James Fenimore Cooper the Novelist [Hardcover]

Originally published in 1967. In this critical survey of the fiction of James Fenimore Cooper, George Dekker devotes a good deal of attention to Coopers politics. He also explores the assimilation and development of the historical novel as first perfected by Sir Walter Scott. Coopers major formal innovations in the field of historical fiction were, like Scotts, something more than mere experiments: they were made because American social and political developments differed radically from those of Scotts Europe and so demanded a different formal expression.

Introduction;  Chronology of James Fenimore Cooper;  1. Coopers, Jays. And De Lanceys  2. The American Scott: Imitation as Exploration and Criticism  3. The Pioneers  4. Race in the New World  5. The Prairie  6. An American Gentleman in Europe  7. Buccaneers of the Land and Sea  8. The European Novels  9. Home as Found  10. The Pathfinder: Leatherstocking in Love  11. The Deerslayer  12. The Late Sea Novels  13. The Littlepage Trilogy  14. The Ways of the Hour;  Index

Originally published in 1967. In this critical survey of the fiction of James Fenimore Cooper, George Dekker devotes a good deal of attention to Coopers politics. He also explores the assimilation and development of the historical novel as first perfected by Sir Walter Scott. Coopers major formal innovations in the field of historical fiction were, like Scotts, something more than mere experiments: they were made because American social and political developments differed radically from those of Scotts Europe and so demanded a different formal expression.