Cooper's novel was the first in the famous series. Cooper, James Fenimore: short biography, books

Fenimore Cooper's brief biography and interesting facts from the life of the American novelist are presented in this article e.

Fenimore Cooper short biography

The future American writer was born in 1879 in the city of Burlington (New Jersey) in the family of a farmer. Since his parents had financial means, they were able to give their son a decent education: first he studied at a local school, then he was sent to Yale College.

But studying at college was not very to the liking of young Cooper, and at the age of 17 he entered the naval service. James first served as a sailor on a merchant ship, then on a military ship. The future writer sailed on the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. During his travels, Fenimore discovered the world and gained life experience. In 1810, James's father died, and the young man ended his naval career, inheriting a decent fortune at that time. A year later, Fenimore Cooper marries and begins to lead a sedentary life, settling in the town of Scarsdale. In 1821 he wrote his first work, "Precaution".

Continuing his literary activity, the writer wrote the patriotic novel “Spy,” in which he expressed interest in the War of Independence taking place in America. His books quickly became popular all over the world. James went on a “literary tour” of Europe in 1826. For a long time he lived in France and Italy, interested in the Old and New Worlds. In Europe, the novelist wrote novels on nautical themes - “The Sea Sorceress”, “The Red Corsair”, as well as the fascinating medieval trilogy “The Executioner”, “Heidenmauer”, “Bravo”.

After 7 years spent in Europe, Fenimore Cooper returns to America and observes the following picture: the industrial revolution destroyed patriarchal relations in society, and money became the main priority in people's thinking. The writer called this phenomenon a moral eclipse and tried to call on fellow citizens to fight against distorted morality. But the American bourgeoisie accused Cooper of personal arrogance, lack of patriotism and literary talent.

After such a fiasco, the writer retired to the village of Cooperstown, continuing to write historical and journalistic novels about the city of New York and the US Navy. The great writer died in September 1851.

The most famous works of Fenimore Cooper- “Pioneers”, “Deerslayer”, “Pathfinder”, “The Last of the Mohicans”, “Prairie”.

Fenimore Cooper interesting facts

In 1811, Cooper married a Frenchwoman, Delana. She loved to read books. According to legend, James read the novel out loud to his wife and said that he could write just as well himself. Delana argued with her husband about this. And Fenimore wrote a novel a few weeks later called “Precaution.”
James Cooper's parents were financially wealthy people and had a high position in society. They lived in a large house called Otsego Hall. Therefore, they gave their son the best education.
The author's first novel, Precaution, was published anonymously.
He was 11 of 12 children in the family. However, most of them died in childhood. Cooper himself had 7 children, 2 of whom died at an early age.
In 1826, James took the double surname Fenimore-Cooper in honor of his maternal relatives. Over time, the hyphen disappeared from the surname.
The novel "The Last of the Mohicans" is considered a masterpiece.
At age 13, the author was enrolled at Yale University. In his third year, Cooper was expelled due to some stunts. He blew up one student's door and tied a donkey in the reading room.

en.wikipedia.org

Biography

Soon after Fenimore's birth, his father, a fairly wealthy landowner, moved to New York state and founded the village of Cooperstown there, which turned into a town. Having received his initial education at a local school, Cooper went to Yale University, but without completing the course, he entered the naval service (1806-1811); was appointed to participate in the construction of a warship on Lake Ontario.

We owe this circumstance to the magnificent descriptions of Ontario found in his famous novel “The Pathfinder.” In 1811, he married a Frenchwoman, Delana, who came from a family that sympathized with England during the War of Independence; its influence explains those relatively mild reviews of the English and the English government that are found in Cooper's early novels. Chance made him a writer. Once reading a novel aloud to his wife, Cooper noticed that it was not difficult to write better. His wife took him at his word: in order not to seem like a braggart, he wrote his first novel, “Precaution” (1820), in a few weeks.

Novels

Assuming that, in view of the already begun competition between English and American authors, English criticism would react unfavorably to his work, Cooper did not sign his name and transferred the action of his novel to England. The latter circumstance could only harm the book, which revealed the author’s poor familiarity with English life and caused very unfavorable reviews from English critics. Cooper’s second novel, already from American life, was the famous “The Spy, or the Tale of the Neutral Ground” (1821), which had enormous success not only in America, but also in Europe.

Then Cooper wrote a whole series of novels from American life ("Pioneers", 1823; "The Last of the Mohicans", 1826; "The Barrens", otherwise "Prairie", 1827; "The Discoverer of Trace", otherwise "Pathfinder", 1840; "The Hunter for deer”, otherwise “St. John’s Wort, or the First Warpath”, 1841), in which he depicted the struggle of European aliens with the American Indians. The hero of these novels is the hunter Natty (Nathanael) Bumppo, who appears under various names (St. John's Wort, Pathfinder, Hawkeye, Leather Stocking, Long Carbine), energetic and handsome, and soon became a favorite of the European public. Cooper idealizes not only this representative of European civilization, but also some of the Indians (Chingachgook, Uncas).

The success of this series of novels was so great that even English critics had to recognize Cooper's talent and called him the American Walter Scott. In 1826 Cooper went to Europe, where he spent seven years. The fruit of this journey was several novels (Bravo, The Headsman, Mercedes of Castile), set in Europe.

The mastery of the story and its ever-increasing interest, the brightness of the descriptions of nature, which emanate the primeval freshness of the virgin forests of America, the relief in the depiction of characters who stand before the reader as if alive - these are Cooper’s advantages as a novelist. He also wrote maritime novels “The Pilot” (1823) and “The Red Corsair” (1828).

After Europe

Upon returning from Europe, Cooper wrote the political allegory “Monikins” (1835), five volumes of travel notes (1836-1838), several novels from American life (“Satanstowe”; 1845 and others), the pamphlet “The American Democrat” (The American Democrat, 1838). In addition, he also wrote “History of the United States Navy”, 1839. The desire for complete impartiality revealed in this work did not satisfy either his compatriots or the British; the controversy it caused poisoned the last years of Cooper's life. Fenimore Cooper died on September 14, 1851 from cirrhosis of the liver.

Cooper in Russia

In the early 1840s, Cooper's novels were very popular in Russia. In particular, “The Pathfinder, or On the Shores of Ontario”, “The Pathfinder”, Russian translation 1841, published in “Domestic Notes”, was read in great demand, about which V. G. Belinsky said that this was a Shakespearean drama in the form novel (Works. vol. XII, p. 306).

