by Edward Simonds
III. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER: 1789-1851.
While the genius of Irving was winning for a newly developed American literature the recognition and respect of our kinsmen in England, his contemporary, James Fenimore Cooper, suddenly appeared in the field of letters to share in the distinction and the honor of widely recognized literary success. Our first notable writer of fiction, Cooper was in no sense a follower of the first American romancer, Charles Brockden Brown, nor an imitator of his fantastic and abnormal types. He stands rather as the originator of the novel of adventure in our literature, and is frequently termed "the American Scott."
It is remarkable that many of the best English novelists have begun their careers as professional storytellers almost by accident. This is true of Richardson and Fielding, the fathers of the modern novel, as it was of their great forerunner, Defoe. Walter Scott was driven to romancing in prose when Lord Byron invaded so successfully his chosen field of metrical romance, Dickens and Thackeray stumbled into fiction through the hedgerows of journalism. George Eliot had found a place for herself in letters before her talent for character creation was discovered. Cooper's experience was somewhat similar to that of Fielding; for the author of Joseph Andrews was provoked into novel writing by his impatience at the tediousness and unnaturalness of Richardson's Pamela, and our first American novelist of genius started upon his earliest venture to prove to his wife that he could write a better story than one that by chance he was trying to read. The secret of Cooper's success is the same as that of these others; given the innate talent for narration, and the born story-teller will -- whatever and whenever the exciting cause of his activity -- in the fullness of time come to his own.
Cooperstown.
James Fenimore Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789; but before he was quite one year old his father removed his family to a most romantic homestead on the shore of Otsego Lake in central New York. It was the frontier of civilization in that day, and on the very edge of the interminable forest that stretched out over the western wilderness. The deer, the wolf, the wildcat, and the bear were familiar denizens of the still savage woods. The tribes of the Six Nations still held their pow-wows and followed the warpath beneath its shade. The lonely cabins of more venturesome settlers were still exposed to the horrors of Indian attacks. The little village of Cooperstown itself exhibited all the various phases of pioneer life and character. Amid these scenes and in this vigorous atmosphere the childhood of Cooper was passed. It is no wonder that the impressions of these early years should remain vividly painted on his memory to give realistic coloring to the picturesque tales of pioneer life which were later to be written.
On Shipboard.
A second period of unconscious preparation came when, in 1806, having got himself expelled from Yale College through some outbreak of youthful folly in his junior year, he signed articles on board the merchant ship Sterling, and entered upon a regular apprenticeship before the mast. A year later, he secured a commission as midshipman in the United States Navy, and for three years followed the service on the Atlantic and the Lakes. In 1809, he was in command of the gunboats on Lake Champlain. Cooper resigned from the Navy in 1811, but his experiences on shipboard had made him master of material which he afterward used in two or three as admirable sea tales as ever were written.
The Experiment.
James Fenimore Cooper was thirty years old when he began to write. He was then living in Westchester County, not far from the city of New York, on what was known as the Angevine Farm, a beautifully situated estate commanding an extended view of the Sound. His resignation from the Navy nine years before had been coincident with his marriage to a Miss De Lancey, whose father during the Revolutionary War had supported the cause of the Crown. Cooper himself had not settled down to any definite vocation -- least of all had any thought of a literary career entered his head. The occasion which led to the writing of his first novel has been mentioned. "I believe I could write a better story myself," he said, laying down an English novel which had come into his hand. "Try," said his wife. In November, 1820, the novel, Precaution, was published. No one reads the book to-day; it is doubtful if many of Cooper's contemporaries read it, but some of his friends seemed to find evidence of promise amid its crudities and encouraged the author to go on. The next year he had something better to present them; this time it was The Spy, a tale of the Revolution.
The Spy.
This famous novel had some foundation in historical fact. Cooper had heard from John Jay, years before, an account of a patriot spy who had been in his service during the war; this was the germ of the narrative. The story was vivid and impressive; it was full of local color; it appealed to the patriotism of readers. In many ways it was the best piece of fiction that had been produced in this country, and even permitted comparison with Scott. Its success was immediate and unprecedented at home, while in England its success was relatively as great. It was translated into French and then into other European languages. It was dramatized and long remained popular on the stage. Numerous imitations were inspired; and the hero of the novel, Harvey Birch, found a place in the popular heart.
