for his family’s safety. Will his large retinue of servants remain loyal to his family? Or will they rise up against their English master? And what side will the Indians take in the conflict? Written after the completion of the Leatherstocking Tales, Wyandotté is the virtuoso work of a veteran author at the top of his game. (5 stars)

Cooper’s signature series is a landmark work in American literature, but the latter two novels prove that  there’s more to this author than just the Leatherstocking Tales. I’m looking forward to sampling more selections from his large and diverse body of work, so expect more Cooper reviews here at Old Books by Dead Guys.

The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper

Hardly a grand finale
The Prairie is the fifth and final episode in the life of James Fenimore Cooper’s inimitable character Natty Bumppo, also known by the names of Hawkeye, Deerslayer, Pathfinder, Leatherstocking, and here referred to simply as the trapper. Although this is the conclusion of the Leatherstocking Tales, it was actually the third book to be published, in 1827, following The Pioneers and The Last of the Mohicans. The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder were prequels published over a decade later. The Prairie is set in 1805, at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Natty has beaten them to the punch, however, having already walked to the Pacific Ocean and back. Now in his 80s, he can no longer hunt like he used to, but still makes a living off the land through fur trapping. The story takes place on the Great Plains about five hundred miles west of the Mississippi. The Platte River is mentioned, so one might assume the events occur in what is now Nebraska.

A small wagon train of settlers makes their way across the prairie, primarily composed of the extensive family of Ishmael Bush, a Kentucky man escaping the confines of civilization for the lawless freedom of the West. The ocean of grass they encounter is more desolate than the party bargained for. When they happen upon the trapper, he offers welcome aid in finding them a suitable campsite equipped with water and wood. The party has little time to enjoy their repose, however, as they are soon attacked by a party of hostile Sioux Indians, also referred to as Tetons, who steal their cattle and horses and leave them stranded on the plains.

Although with the exception of the trapper and his dog, none of the characters here have appeared in previous volumes of the series, they all feel a bit familiar to frequent readers of Cooper. There’s the cantankerous patriarch with the weakness of hubris (Bush); the spunky and intelligent yet demure young woman (Ellen Wade, Bush’s niece); the boisterous, affable, and strapping outdoorsman (Ellen’s boyfriend Paul Hover, a beekeeper); and the pompous intellectual blowhard who provides comic relief (Dr. Obed Bat, a naturalist and makeshift physician). In typical Cooper fashion, introducing all the characters can be a long and somewhat arduous process, but once the scene is populated he then interposes little mysteries to pique the reader’s interest. What is Bush concealing in his tent? Why exactly did he flee Kentucky? Who is this young soldier who suddenly makes an appearance on the plains? Revealing the answers to these questions requires more flashbacks than a Tarantino movie, and Cooper’s thesaurus-wringing prose doesn’t offer much aid in alleviating confusion. With Cooper’s writing, as Natty would say, “it is as hard to find sense in his speeches, as to discover three eagles on the same tree.” If you’ve made it to this fifth book, however, chances are you’ve already grown tolerant of Cooper’s antiquated prose and fitful plotting and have come to realize that there’s a certain delectable charm to it.

The Prairie is not a bad book, but there’s nothing particularly good about it either. It feels as if Cooper is just going through the motions, covering ground he’s already trod. This novel is nowhere in the same league as The Pioneers and The Last of the Mohicans, and only manages to rise to the less-than-stellar heights of The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer. Compared to the other books in the series, this one seems overly bogged down in pointless talkiness, with less action and less of Bumppo’s sagacious frontier-samurai philosophy. Still, the Leatherstocking Tales are the first monumental achievement in American literature, and I would wholeheartedly recommend the series to any lover of classic literature, even though the finale may prove less than grand.
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The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper

Natty don’t do civilization
This novel is part of James Fenimore Coopers’s Leatherstocking Tales, a series consisting of five novels united by the character of Nathaniel Bumppo, an American hunter and woodsman of the late 18th century. The Pioneers, which takes place in 1793, is the fourth installment of the series chronologically, following The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Pathfinder. However, it was the first of the series to be published, in 1823.