Bibliography

1820 composes a traditional novel of morals, Precaution, for his daughters.
- 1821 historical novel The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground, based on local legends. The novel poeticizes the era of the American Revolution and its ordinary heroes. "Spy" receives international recognition. Cooper moved with his family to New York, where he soon became a prominent literary figure and leader of writers who advocated for the national identity of American literature.
- 1823:
The first novel is published, later the fourth part of the pentalogy about Leatherstocking - “The Pioneers, or The sources of the Susquehanna”.
short stories (Tales for Fifteen: or Imagination and Heart)
the novel "The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea", the first of Cooper's many works about adventures at sea.
- 1825:
novel "Lionel Lincoln, or The Siege of Boston" (Lionel Lincoln, or The leaguer of Boston).
- 1826 - the second part of the pentalogy about Natty Bumppo, Cooper’s most popular novel, the name of which has become a household name - “The Last of the Mohicans”.
- 1827 - the fifth part of the pentalogy novel “The Steppes”, otherwise “The Prairie”.
- 1828:
maritime novel “The Red Corsair” (The Red Rover).
Notions of the Americans: Picked up by a Traveling Bachelor
- 1829 - novel “The Valley of Wish-ton-Wish”, dedicated to the Indian theme - the battles of the American colonists of the 17th century. with the Indians.
- 1830:
the fantastic story of the brigantine of the same name “The Water-Witch: or the Skimmer of the Seas”.
Letter to General Lafayette politics
- 1831 - the first part of a trilogy from the history of European feudalism “Bravo, Or In Venice” (The bravo) - a novel from the distant past of Venice.
- 1832:
the second part of the trilogy “The Heidenmauer: or, The Benedictines, A Legend of the Rhine” - a historical novel from the time of the early Reformation in Germany.
short stories (No Steamboats)
- 1833 - the third part of the trilogy “The headsman, or The Abbaye des vignerons” - a legend of the 18th century. about the hereditary executioners of the Swiss canton of Bern.
- 1834 (A Letter to His Countrymen)
- 1835 - criticism of American reality in the political allegory “The Monikins”, written in the tradition of educational allegorism and satire of J. Swift.
- 1836:
memoirs (The Eclipse)
Gleanings in Europe: Switzerland (Sketches of Switzerland)
Gleanings in Europe: The Rhine
A Residence in France: With an Excursion Up the Rhine, and a Second Visit to Switzerland
- 1837:
Gleanings in Europe: France travel
Gleanings in Europe: England travel
- 1838:
pamphlet “The American Democrat: or Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America.”
Gleanings in Europe: Italy travel
The Chronicles of Cooperstown
Homeward Bound: or The Chase: A Tale of the Sea
Home as Found: Sequel to Homeward Bound
- 1839:
“The History of the Navy of the United States of America”, testifying to an excellent mastery of the material and love for navigation.
Old Ironsides
- 1840:
“The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea” - the third part of the pentalogy about Natty Bumppo
a novel about the discovery of America by Columbus, Mercedes of Castile: or, The Voyage to Cathay.
- 1841 - “The Deerslayer: or The First Warpath” - the first part of the pentalogy.
- 1842:
the novel “The Two Admirals”, telling an episode from the history of the British fleet waging war with France in 1745
a novel about French privateering, “Will-and-Wisp” (Wing-and-Wing, or Le feu-follet).
- 1843 - novel “Wyandotte, or The House on the Hill” (Wyandotte: or The Hutted Knoll. A Tale) about the American Revolution in the remote corners of America.
Richard Dale
biography (Ned Myers: or Life before the Mast)
(Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief or Le Mouchoir: An Autobiographical Romance or The French Governess: or The Embroidered Handkerchief or Die franzosischer Erzieheren: oder das gestickte Taschentuch)
- 1844:
novel “Afloat and Ashore: or The Adventures of Miles Wallingford. A Sea Tale”
and its sequel “Miles Wallingford” (Miles Wallingford: Sequel to Afloat and Ashore), where the image of the main character has autobiographical features.
Proceedings of the Naval Court-Martial in the Case of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, &c.
- 1845 - two parts of the “trilogy in defense of land rent”: “Satanstoe: or The Littlepage Manuscripts, a Tale of the Colony” and “The Land Surveyor” (The Chainbearer; or, The Littlepage Manuscripts).
- 1846 - the third part of the trilogy - the novel “The Redskins” (or, Indian and Injin: Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts). In this trilogy, Cooper portrays three generations of landowners (from the mid-18th century to the struggle against land rent in the 1840s).
Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers biography
- 1847 - the pessimism of the late Cooper is expressed in the utopia “The Crater” (or, Vulcan’s Peak: A Tale of the Pacific), which is an allegorical history of the United States.
- 1848:
the novel “The Oak Grove” or “Clearings in the Oak Groves, or the Bee-Hunter” (The Oak Openings: or the Bee-Hunter) - from the history of the Anglo-American War of 1812.
Jack Tier: or the Florida Reefs
- 1849 - Cooper's last sea novel, The Sea Lions: The Lost Sealers, about a shipwreck that befell seal hunters in the ice of Antarctica.
- 1850:
Cooper's latest book, The Ways of the Hour, is a social novel about American legal proceedings.
play (Upside Down: or Philosophy in Petticoats), satirization of socialism
- 1851:
short story (The Lake Gun)
(New York: or The Towns of Manhattan) - an unfinished work on the history of New York City.

Biography

The future writer was born into the family of a large landowner, whose character was reminiscent of Marmaduke Temple from the novel “The Pioneers.” His childhood was spent in the village of Cooperstown, named after his father and located on the shore of a lake in New York state. His origin left its mark on the formation of Cooper’s socio-political views: all his life he remained a supporter of large land ownership, the way of life of “country gentlemen”, and in democratic land reforms he often saw only rampant bourgeois acquisitiveness and demagoguery. (This was reflected, for example, in the novels of the “Ground Rent Trilogy.”) At the same time, the writer’s work and his assessment of the socio-political development of the United States is based on a consistently democratic position. This was facilitated by Cooper’s youth, which passed in the atmosphere of post-revolutionary upsurge in the USA, and later by his stay in France during the revolutionary events of 1830.

After several years of study - first at Cooperstown School, then at Albany and at Yale College - years of wandering begin for seventeen-year-old Cooper. He becomes a sailor, first in the merchant and then in the military fleet, makes long journeys, crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and becomes closely acquainted with the Great Lakes region, where the action of his novels unfolds. During these years, Cooper accumulates a variety of life experiences, material for literary creativity.

After his father's death in 1810, Cooper married and settled with his family in the small town of Scarsdale. There, in 1820, he wrote his first novel, “Precaution.” Cooper later recalled that the book was written “as a bet”; he half-jokingly, half-seriously undertook to write a novel no worse than those works by English authors that his wife was fond of. His next novel, The Spy (1821), was based on material from the Revolutionary War.

“Spy” brought the writer unexpectedly quick and loud fame. With his novel, Cooper filled the vacuum in national literature and determined the guidelines for its future development. Encouraged by success, Cooper decides to devote himself entirely to literary work. Over the next five years, he wrote five more novels, including three books in the future Leatherstocking pentalogy (The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie), as well as Cooper's first sea novel, The Pilot.

In 1826 Cooper went to Europe. He lives for a long time in France, Italy, and travels to other countries. New impressions again and again force him to turn to the history of both the New and Old Worlds. In Europe, Cooper wrote sea novels “The Red Corsair”, “The Sea Sorceress”, as well as a trilogy about the European Middle Ages (“Bravo”, “Heidenmauer”, “Executioner”).

