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James Fenimore Cooper
TALES FOR FIFTEEN: or, IMAGINATION AND HEART (1823 Mumbai. Tutis Digital Publishing. 2008. 235 pp (large print) ISBN-13: 978 132000853 Reviewed by Patrick Killough I. biblio.com 09/11/2009 Recommended? YES James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851) was America's first great novelist. In the 1820s and later he experimented with writing after the fashion of currently marketable British and Irish writers, including especially Sir Walter Scott. One of Cooper's models was Englishwoman Mrs Amelia Anderson Opie (1769-1853) a sometime Unitarian, later Quaker and occasional radical. Mrs Opie aimed to make her readers cry and wrote increasingly about correct moral behavior in young women. In apparent imitation of Mrs Opie, Fenimore Cooper, in TALES FOR FIFTEEN, published two yarns (think of them as very long short stories or very short novellas) "Imagination" and "Heart." Cooper remained concerned for the proper upbringing of girls; and occasional moralizing about their temptations and responses appeared in his five LEATHERSTOCKING novels and others. The "fifteen" in TALES FOR FIFTEEN refers to 15-year old girls. Cooper's narrative "voice" was that of a fictitious "Jane Morgan." In effect, in both tales an experienced, worldly-wise older woman tells stories of late teen-age girls, with her cautionary advice. In his Preface to these stories, Cooper wrote: "They
are intended for the perusal of young women, at
that tender age when the feelings of their nature begin to act on them
most insidiously, and when their minds are least prepared by reason and
experience to contend with their passions."
Both tales are set in or near Manhattan shortly after the War of 1812. "Imagination"is about two teen-age girls Julia Warren and Anna Miller. For financial reasons, Anna's father moves her and a dozen other members of his family 200 miles from Manhattan to the Genesee frontier area of New York State. Julia is devastated and weeps for the absence of her soul-mate. Anna, in a series of letters, works on orphaned Julia to persuade Julia's aunt, Miss Emmerson (with whom she lives) to invite Anna back from the wilds to winter in gay, lively Manhattan. Anna writes Julia how she sings by day and by night Julia's praise to a handsome young man who plans to come to the big city to woo Julia. Julia's imagination runs amuck magnifying the virtues of her absent girl friend and painting an ideal picture of the young Lochinvar she thinks is coming to make her his own. Meanwhile Aunt Emmerson, a simple woman, pours kindly but cold water on Julia's over-heated imagination in attempts to make her notice Anna's selfish, manipulative flaws and to see and appreciate the quiet, ordinary virtues of friends and relatives of Julia who are close at hand. "Heart" is about Manhattan's young Charlotte Henley and her quiet love for sickly friend George Morton. The town is abuzz with the current manhunt by all the eligible belles to wed a young bachelor, immensely rich, handsome polished Seymour Delafield. Charlotte's best girl friend duly makes her own play for Seymour, but Seymour falls madly in love with Miss Henley. Whom will Charlotte choose: rich, robust Seymour or self-sacrificing, desperately ill George? What was Cooper up to in these two short stories for teens? TALES FOR FIFTEEN more closely resembles the American novelist's first novel of English manners, PRECAUTION, than his later novels of wilderness and the high seas. Shortly after "Imagination" and "Heart" Cooper published LIONEL LINCOLN, a tale of revolutionary Boston in 1775-1776, heavily laced with Gothic mysteries. His English models for stories of youthful romances abounded in Gothic elements such as kidnappings and seductions. These motifs do not, however, appear in TALES FOR FIFTEEN. Young readers of "Imagination" and "Heart" would very likely have wept, heaved bosoms, sighed and dreamt idealistically of their own future husbands. Yet in fictional but realistic, plausible circumstances, real, literate, middle-class and upper-class teens would have faced with Cooper: wealth versus relative poverty, health versus sickness, an adored girl friend out for her own selfish purposes and on and on. Enjoy these undemanding, pleasant, real feeling yarns of teen-age romance in New York just after the annoying War of 1812. -OOO- http://www.biblio.com/books/206854575.html =-==-=-=-= II. amazon This is how your review will appear: TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: Two good yarns providing insight into mind of a young, experimenting novelist, September 12, 2009 Reviewer's rating of TALES FOR FIFTEEN: * * * * In his first novel, PRECAUTION (1820), young James Fenimore Cooper (1779 - 1851) wrote about English high society and the strategies used by three families for marrying off sons and daughters against the vague backdrop of the wars with Napoleon. Three years later Cooper published two short tales of Manhattan society just after the War of 1812. "Imagination" is about the imagination-drenched crush one teen age girl has on another. For lack of money Anna's family has to move to Western New York, leaving Julia behind in glitzy Manhattan to pine for her friend. Through constantly re-reading a series of letters from the faraway Genesee country, Julia builds up Anna into a paragon of virtue, which Anna most definitely is not. Anna schemes to wangle an invitation from Julia's aunt to spend the boring winter sure to come back in Manhattan. She also dangles before Julia the image of a young man said to be enraptured by Anna's descriptions of her distant friend. Julia's aunt finally brings Julia down to reality and to earth. Imagination has its place, but experience is the best teacher of what people are really like. "Heart" is about two young women and two young men well placed in Manhattan society. Quiet, high-minded Charlotte Henly is deeply but silently in love with sickly, noble George Morton. One cold day a man falls in a fit on an icy New York street. No one lifts a finger to help him except young Morton. In giving up his