Between 1820 and 1830, Cooper produced eleven novels. The Pioneers (1823) was the first of the famous series by reason of which Cooper holds his rank among the novelists. It was a labor of love -- this attempt to interpret the picturesque life of the frontier, and with the final completion of the Leather Stocking Tales he had fairly performed the task. This great series, however, was not produced consecutively or in regular order. Cooper's fourth narrative was The Pilot, the first of his sea tales; and this appeared in January, 1824.
The Pilot.
The Pilot was, like The Spy, an experiment; for the real romance of the sea had not been attempted, although the coarsely realistic stories of Smollett had indeed introduced the theme into English fiction. Scott's novel The Pirate had been published near the close of 1821, and as the author's identity was still concealed, the apparent familiarity with nautical terms displayed in that narrative occasioned much conjecture. It was declared that it must be the work of a seafaring man. Cooper maintained otherwise and asserted that the author's ignorance of maritime affairs was betrayed by the book. He went further and determined to write a sea story to prove his argument. The success of The Pilot was almost as brilliant as that of The Spy. For the first time, a genuine sea novel had been written; and in spite of some obvious defects, The Pilot remains to this day one of the best novels of its class. The principal characters, Colonel Howard, the American with tory sympathies, Captain Borroughcliffe, the British officer, Captain Manual of the Marines, the midshipman, Merry, Boltrope, the quartermaster, and, above all, Long Tom Coffin, the typical American sailor, are most happily drawn. The "female" characters, as Cooper would have designated the heroine and her companion, are -- as is always the case in his narratives -- inane and unreal. On the other hand, the actual hero of the story, John Paul Jones, who appears in disguise and is known only as the Pilot, is presented with considerable success; the character certainly maintains the impressiveness of the traditional hero of romance and presents as commanding a figure as any produced in more recent attempts to portray this imposing personality of Revolutionary days.
Cooper's Novels.
Thus was James Fenimore Cooper fairly launched on his career as a novelist. He wrote prolifically, becoming the author of some thirty works of fiction, of which perhaps a dozen may be called great novels. Besides those already named, Precaution (1820), The Spy (1821), The Pioneers (1823), and The Pilot (1824), the following are included in the list: Lionel Lincoln (1825), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Red Rover (1828), The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish (1829), The Water-Witch (1830), The Bravo (1831), The Heidenmauer (1832), The Headsman (1833), The Monikins (1835), Homeward Bound (1838), Home as Found (1838), The Pathfinder (1840), Mercedes of Castile (1840), The Deerslayer (1841), The Two Admirals (1842), Wing-and-Wing (1842), Wyandotte (1843), Afloat and Ashore (1844), Miles Wallingford (1844), Satanstoe (1845), The Chainbearer (1846), The Redskins (1846), The Crater (1847), Jack Tier (1848), The Oak Openings (1848), The Sea Lions (1849), and The Ways of the Hour (1850). In addition to these narratives, Cooper was also the author of a History of the United States Navy (1839), of a biography of one of his shipmates, Ned Myers (1843), of tales contributed to Graham's Magazine, and of ten volumes of travels.
Personal Traits.
Cooper's literary work was interrupted variously. Seven years he spent in foreign residence. Owing to an abnormal sensitiveness to criticism and lack of self-control in the vigorous expression of his opinions, he established a reputation, not wholly merited, for unreasonableness, intolerance, and pugnacity. His unfortunate irascibility of temper precipitated quarrels. His belligerent patriotism was aroused by European criticism of American institutions, and the manner in which he expressed his protest aroused resentment abroad. No less irritating were his own criticisms passed upon some of our national defects and crudities which he noticed after his return to the United States. Several of his novels were written in the spirit of satire solely as expressions of his censure; these are, naturally, his poorest works. He was bitterly criticised in the public press. To maintain his contentions, he involved himself in lawsuits and, indeed, won most of the suits; but he also won a most unpleasant notoriety, becoming in the highest degree unpopular both in America and England. And yet, with it all, Cooper was at heart a sincere, earnest, pure-hearted, truth-loving man of honor, a fearless and devoted patriot.