In 1833 Cooper returned to his homeland. During the seven years that he was away, much had changed in America. The heroic time of the American Revolution was receding further into the past, and the principles of the Declaration of Independence were being forgotten. The United States entered a period of industrial revolution, which destroyed the remnants of patriarchy in life and in human relations. Cooper calls the “great moral eclipse” the disease that has struck American society. According to him, the country began to be ruled by the “Great Immoral Postulate, known as Money Interest.” Back in Europe, in a moment of bitter insight, Cooper once said: “I have parted ways with my country.” Returning “home”, he discovered that the gap between them was even wider than he thought.

Cooper makes an attempt to “reason” and “correct” his fellow citizens. He still believes in the advantages of the American socio-political organization, considering negative phenomena as something external, superficial, a perversion of initially reasonable and healthy foundations. To rise up to fight these “distortions” is the call that sounds from the pages of his “Letters to Compatriots.”

But this call did not achieve its goal. On the contrary, a torrent of open hatred and secret slander fell upon Cooper. Because the writer dared to criticize social vices, bourgeois America accused the first national novelist of lack of patriotism, quarrelsomeness, arrogance, and at the same time of a lack of literary gift. Cooper retires to Cooperstown and there, until the last day of his life, he continues, working either on novels or on journalistic works, preaching his views.

During this last period of his creative work, Cooper wrote the novels “Pathfinder” and “St. John’s Wort”, which were included in the pentalogy, and the satirical-allegorical novel “The Monikins” (1835), which exposed the vices of the socio-political system of England and the USA, depicted in the book under the titles High Jumping and Low Jumping , social novels “Home” (1837) and “At Home” (1838), a trilogy about land rent (“Devil’s Finger”, 1845; “Land Surveyor”, 1845; “Redskins”, 1846), social-utopian novel “Crater” ( 1847), etc. In general, Cooper’s works of this time are unequal in ideological and artistic terms; along with insightful criticism of the bourgeois system, they contain elements of a conservative utopia associated with false ideas about the “landed aristocracy.” But despite all this, Cooper invariably remains in consistently critical anti-bourgeois positions.

Cooper's literary heritage is very extensive. It includes 33 novels, several volumes of journalism and travel notes, pamphlets, and historical research. Cooper laid the foundations for the development of the American novel, creating various examples of it: historical, maritime, social and everyday novels, satirical-fantasy novels, and a utopian novel. The writer was the first in American literature to strive for an epic reflection of the world, which was reflected, in particular, in the combination of a number of his books into cycles: pentalogy, trilogy, dilogy.

In his work, Cooper remained faithful to three main themes: the War of Independence, the sea and life on the frontier. Already in this very choice, the romantic basis of the writer’s creative method is revealed: Cooper contrasts the heroism of the soldiers of the American Revolution, the freedom of the sea, virgin forests and endless prairies of the West with an American society overwhelmed by a feverish thirst for profit. This gap between the romantic ideal and reality underlies the ideological and artistic concept of each of Cooper's books.

Cooper widely uses a variety of artistic means from the arsenal of romantic aesthetics: lyrically colored pictures of nature, creating an atmosphere of mystery, hyperbolization, a sharp division of characters into “good” and “bad,” etc. At the same time, Cooper’s work has features of continuity with the educational novel XVIII century The writer retains trust in reason and logic, a commitment to epic storytelling and precise details of landscape, everyday life, appearance, etc., and adheres to many of the structural and compositional principles of the educational novel. Cooper's works continue to affirm the principles of realism, going from the 18th to the end of the 19th century, even if this connection was not always realized by subsequent generations.

Cooper was often called “the American Walter Scott,” and was sometimes accused of imitating the great Scot. These reproaches are unfair. Cooper's work is imbued with a deeply national spirit; his creations are based on national issues. In the prefaces to his novels, Cooper more than once emphasized the need for the development and promotion of national American literature.

It is impossible not to note Cooper’s skill in constructing the plot of the work, creating vivid dramatic scenes, images that have become the personification of the national character and at the same time “eternal companions of humanity.” Such are Harvey Birch from The Spy, Natty Bumppo, Chingachgook, Uncas from the books about Leatherstocking.

Perhaps the best pages of the writer are those that depict the untouched, grandiose and amazing nature of the New World. Cooper is an outstanding master of literary landscape. He is especially attracted by colorful landscapes, either captivating the eye with their soft beauty (the Shimmering Lake in “St. John’s Wort”), or majestic and harsh, inspiring anxiety and awe. "

In his “sea” novels, Cooper equally vividly depicts the changeable, menacing and enchanting elements of the ocean.

Carefully written battle scenes occupy an important place in almost every Cooper novel. They often culminate in a duel between powerful opponents: Chingachgook and Magua, Hard Heart and Matori.

The writer's artistic language is distinguished by emotionality, the range of shades of which is different - from solemn pathos to touching sentimentality.

In Russia, they became acquainted with Cooper’s work in 1825, when the novel “The Spy” was published in Moscow. Cooper's books quickly gained the love and popularity of Russian readers. They were highly valued by M. Yu. Lermontov, V. G. Belinsky, V. K. Kuchelbecker and other prominent progressive cultural figures. Filled with the poetry of heroism and struggle, Cooper’s books continue to teach honor, courage, and loyalty.

The novel “Spy” opened up the world for American writers of the 19th century. rich possibilities for using national history material. It remains not only Cooper's best book in the historical novel genre, but also the highest achievement of US literature in this field.

At the center of the novel is a dramatic episode from the history of the struggle of American colonists against English rule. In the preface to the 1849 edition, Cooper directly names the theme of the book - patriotism. The action of "Spy" takes place in 1780. The main character is the peddler Harvey Birch - a secret intelligence officer for the American army, carrying out especially important and dangerous command assignments. It operates in "no man's land" between two warring armies. The situation is puzzlingly complicated by the fact that in order to disguise his true identity, Birch deliberately poses as a spy for the English king. Death threatens him from both sides, and there is nowhere to wait for help. Birch isn't even looking for her. Moreover, in a moment from threatening? Before his execution at the hands of American patriots, who take him for a spy of their enemies, he swallows a note from General Washington, certifying his faithful service to his homeland. If he had shown it, the danger would have passed, but with it the opportunity to complete the task.

The very choice of the traveling merchant Birch as the hero of the novel speaks of Cooper's democracy and his deep understanding of the driving forces of the American Revolution. Not wise generals or brilliant officers, but people from the people are ready to make any sacrifice for the triumph of the cause of independence and freedom. They are the true heroes of these harsh and bright pages of American history. Harvey Birch sacrificed everything for the good of his homeland: his honest name, his family hearth, his home, without demanding any reward for it. The key scene in the novel is the scene of the last meeting between General Washington and his secret agent Birch. In payment for his “services,” the general offers Birch one hundred doubloons, but he refuses to take them. He asks: does the general really think that he risked his life and disgraced his name for the sake of money? Here the intelligence officer is morally superior to the commander. Washington reminds that Birch will have to be known as an enemy of his homeland until his grave: he will not be allowed to take off the mask that hides his true face for many years, and most likely never. But Burch has been ready for it from the day he took on his job. Instead of a bag of gold, he, like the greatest treasure, takes away a paper written in Washington's hand, replacing the one that was lost. The further fate of the “spy” is loneliness, wandering, need.