The story takes place in the village of Templeton, on the shores of Lake Otsego in western New York. Judge Marmaduke Temple owns most of the land in the area, and presides over all like a benevolent feudal lord. Natty Bumppo—referred to here mostly as the Leatherstocking—is now a septuagenarian. He lives in a hut on the edge of town, where he gazes regretfully on the changes that civilization has wrought upon his beloved wilderness. The book features an ensemble cast of characters that represents a cross section of American pioneers, including immigrants of different nations and workers of every class. Native Americans are largely absent from this book, with the exception of Chingachgook, the Leatherstocking’s lifelong friend.

Like many of Cooper’s novels, The Pioneers has an alternate title, The Sources of the Susquehenna. It also has a subtitle, A Descriptive Tale, which is quite apt. For much of the book, Cooper is more concerned with describing colonial society than he is in telling a story. Unlike the first three Leatherstocking Tales, which are action/adventure novels revolving around Indian combat, The Pioneers is mostly a tale of the social issues of frontier life. In the book’s early chapters, Cooper spends a lot of time describing the architecture, holiday customs, leisure activities, and religious services of the early settlers. This makes the first half of the book quite slow, but a dull historical study is preferable to a dull adventure novel like The Deerslayer. The book picks up considerably in its second half, by which time the reader is quite swept up in the lives of the assorted citizens of Templeton. A young hunter named Oliver Edwards arrives in town, inspiring much speculation into his mysterious past. After much foreshadowing by Cooper, the revelations at the end of the book will surprise only the most comatose of readers, but the circuitous route getting there is a pleasure to follow.

There is a great deal of environmental ethics expressed in The Pioneers, which is quite surprising considering this book came out before any of Emerson or Thoreau’s works. Natty and Judge Temple have differing visions of nature, which inspires conflict between the two. The latter sees the wilderness as a place to be developed for human use. Natty, who has lived on Lake Otsego for forty years, views the declining number of deer, fish, and trees with wariness and sorrow. When Temple tries to introduce law into this virgin land, Natty chafes under the yolk of authority. Cooper’s environmentalism is similar to his attitude toward the Indians. He often laments the progress of American civilization and its deleterious effects, but ultimately he sees such progress as necessary and inevitable. Nevertheless, he pleads that the civilizing of the frontier be undertaken in a thoughtful manner and not carried out with wastefulness and needless destruction.

Like all of Cooper’s novels, one has to make allowances for the slower pace and plodding plotting of the literature of two centuries ago, but despite its faults, this is a great book. The Pioneers is not nearly as famous as its prequel The Last of the Mohicans, but its arguable which of these classic novels is the best of the Leatherstocking Tales. If you are at all interested in the lives of early American settlers, The Pioneers is a must-read.
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The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper

Hawkeye in love
James Fenimore Cooper may be one of the most popular and influential writers in the history of American literature, but today’s reader may find the quality of his writing woefully inconsistent. You never know what you’re going to get when you open a Cooper novel. It could be a snoozer like The Deerslayer or a masterpiece like The Last of the Mohicans. The Pathfinder lies somewhere in between. Originally published in 1840, The Pathfinder is the third chronological installment in the Leatherstocking Tales, the series of five books featuring the hero Natty Bumppo, a skilled hunter, tracker, and guide. Bumppo is rarely referred to by his birth name, but rather is known by a host of nicknames including Hawkeye, Deerslayer, and La Longue Carabine. In this novel, he is referred to as Pathfinder.

The novel opens with Charles Cap, a sailor, and his niece, Mabel Dunham, being escorted through the forests of western New York by two Indian guides. At a campfire in the wilderness they meet up with the Pathfinder, his Indian companion Chingachgook, and a soldier named Jasper Western. These three new acquaintances will guide Mabel and her uncle to the British fort at Oswego, on the shores of Lake Ontario, where her father serves as a sergeant in the regiment. To get there they must venture through territory occupied by the hostile Indians known as Mingos. While this sounds like an exciting beginning, the first several chapters of the novel are really quite dull. The first half of the book is overly talky, with the conversation often revolving around Bumppo’s favorite topic of “gifts.” The Pathfinder has been blessed with forest gifts, while Cap’s nature lies in sea gifts. Jasper Western, who pilots a cutter on the lake, is endowed with lake gifts. The primary purpose of the novel seems to be to contrast these three individuals, who embody Cooper’s three favorite environments. Cap is particularly proud of his seafaring skills, so much so that he constantly asserts that the ocean is superior to the lake in every way. To the reader’s annoyance, he belabors this point until his monotonous proclamations begin to border on idiocy.