The Leather Stocking Tales.
Of undisputed power are the novels which comprise the famous Leather Stocking group; and it is mainly upon the merits of this remarkable series that Cooper's claim to distinction rests both at home and abroad. The character of the hero, Natty Bumppo, or Leather Stocking, portrayed from youth to old age, is unique in literature. Professor Lounsbury, the biographer of Cooper, declares it to be "perhaps the only great original character that American fiction has added to the literature of the world." It is a fact worthy of note that these Indian tales have been translated into nearly all, if not all, the languages of the civilized globe. When The Prairie was completed in 1827, five editions were published at the same time: two appeared in Paris, one in French, and one in English; one in London; one in Berlin; and one in Philadelphia. But the most picturesque statement regarding the popularity of these novels abroad is found in a letter written in 1833 by Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph. He says: --
"I have visited, in Europe, many countries, and what I have asserted of the fame of Mr. Cooper I assert from personal knowledge. In every city of Europe that I visited, the works of Cooper were conspicuously placed in the windows of every bookshop. They are published as soon as he produces them in thirty-four different places in Europe. They have been seen by American travellers in the languages of Turkey and Persia, in Constantinople, in Egypt, at Jerusalem, at Ispahan."
Death.
The later years of the novelist's life were passed mainly on his estate at Cooperstown. Here, with many uncompleted literary projects in mind, some of them already begun, death came upon him, September 14, 1851. The fifteenth of September would have been his sixty-second birthday; on the twenty-fifth, a public meeting was held in the City Hall, New York. Washington Irving presided, and a committee of prominent literary men was appointed to arrange for suitable memorial exercises. These exercises were held in Metropolitan Hall, February 25, 1852. The audience was representative of the culture of New York, Daniel Webster presided, and William Cullen Bryant delivered the memorial address, which was eloquent and just.
Merits as a Novelist.
No master of style in the large sense, Cooper did possess the one essential gift of a great novelist. He had a story to tell and told it in such fashion as to make it real. In narrative and description, he was eminently successful. His word pictures of forest and prairie, of land fights and sea fights, of storm and wreck are superb. The account of the Pilot's working the frigate from her perilous position on a treacherous coast and the thrilling incident of the Ariel's wreck are unsurpassed. Cooper was prolix, he moralized to excess on commonplace themes. His characters are often described as conventional rather than living personalities. Nevertheless, in his best narratives interest rarely flags. He is fertile in incident, good in arousing suspense, and not too technical to be clear. The reader who to-day takes up the volumes of the Leather Stocking Series in their proper order -- The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers, and The Prairie -- will not be disposed to question the preëminence of these tales in the field of native historical romance. If he adds to these an equal number of the sea tales, including The Pilot, The Red Rover, The Water-Witch, The Two Admirals, Wing-and-Wing, he will find that the genius of Cooper does not suffer when brought in comparison with later story-tellers who -- many of them his imitators -- are cultivating the romance of nautical adventure to-day.
Suggestions for Reading.
The Last of the Mohicans is the volume usually prescribed for reading in school courses. It is a pity that the pupil should not first read The Deerslayer, its predecessor in the series. As representative of the sea tales, either The Pilot or The Red Rover may be taken. The Spy will prove an interesting narrative for those who enjoy historical romance. While it is impossible satisfactorily to represent any novel by selections from it, the first five chapters of The Pilot will serve well to illustrate Cooper's style in narrative; so will chapters 27, 28, 29, and 30 of The Deerslayer. The first includes the account of the escape of the Ariel; the second that of Natty Bumppo's brief captivity among the Hurons. Both are thrilling incidents admirably narrated. For a review of Cooper's life and work, select the James Fenimore Cooper by Thomas R. Lounsbury. It is an ideally written biography -- one of the best in the series of the American Men of Letters. A short sketch of Cooper is the volume by Clymer in the Beacon Biographies. Bryant's memorial address, in the volume of his Orations and Addresses, will repay the reference. The Atlantic Monthly, for September, 1907, contains an interesting article on Cooper, by Brander Matthews.
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