And Washington's note would be found thirty-three years later on the body of an old man killed in battle during the war of 1812-1815. between England and the USA. Seventy-year-old Harvey Birch was killed by a bullet in his last battle for American independence. Cooper ends the novel with a heartfelt epitaph: “He died as he lived, a devoted son of his homeland and a martyr for its freedom.”

Although Cooper does not develop this motif in any detail, Birch's fate objectively reflects the tragic discrepancy between the high ideals of the American Revolution and the actual practice caused by its bourgeois character. Birch's lot looks especially unfair against the backdrop of the easy career of frivolous officers, the calculating cowardice of the townspeople and the greed of the robbers - "skinners" who posed as fighters for independence, but in fact robbed on "neutral territory". Later, Cooper's theme of the bitter fate of the true heroes of the War of Independence would be picked up and deeply revealed by the “second generation” romantic G. Melville in the book “Israel Potter.”

Cooper's highest achievement is the pentalogy about Leatherstocking. It includes five novels, written in the following order: “The Pioneers” (1823), “The Last of the Mohicans” (1826), “The Prairie” (1827), “The Pathfinder” (1840), “Deerslayer” (1841). They are united by the image of the hunter Nathaniel Bumppo, who also has numerous nicknames: Deerslayer, Tracker, Hawkeye, Leatherstocking and Long Carbine. In the pentalogy, Bumpo's entire life passes before the readers - from his youth ("St. John's wort") to the day of death ("Prairie"). But the order in which the books were written does not coincide with the stages of the main character’s life. Cooper began the story of Bumpo when the hunter had already entered old age, continued the epic with the novel from Natty's mature age, then portrayed him in old age, a year before his death. And only after a noticeable break the writer again turned to the adventures of Leatherstocking and returned to the days of his youth.

If we consider the parts of the pentalogy not in the order in which they were written, but according to the chronology of the events described (and this is how they are usually read), then the sequence of time and place of action is as follows: “St. John’s wort” - 1740, north eastern USA, upper Susquehanna River; "The Last of the Mohicans" - 1757, Hudson River area; “Pathfinder” - the very end of the 50s, one of the Great Lakes - Ontario; "Pioneers" - 1793, development and settlement of western forests; "The Prairie" - 1805, the prairie region west of the Mississippi. Thus, the path of the protagonist of the pentalogy is from a narrow strip of land on the Atlantic coast, where the first colonists landed, to the Great Lakes and further to the endless western prairies. This path took both in life and in Cooper’s pentalogy about sixty years.

Taken together, the nine novels are a fictional history of the American frontier, the history of the movement of the American nation from east to west. The fate of Natty Bumppo embodied the history of the conquest of the continent and at the same time the history of the strengthening of bourgeois civilization in the country, the history of the moral losses that the nation suffered while expanding its territory.

All five novels have approximately the same plot structure. The hunter Natty Bumppo, an inhabitant of the extreme frontier, on the first pages of each book meets one of the settlers, a wave of which is moving to the west (officers, adventurers, traders, etc.). He performs miracles of courage and heroism, speaking on the side of the “positive” heroes, fighting injustice, helping the weak and offended. At the end of each of the novels, Bumpo leaves his usual places and goes further to the west, and in the next book, history repeats itself again.

The plot of “St. John's Wort” is based on the fate of the hero, who is in his early twenties and who for the first time sets out on the “warpath” with the Huron Indians. In this deadly struggle, Natty’s friendship with the young Mohican Indian Chingachgook arises and strengthens, a friendship that they both will carry throughout their lives. The situation in the novel is complicated by the fact that St. John's wort's white allies - "Floating" Tom Hutter and Harry March - are cruel and unfair towards the Indians and themselves provoke violence and bloodshed. Dramatic adventures - ambushes, battles, captivity, escape - unfold against the backdrop of picturesque nature - the mirror surface of the Shimmering Lake and its wooded shores.

The Last of the Mohicans is Cooper's most famous novel. The plot is based on the history of the capture of Colonel Munro's daughters Cora and Alice by the cruel and treacherous leader of Magua - the Sly Fox - and the attempts of a small detachment led by Natty Bumppo - Hawkeye to free the captives. Together with Natty and Chingachgook, a young Indian warrior, Chingachgook's son Uncas, takes part in breathtaking pursuits and battles. He - although Cooper does not develop this line in detail - is in love with one of the captives, Cora, and dies in the last battle, trying in vain to save her. The novel ends with a deeply touching scene of the funeral of Uncas, the last of the Mohicans, and Cora. Hawkeye and Chingachgook set off on further journeys.

The Pathfinder depicts scenes from the Anglo-French War of 1750-1760. In this war, both the British and the French brought Indian tribes to their side by bribery or deception. Bumpo, with his well-aimed carbine, and Chingachgook take part in the battles on Lake Ontario and once again help their comrades win. However, Natty, and along with him the author, sharply condemn the war unleashed by the colonialists, leading to the senseless death of both whites and Indians. A significant place in the novel is occupied by the love story of Bumpo and Mabel Dunham. Appreciating the scout’s courage and nobility, the girl, however, gives preference to Jasper, who is closer to her in age and character. Bumpo generously refuses the marriage (although Mabel was ready to keep her promise to her dead father and marry the Pathfinder) and goes further to the West.

"Pioneers" is the most problematic novel in the pentalogy. Leather Stocking is already nearly seventy here, but his eye has not lost its vigilance, and his hand has not lost its firmness. However, his lonely old age is sad. Chingachgook's old friend, the Great Snake, is still nearby, but the wise leader and mighty warrior has turned into a decrepit, drunken old man - Indian John. Natty and Chingachgook are strangers in the colonists’ village, where the laws and orders of a “civilized” society are gradually being established. At the center of the novel is the conflict between the natural laws of nature and the human heart and far-fetched and unjust social orders. At the end of the book, Chingachgook dies, and Bumpo, having again arranged the happiness of the young couple - Oliver Effingham and Elizabeth Temple, refuses the benefits of a prosperous old age and again hides in the forest thicket.

Natty Bumppo is eighty-five at Prairie. He is not a hunter, but a trapper, a trapper. At the very beginning of the book, Cooper explains that Leatherstocking was driven from his beloved forests by the sound of an ax and he is forced to seek refuge on a barren plain that stretches to the Rocky Mountains. Natty now helps his new young friends not with a well-aimed shot, but with his vast life experience, the ability to escape from a natural disaster and carry on a conversation with a formidable Indian leader. Danger threatens Bumpo and his friends both from the Sioux Indians and from the Bush family of white settlers. All the many twists and turns of the adventurous plot end happily - with a double wedding. Having parted with his friends, Natty spends the last year of his life among the Indians of the Pawnee tribe, whose young leader, Hard Heart, partially replaces the deceased Mohican Uncas. The ending of the novel is a solemn and heartfelt scene of the last hours of Leatherstocking and his death.