What sets The Pathfinder apart from the other Leatherstocking novels is that Cooper provides Bumppo with a love interest in Mabel Dunham. While Cooper’s love stories sometimes serve as annoying distractions from otherwise entertaining adventure novels, in this case the romance is the most interesting part of the book. It allows us to see the Pathfinder as a genuine human being rather than merely a fount of frontier wisdom. The romantic elements of the story never stoop to the syrupy sweet. Cooper not only concerns himself with affairs of the heart, but delves into the politics of matchmaking as well, as Pathfinder is not the only suitor vying for Mabel’s hand. Meanwhile, the British troops are engaged in a conflict with the Indians that have allied themselves with the French. Matters are complicated by suspicions of treason among the regiment. This part of the story takes forever to get moving, but the final third of the book is actually quite good. Unfortunately one has to spend a lot of time drifting around Lake Ontario to get there.

The Pathfinder is neither the best nor the worst of the Leatherstocking Tales. It doesn’t approach the mythic heights of The Last of the Mohicans, but it’s certainly worth a read. The five Leatherstocking novels are an important achievement in American literature, and for the most part they’re also quite entertaining. For those who enjoy Cooper’s work, I would also highly recommend his 1843 novel Wyandotté. It covers much of the same subject matter as The Pathfinder—misunderstood love, duplicitous agents, a fortress under siege—but far more successfully.
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Wyandotté, or, The Hutted Knoll by James Fenimore Cooper

Better than many of Cooper’s more famous works

James Fenimore Cooper

Wyandotté, an excellent novel by James Fenimore Cooper, opens in 1775. Captain Willoughby, an officer with the British Royal Army in the American colonies and a veteran of the French and Indian Wars, decides to live out his retirement at a secluded estate in the wilderness of western New York. With the perspicacity of a seasoned military commander, he selects a site that is not only scenic and fertile but also strategically secure. He drains a large beaver pond, revealing a sizeable spread of rich, ready-cleared farmland, then builds a house of stone upon an isolated knoll that juts up amidst the fields. There he lives with his wife and two daughters while his son, Major Robert Willoughby, serves with the British forces. When news of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War reaches this idyllic outpost, Captain Willoughby fears the safety of his family may be threatened by Colonial soldiers, hostile Indians, or roving robber bands. Though they may be far from the battlefields, they are far from immune to the effects of the war.

The members of the Willoughby family are politely divided in their loyalties, with some favoring England and some the colonists. In fact, despite the Captain’s history in His Majesty’s Army, his sympathies tend toward the American cause. Cooper reminds us that the American Revolution was a civil war, as it took place in a nation where Rebels and Tories often lived side by side. Cooper depicts an additional dimension to the Revolution by showing it was also a class war. When news of the Declaration of Independence and “All men are created equal,” reaches the Willoughby estate, many of the family’s servants and subordinates begin to question why they’re serving this rich British master, and they hope that the conflict may offer an opportunity to confiscate his lands. At first it’s difficult to tell who will remain loyal to the Captain and who may betray him. As the novel progresses, hidden loyalties are gradually and surprisingly revealed. It’s particularly difficult to determine the allegiance of a long-time companion of the family named Old Nick, a Tuscarora Indian who during wartime goes by his warrior-chieftain name, Wyandotté.

The novel Wyandotté, originally published in 1843, covers some of the same ground as Cooper’s earlier and better-known novel The Spy, but covers it to much better effect. While The Spy and the famous Leatherstocking novels are intended to be action thrillers, Wyandotté is more of an attempt at a realistic depiction of what life was like on the American frontier at the time of the Revolution. The novel proceeds at a steady, measured pace, but is never boring. The political issues of the Revolution are related intelligently through the debates of the characters. For the most part, suspense is built not through physical action but through the decisions the characters are forced to make. When knives are drawn or guns are fired, such scenes are neither gratuitious nor overly romanticized, but rather the heroic actions of ordinary people placed under extraordinary circumstances in time of war. There are a couple of romantic subplots, but, unlike The Spy, they remain subplots and don’t dominate the book.

The American Revolution is a fascinating period in history, and no writer does it better than James Fenimore Cooper. Having read some of his previous works, I expected to like Wyandotté, but was nevertheless pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Written rather late in his career, Wyandotté displays the skill of a veteran author at the top of his game, one who has learned from his mistakes and ripened with age. This book not only deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as The Last of the Mohicans, in many respects it even surpasses that venerable classic.
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