The image of Natty Bumppo is Cooper’s highest achievement. It is a deeply national character, generated by the specific conditions of American history, and at the same time, one of the “eternal companions of humanity,” captivating with its example one generation after another of readers in different countries. V. G. Belinsky gave a vivid description of this literary hero: “A man with a deep nature and a powerful spirit, who voluntarily abandoned the comforts and lures of civilized life for the wide expanse of majestic nature, for a sublime conversation with God in the solemn silence of his great creation... man , matured in the open air, in an eternal struggle with dangers... a man with iron muscles and steel muscles in a lean body, with a dove’s heart in a lion’s chest.”

In accordance with Rousseauian ideas, Cooper explains the high moral qualities of his beloved character by life in communion with nature and the absence of the corrupting influence of civilization. In “The Deerslayer,” he calls Bumpo “a wonderful example of what natural kindness and the absence of bad examples and temptations can make a young man.” In “The Pathfinder,” the writer compares his hero with “Adam before the Fall,” calls him “a man of excellent spiritual qualities,” “a sage from a distant outskirts,” notes his “incorruptible, unerring sense of justice,” emphasizes that “his loyalty was unbreakable, like a rock." Natty is absolutely selfless and incapable of committing a dishonest act.

Leather Stocking cannot imagine life outside of nature, without a sense of his unity with the surrounding forests, sky, and water. “The true temple is the forest,” he says. The forest equalizes people, destroying, even if only temporarily, the artificial barriers erected between them by civilization. The great school of nature, Natti believes, is much more useful and more important than the far-fetched book learning of the townspeople. Awkward and confused on the streets of the white colonists' settlements, Bumpo is transformed when he finds himself in his element.

Life on the extreme edge of the frontier also attracts Natti with its freedom and independence. He understands freedom simply: this is the right to roam freely through his native forests. The regulation of human life by law seems to Bumpo to be unfair and sinful. In The Pioneers, Nutty declares to Judge Temple, who is trying to prove the need for a set of laws and rules of civilization: “I roamed these mountains when you were a baby in your mother’s arms. And I know that I have the right to walk this earth for the rest of my life.”

The complexity and drama of Natty Bumppo’s fate lies in the fact that he had a historically conditioned dual role. Fleeing from the sound of the ax, heralding the onset of a new way of life, retreating further and further to the west, Leather Stocking unwittingly paves the way for that very cold and hostile civilization that is destroying his world. There is a bitter and tragic irony in the fact that the courageous and selfless pioneer becomes the guide of the shopkeeper, lumberjack, sheriff, etc.

The key scene of the entire pentalogy in this regard is the scene of the trial of Leatherstocking in the novel “Pioneers”. Once upon a time, Natty Bumppo, an old resident of these places, met Marmaduke Temple here, fed him, gave him shelter, and gave him his bear skin to make his bed. Years have passed, and now the aged hunter and his friend Indian John are two sad remnants of the past in the “civilized” village of Templeton. Bumpo's enemies, Hiram Doolittle and Sheriff Richard Jones, imagined that the old man was secretly mining silver on land belonging to the "owner" of the village, Marmaduke Temple. Using the newly introduced "law" regarding the timing of the hunt, they try to break into Bumpo's hut. Protecting someone else's secret entrusted to him, Leather Stocking repels the brazen invasion. Bumpo is put on trial for “resisting authorities.” Judge Temple, a humane man by nature and sincerely grateful for saving his daughter Elizabeth from death in the claws of a panther, is nevertheless forced, following the laws of a “civilized society,” to sentence Bumpo to imprisonment, a large fine and sitting in the stocks in the pillory. The laws of civilization and the norms of humanity turn out to be incompatible.

The episode that opens the novel “Prairie” is also very indicative. Natty meets a caravan of Bush settlers who cannot find water, food for livestock, or shelter for the night. Bumpo leads them to a place where a stream gurgles in the shadow of tall poplars. Axes are immediately used, trees fall to the ground, “as if a hurricane had swept through here.” The next morning, the detachment moves on, and Natty looks with bitterness at the devastation caused, at the unnecessary, abandoned logs, which just yesterday were proud, handsome poplars.

Thus, the pentalogy artistically captures the tragedy of American pioneering, which was the result of the discord between the noble goals of the pioneers and territorial expansion under capitalism.

In the pentalogy, the life of the Indians is the embodiment of a free life and closeness to nature. When drawing her, Cooper did not strive for a realistic image. His goal was to paint, as he said, a “beautiful ideal” opposed to the acquisitiveness and cruelty of the bourgeois world. The life and customs of the Indians are painted in bright colors, they emphasize unusual, exotic features, the speech of the Indians is replete with flowery metaphors and comparisons.

One of the most important cross-cutting themes of the entire pentalogy is the tragic fate of the American Indians, dying under the ruthless pressure of the civilization of white invaders. The “march” of the American nation to the West was accompanied by the inhumane extermination of the “redskins”, who were, in fact, declared outlaws. In Deerslayer, Cooper portrays two frontiersmen, Harry March and Tom Hutter. The first of them proudly declares that “killing a savage is a feat,” and claims that the redskins differ from animals only in cunning. The second, having learned that only women and children remained in the Indian camp, persuades March to attack the defenseless camp in order to get scalps there, for which the colonial administration pays bonuses. Neither Hutter nor his partner are embarrassed by the inhumanity of the plan: they consider killing Indians to be no less a worthy way to make money than hunting.

With great respect and sympathy, the writer paints the images of Chingachgook, Uncas, and Hard Heart. They are distinguished by courage, military valor, honesty and loyalty to their word, contempt for torture and even death itself. True, the writer divides Indian tribes into “good” (Delaware, Pawnee) and “bad” (Hurons, Sioux, etc.). This is due to the participation of these tribes either on the side of the British or on the side of the French in the long-term Anglo-French military clashes in the 18th century. It is significant that even the leaders of hostile Indian tribes, the main enemies of Leatherstocking and his friends - Splintered Oak ("Deerslayer"), Magua ("Last of the Mohicans"), Striking Arrow ("Pathfinder"), Matori ("Prairie") - are depicted Cooper with more than just black paint. Along with ferocity and cunning, these heroes are endowed with extraordinary intelligence, courage, and energy. For example, even in Magua, not only the “evil and ferocious features”, “the fantastic look of the basilisk” are emphasized, but also his strength, courage, and oratorical talent. The defeat and death of these characters has its own dark, tragic grandeur.

Many scenes in the novels “The Last of the Mohicans” and “The Pioneers” directly condemn the expansion of white conquerors. In the first of them, Leather Stocking says: “You see before you a great leader, a wise Mohican. Once upon a time, his ancestors could chase a deer over a great distance. What will his descendants get?” The author gives the final answer to this question in “Pioneers,” where the impoverished and dispossessed Chingachgook and Leather Stocking find themselves powerless and homeless. But the burden of years is not to blame. It was the whites who brought old age with them, Chingachgook believes. Rum is their tomahawk.

By destroying the Indian world, capitalist expansion also destroys the natural world. In the 18th century It seemed to the settlers that before them was an endless expanse of forests, an inexhaustible supply of natural resources from which they could draw without looking back. The frontiersmen treat nature with thoughtless barbarity, cutting down and burning forests, extortionately depleting the soil, destroying animals and birds. One of the central episodes of “Pioneers” is the scene of the extermination of flocks of pigeons. This disgusting orgy of murder is opposed only by Leather Stocking with his principle “use, but do not destroy.” But his reproach “it is a great sin to kill in vain more than you can eat” cannot stop what even Judge Temple is forced in the end to call “wanton destruction” and “carnage.”

The writer plays a great role as a pioneer of the most important themes in US literature. The motif of “leaving” bourgeois civilization, embodied in the fate of Natty Bumppo, will become key in American romanticism, repeated in the story of G. Thoreau’s life on Walden Lake, in the desire of G. Melville’s heroes to escape into the vastness of the ocean, in the flight of fantasy of E. Poe. It will be picked up by writers of subsequent literary movements and eras. Huckleberry Finn will dream about escaping to “Indian territory” in M. Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”; D. London's courageous heroes will go to Alaska - not for gold, but for real life; a hut on the edge of a forest somewhere far to the west will be seen by the “catcher in the rye” - Holden Caulfield, the hero of the novel by D. D. Salinger. The Indian theme will be developed in “The Song of Hiawatha” by G. W. Longfellow. The friendship of Natty and Chingachgook will become a prototype of unions of people of different skin colors based on equality and mutual respect in Melville (Ishmael and Queequeg in Moby Dick), in Twain (Huck Finn and Negro Jim), in many progressive writers of the 20th century, environmental issues, issues of protection nature from unreasonable human intervention, first outlined by Cooper, were also widely picked up by US literature of the 20th century.

© V.N. Bogoslovsky (Chapters 23, 24, 30), V.G. Prozorov (Chapters 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29), A.F. Golovenchenko (Chapter 27), (1991)

English James Fenimore Cooper

American novelist and satirist, classic of adventure literature

Fenimore Cooper

short biography

American novelist, the first writer of the New World, whose work was recognized by the Old World and became a powerful stimulus for the further development of the American novel.

His homeland was Burlington (New Jersey), where he was born on September 15, 1789 into a family whose head was a judge, congressman, and large landowner. He became the founder of the village of Cooperstown in New York State, which quickly grew into a small town. There, James Fenimore was educated at a local school, and, as a 14-year-old teenager, became a student at Yale University. It was not possible to obtain a higher education because... Cooper was expelled from his alma mater for violations of discipline.

During 1806-1811. the future writer served in the merchant navy, and later in the navy. In particular, he had the opportunity to participate in the construction of a warship on Lake Ontario. The knowledge and impressions he gained subsequently helped him delight the public with excellent descriptions of the lake in his works.

In 1811, Cooper became a family man; his wife was the Frenchwoman Delana. It was thanks to a chance argument with her, as legend has it, that James Fenimore tried himself as a writer. The reason was allegedly a phrase he dropped while reading someone’s novel aloud, about how it’s not difficult to write better. As a result, just a few weeks later, the novel “Precaution” was written, set in England. This happened in 1820. The debut remained unnoticed by the public. But already in 1821, “The Spy, or the Tale of Neutral Territory” was published, romanticizing the period of the American Revolution and the struggle for national independence, and the author became famous not only in his homeland, but also in European countries.

Written in subsequent years, the series of novels “Pioneers, or the Origins of Sasquianna” (1823), “The Last of the Mohicans” (1826), “The Prairie” (1827), “Pathfinder, or Lake-Sea” (1840), “St. John’s Wort, or the First Warpath" (1841), dedicated to the American Indians and their relations with Europeans, made James Fenimore Cooper famous throughout the world. The somewhat idealized image of the hunter Natty Bumppo, the no less interesting images of Chingachgook and some other “children of nature” quickly aroused universal sympathy. The success of the series of novels was enormous, and even harsh British critics were forced to admit it, calling him the American Walter Scott.

Even after becoming a famous writer, J.F. Cooper did not focus exclusively on literature. In 1826-1833 his biography is connected with a large-scale journey across the European continent as the American consul in French Lyon (the position was rather nominal than requiring active work). Cooper visited not only France, but also Germany, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Gained fame, etc. maritime novels, in particular, “The Pilot” (1823), “The Red Corsair” (1828), “The Sea Sorceress” (1830), “Mercedes of Castile” (1840). There is in the creative heritage of J.F. Cooper works of a historical, political, journalistic nature. The History of the American Navy, published by him in 1839, characterized by its desire for impartiality, turned both the Americans and the British against him. In particular, the residents of Cooperstown decided to remove all books of the famous fellow countryman from the local library. Litigation with them and with the journalistic fraternity took a lot of energy and health from Cooper in the last years of his life. He died on September 14, 1851; the cause of death was given as cirrhosis of the liver.

Biography from Wikipedia

James Fenimore Cooper(eng. James Fenimore Cooper; September 15, 1789, Burlington, USA - September 14, 1851, Cooperstown, USA) - American novelist and satirist. A classic of adventure literature.

Soon after Fenimore's birth, his father, Judge William Cooper, a fairly wealthy Quaker landowner, moved to New York State and founded the settlement of Cooperstown there, which turned into a town. Having received his initial education at a local school, Cooper went to Yale University, but without completing the course, he entered the naval service (1806-1811) and was assigned to build a warship on Lake Ontario. To this circumstance we owe the remarkable descriptions of Ontario found in his famous novel “The Pathfinder, or On the Shores of Ontario.”

In 1811, Cooper married a Frenchwoman, Susan Augusta Delancey, who came from a family that sympathized with England during the Revolutionary War; its influence explains those relatively mild reviews of the English and the English government that are found in Cooper's early novels. Chance made him a writer. Once reading a novel aloud to his wife, Cooper noticed that it was not difficult to write better. His wife took him at his word, and in order not to seem like a braggart, he wrote his first novel, Precaution (1820), in a few weeks.

Novels

M. Brady. Cooper(c. 1850)

Assuming that, in view of the already begun competition between English and American authors, English criticism would react unfavorably to his work, Cooper did not sign his name for the first novel, “Precaution” (1820), and transferred the action of this novel to England. The latter circumstance could only harm the book, which revealed the author’s poor familiarity with English life and caused very unfavorable reviews from English critics. Cooper’s second novel, already from American life, was the famous “The Spy, or the Tale of the Neutral Ground” (1821), which had enormous success not only in America, but also in Europe.

Cooper then wrote a series of novels about American life:

"Pioneers, or At the Sources of the Susquehanna", 1823;
"The Last of the Mohicans", 1826;
“Steppes”, otherwise “Prairie”, 1827;
“Discoverer of Trace”, otherwise “Pathfinder”, 1840;
"The Deer Hunter", aka "St. John's Wort, or the First Warpath", 1841).

In them, he depicted the wars of the European aliens among themselves, in which they involved the American Indians, forcing the tribes to fight against each other. The hero of these novels is the hunter Natty (Nathaniel) Bumppo, who appears under various names (St. John's Wort, Pathfinder, Hawkeye, Leather Stocking, Long Carbine), energetic and handsome, and soon became a favorite of the European public. In Cooper's work, not only this representative of European civilization, but also some of the Indians (Chingachgook, Uncas) are idealized, albeit with subtle humor and satire, usually accessible only to an adult reader.

The success of this series of novels was so great that even English critics had to recognize Cooper's talent and called him the American Walter Scott. In 1826, Cooper went to Europe, where he spent seven years. The fruit of this journey was several novels - "Bravo, or in Venice", "The Headsman", "Mercedes of Castile", - set in Europe.

After Europe

In Russia

In the early 1840s, Cooper's novels were very popular in Russia. The first translations into Russian were made by children's writer A. O. Ishimova. In particular, the novel “The Pathfinder” (English: The Pathfinder, Russian translation of 1841), published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, aroused great public interest, about which V. G. Belinsky said that it was a Shakespearean drama in the form of a novel.

The adventure novels of James Fenimore Cooper were very popular in the USSR, their author was quickly recognized by his second, rare name Fenimore. For example, in the film “The Mystery of Fenimore,” the third episode of the 1977 children’s television mini-series “Three Merry Shifts” based on the stories of Yu. Yakovlev, it tells about a mysterious stranger named Fenimore, who in the pioneer camp comes to the boys’ ward at night and tells amazing stories about Indians and aliens.

Bibliography

1820 :
- composes a traditional novel of morals, Precaution, for his daughters.

1821 :
- historical novel The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground, based on local legends. The novel poeticizes the era of the American Revolution and its ordinary heroes. "Spy" receives international recognition. Cooper moved with his family to New York, where he soon became a prominent literary figure and leader of writers who advocated for the national identity of American literature.

1823 :
- the fourth part of the pentalogy about Natty Bumppo “Pioneers, or at the origins of the Susquehanna”
- short stories (Tales for Fifteen: or Imagination and Heart)
- the novel The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea, the first of Cooper's many works about adventures at sea.

1825 :
- novel "Lionel Lincoln, or The Siege of Boston" (Lionel Lincoln, or The leaguer of Boston).

1826 :
- the second part of the pentalogy about Natty Bumppo, Cooper's most popular novel, the name of which has become a household name, is The Last of the Mohicans.

1827 :
- the fifth part of the pentalogy is the novel “The Steppes,” otherwise known as “The Prairie.”
- maritime novel “The Red Corsair” (The Red Rover).
1828 :

- Notions of the Americans: Picked up by a Traveling Bachelor

1829 :
- the novel “The Valley of Wish-ton-Wish” (The wept of Wish-ton-Wish), dedicated to the Indian theme - the battles of the 17th century American colonists with the Indians.

1830 :
- the fantastic story of the brigantine of the same name “The Water-Witch: or the Skimmer of the Seas”.
- Letter to General Lafayette politics

1831 :
- the first part of a trilogy from the history of European feudalism “Bravo, or in Venice” (The bravo) is a novel from the distant past of Venice.

1832 :
- the second part of the trilogy “The Heidenmauer: or, The Benedictines, A Legend of the Rhine” - a historical novel from the time of the early Reformation in Germany.
- short stories (No Steamboats)

1833 :
- the third part of the trilogy “The headsman, or The Abbaye des vignerons” is an 18th-century legend about the hereditary executioners of the Swiss canton of Bern.

1834 :
- (A Letter to His Countrymen)

1835 :
- criticism of American reality in the political allegory “The Monikins”, written in the tradition of educational allegorism and satire of J. Swift.

1836 :
- memoirs (The Eclipse)
- Gleanings in Europe: Switzerland (Sketches of Switzerland)
- Gleanings in Europe: The Rhine
- A Residence in France: With an Excursion Up the Rhine, and a Second Visit to Switzerland

1837 :
- Gleanings in Europe: France travel
- Gleanings in Europe: England travel

1838 :
- pamphlet “The American Democrat: or Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America.”
- Gleanings in Europe: Italy travel
- The Chronicles of Cooperstown
- Homeward Bound: or The Chase: A Tale of the Sea
- Home as Found: Sequel to Homeward Bound

1839 :
- “The History of the Navy of the United States of America”, testifying to an excellent mastery of the material and love for navigation.
- Old Ironsides

1840 :
- “The Pathfinder, or On the Shores of Ontario” (The Pathfinder, or The inland sea) - the third part of the pentalogy about Natty Bumppo
- a novel about the discovery of America by Columbus, Mercedes of Castile: or, The Voyage to Cathay.

1841 :
- “The Deerslayer: or The First Warpath” is the first part of the pentalogy.

1842 :
- the novel “The Two Admirals”, telling an episode from the history of the British fleet waging war with France in 1745
- a novel about French privateering, “Will-and-Wisp” (Wing-and-Wing, or Le feu-follet).

1843 :
- the novel “Wyandotté: or The Hutted Knoll. A Tale” about the American Revolution in the remote corners of America.
- Richard Dale
- biography (Ned Myers: or Life before the Mast)
- (Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief or Le Mouchoir: An Autobiographical Romance or The French Governess: or The Embroidered Handkerchief or Die franzosischer Erzieheren: oder das gestickte Taschentuch)

1844 :
- novel “Afloat and Ashore: or The Adventures of Miles Wallingford. A Sea Tale”
- and its sequel “Miles Wallingford” (Miles Wallingford: Sequel to Afloat and Ashore), where the image of the main character has autobiographical features.
- Proceedings of the Naval Court-Martial in the Case of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, &c.

1845 :
- two parts of the “trilogy in defense of land rent”: “Satanstoe” (Satanstoe: or The Littlepage Manuscripts, a Tale of the Colony) and “The Land Surveyor” (The Chainbearer; or, The Littlepage Manuscripts).

1846 :
- the third part of the trilogy is the novel “The Redskins” (or, Indian and Injin: Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts). In this trilogy, Cooper portrays three generations of landowners (from the mid-18th century to the struggle against land rent in the 1840s).
- Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers biography

1847 :
- The pessimism of the late Cooper is expressed in the utopia “The Crater; or, Vulcan’s Peak: A Tale of the Pacific,” which is an allegorical history of the United States.

1848 :
- the novel “The Oak Grove” or “The Oak Openings: or the Bee-Hunter” - from the history of the Anglo-American War of 1812.
- novel “Jack Tier: or the Florida Reefs”

1849 :
- Cooper's latest sea novel, The Sea Lions: The Lost Sealers, is about a shipwreck that befalls seal hunters in the ice of Antarctica.

1850 :
- Cooper's latest book, The Ways of the Hour, is a social novel about American legal proceedings.
- play (Upside Down: or Philosophy in Petticoats), satirization of socialism

1851 :
- short story (The Lake Gun)
- (New York: or The Towns of Manhattan) - an unfinished work on the history of New York City.

The famous novelist and satirist Fenimore Cooper stood at the origins of American literature: the author became the pioneer of a new genre. The writer’s work, his quotes and aphorisms do not lose their relevance. The attention of critics and the public was focused both on Cooper's works and on his biography.

Childhood and youth

James Fenimore Cooper was born on September 15, 1789 in Burlington (USA). Born into the family of Judge William Cooper and the daughter of a Quaker, Elizabeth Fenimore. During the Revolutionary years, my father acquired an extensive tract of land near New York, including Otsego Lake. For several years, the judge established life in the village, which in the future became the city of Cooperstown. The father built a house on the lake and decided to move there with his wife and 11 children.

The boy's mother categorically refused to move, so William ordered the servants to lift her up along with the chair on which she was sitting and carry her into the carriage. The youngest Cooper was one year and two months old at the time of the move.

James was educated at a local school and was also taught by a graduate of the University of Ireland as a child. And another teacher, who graduated from Cambridge, prepared the boy to enter Yale. At the age of 13 he became a student at Yale University, but studied there for only 3 years. On the fourth, he tried to blow up the students' bedroom door and train the donkey to sit in the professor's chair.

The young man did not receive a full higher education because he was expelled for systematic violation of discipline. This is how Cooper’s training ended in 1806, and the punishment became typical for that time - the young man was sent to the navy as a sailor. The years spent in the service became not only useful for James, but also happy. Cooper rose to the rank of officer and became an expert on the navy. Since James was involved in the construction of a warship on Lake Ontario, his famous novel “The Pathfinder” contains descriptions of this area.

Literature

James Cooper became a writer by accident. One day, while reading a novel aloud to his wife, he noticed that it was not difficult to write better. Susan took her husband at his word, and the couple entered into an argument. To avoid seeming like a braggart, James wrote his first novel, Precaution, within a few weeks. The author's name was hidden because the American government was not known for its loyalty to the British government. But critics in England also rejected the work because the events did not correspond to the actual history of the country.

Writer Fenimore Cooper

Critics liked the romanticism in subsequent works much more. Cooper's second work was the famous "Spy". The hero of the novel, participating in the American War of Independence, chooses the most difficult path of serving his homeland: he becomes a scout, posing as a spy for the enemy army. Risking his life, a patriot fulfills his duty to the end, without thinking about awards and glory.

The novel was a huge success: both in America and in Europe. The beginning of a new genre in US literature had been laid. Inspired by success, the writer decided to move from amateurs to the category of professionals. James continued to write, and texts followed that described in detail and fascinatingly the nature of America and its history.

In the novels “Pioneers”, “The Last of the Mohicans”, “Prairie”, “Pathfinder” and “St. John’s Wort” the writer managed to create an epic about the fate of the Americans and those people who previously lived on this land. Even English critics recognized the success of a series of works created over 20 years, calling Cooper American.

These 5 works are interconnected by the image of the main character Natty Bumppo, who appears in each book at different periods of his life, full of dangers and adventures. The works are united by a theme: each shows the clash of the natural existence of man in the conditions of nature and the life of bourgeois society. The latter destroys harmony not only in relations between people, but also between man and nature.

James's artistic skill was demonstrated in the depiction of nature; the national landscape of America is reflected in living and majestic images.

The theme of sea voyages brought well-deserved success to James. In these works, the author talked about the discovery of America, war and pirates. The writer's heroes perform feats, search for treasures and save noble maidens. The authenticity of the stories, the skill and authenticity in the depiction of the characters who appear in the works as if alive - this captivates and captivates the reader.

At the beginning of 1840, Cooper's novels gained popularity in Russia. The first translations into Russian were made by children's writer A. O. Ishimova. The novel “The Discoverer of Trace” aroused the greatest interest. He spoke out about this work, declaring that it is a Shakespearean drama in the form of a novel. Cooper's adventure novels were recognized thanks to the rare middle name of the author - Fenimore.

Cooper's artistic discovery was the depiction of Indians, despite the fact that some predecessors had already touched on this topic. The author described the tragedy of the Indian people: white colonialists robbed, soldered, corrupted and exterminated them. The indigenous people of America were persecuted with inhuman cruelty, and all sorts of vices were attributed to them. But James destroyed this myth by showing that Indians were often morally superior to whites.

Fenimore Cooper in old age

Stories dedicated to the faithful friendship between the “redskins” and the “pale-faces” are among the best works of the writer.

Fenimore was considered the founder of a new genre in the world of literature - the Western novel. Several generations of American writers called Cooper a teacher and inspiration.

Some of the writer’s works have been filmed, including the films “St. John’s Wort”, “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Pathfinder”.

Personal life

In December 1809, Fenimore Cooper's father was murdered in Albany. The judge's sons became rich overnight, and James's share was $50 thousand, which by today's standards is approximately $1 million. Having received an inheritance, the young man retired and married a Frenchwoman, Susan Augusta Delancey. Its influence explains the relatively mild reviews of the English and the English government found in Cooper's early novels.

The personal life of Susan and James can confidently be called happy in the understanding of that time: children were born one after another, the house was full of servants, and the wife gave her husband complete freedom to engage in politics and business.

The couple had 7 children, one of them became the grandfather of the popular American writer Paul Fenimore Cooper.

Death

In the last years of his life, James, being the head of the family clan after the death of his older brothers, worked as a historical writer. He authored works on the history of New York and the US Navy.

James Fenimore Cooper died on September 14, 1851, of cirrhosis of the liver, just one day shy of age 62.

Cooper's books continue to teach his contemporaries about honor, courage and loyalty today.

Bibliography

1820 – “Precaution”
1821 – “The Spy, or the Tale of Neutral Territory”
1823 – “Pilot, or Maritime History”
1825 – “Lionel Lincoln, or the Siege of Boston”
1826 – “The Last of the Mohicans”
1827 – “Steppes”, otherwise “Prairie”
1827 – “The Red Corsair”
1829 – “Valley of Wish-ton-Wish”
1830 – “The Sea Sorceress”
1831 – “Bravo, or in Venice”
1832 – “Heidenmauer, or the Benedictines”
1833 – “The Executioner, or the Abbey of Winegrowers”
1835 – “Monicins”
1840 – “The Pathfinder, or On the Shores of Ontario” or “The Discoverer of Trace”
1840 – “Mercedes from Castile, or Journey to Cathay”
1841 – “St. John’s Wort, or the First Warpath” or “The Deer Hunter”
1842 – “Two Admirals”
1842 – “Will-o’-the-wisp”
1843 – “Wyandotte, or House on the Hill”

James Fenimore Cooper is an American novelist, the first writer of the New World, whose work was recognized by the Old World and became a powerful stimulus for the further development of the American novel.