coat, Morton precipitates a final descent into mortal illness. One of Manhattan's richest, most eligible bachelors, Seymour Delafield, a mere bystander, sees George's charitable intervention with the afflicted man but does not lift a finger to help. Charlotte Henly and her friend Maria Osgood witness the "Good Samaritan" deed. Maria makes light of it. From time to time Seymour wonders why he didn't help the fallen epileptic but that is as far as his self-assessment goes. Seymour is instantly smitten by Charlotte and is resolved to make her his wife. Like all the other debutantes and unmarried young women in Manhattan -- except Charlotte -- Maria too sets her own cap for Seymour. Will Seymour win Charlotte? Will Charlotte ever tell George she loves him (and vice versa)? Will Maria wed Seymour? Will huge wealth, good breeding and impeccable manners inevitably win a sensible but gorgeous young woman away from her true love? "Imagination" and "Heart" are not in the same league as the best short stories of O'Henry and Poe. They are worth reading and pondering for their own sake, admittedly. But they attract 21st Century readers mainly as windows into the mind of young James Cooper (he would add "Fenimore" three years later). Both his first novel, PRECAUTION, and these two longish short stories (or, perhaps, short novelettes) are conscious imitations of the didactic, advice to the lovelorn novels of English novelist Amelia Opie (1769-1853), author of THE FATHER AND DAUGHTER. In these three tales, Cooper makes himself think and talk like women: wiser, more detached women working for the happiness and morality of younger charges. Cooper does this role assumption well. He even issued TALES FOR FIFTEEN as the product of a fictitious "Jane Morgan." Cooper's empathy for people very much unlike himself will show itself in later works in his uniquely sympathetic presentation of American Indians (in THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS and other LEATHERSTOCKING novels. So read James Cooper's TALES FOR FIFTEEN (meaning 15-year old girls and boys) not only for themselves but for understanding their author not long before he became world famous. -OOO- Your Tags: james fenimore cooper, amelia opie, precaution, a novel, manhattan society, charlotte henly http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Fifteen-Large-Fenimore-Cooper/ dp/0554267926/ref=ed_oe_h ===-=-=- III. bn TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: PROVERB: " When the sky falls, we shall catch larks" REVIEWER'S RATING OF TALES FOR FIFTEEN: * * * * Posted 9/12/2009: In 1823 young James (not yet Fenimore) Cooper was three years before publishing his sixth novel and master work, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. He was still experimenting with patriotic stories, the Gothic, manners (both English and American) and even with narrative voices. Thus he wrote his first novel, PRECAUTION, largely from the point of view of older women concerned for the future happiness of young unmarried relatives, mainly female. The English Quaker novelist Ameria Opie had already demonstrated that such tales full of advice to girls on how to be both happy and moral would sell. Cooper issued TALES FOR FIFTEEN under the pen name "Jane Morgan." The book contains two very long short stories, "Imagination" and "Heart." Young unmarried men and women are its subjects. And the TALES are indeed "for FIFTEEN," that is written for 15-year old boys and girls coming to terms with their unruly emotions. In "Heart" Seymour loves Charlotte. Charlotte loves George. George either loves no one or he loves Charlotte. Maria loves Seymour. Charlotte and Maria are best friends. The tale is triggered when consumptive George is the only person in Manhattan to pity an epileptic who falls in a fit to the sidewalk on a cold winter's day. George gives the stricken man his coat and accompanies him to a hospital. This act of disinterested charity launches George into his final illness. Seymour, the richest young bachelor on the island, sees George's deed but does nothing to help. At the same time Seymour meets gorgeous Charlotte and on the spot resolves to have her as his wife. He shows no interest in marrying Maria, however, who would have him in a heartbeat. She is one of seven unmarried sisters. Seymour admires their number, saying: "When
you are all married, ... you will form a little world in yourselves."
Maria answers:"When the sky falls we shall catch larks."
In "Imagination" teen-age Julia and Anna are best friends, suddenly separated by 200 miles when financial straits cause Anna's father to move his large family from Manhattan to the wild Genesee frontier of New York State. Anna is very selfish and through letters tries to wheedle an invitation from Julia's aunt (who sees Anna for the selfish manipulator she is) to spend the looming winter back in gay Manhattan. The more she remembers her absent friend and moons over her letters, the more Julia glories in their imagination-drenched friendship and places Anna on a pedestal fit for the saintly Little Flower of Lisieux. With diffiiculty Julia's aunt slowly brings her orphaned niece back to emotional terra firma. The stories offer gently amusing but real insights into the emotions and minds of young well-off Manhattanites in early 19th Century New York. More importantly they show Cooper's emerging empathy and growing ability to see the world as others see it. Soon, in THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, James Fenimore Cooper will begin to see America as Indians see it, and show both Europeans and Americans that Indians might be losing their land, but they were as much heroic, noble people as were Sir Walter Scott's doomed Scottish Highlanders. -OOO- http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Imagination-And-Heart-Tales-For-Fifteen/ James-Fenimore-Cooper/e/9788132000853/?itm=1 ==-=-=-=--= IV. epinions. TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: "Surely, you intend to marry?" by aohcapablanca, Sep 12 '09 REVIEWER'S RATING of TALES FOR FIFTEEN * * * * PROS: Vignettes of young people in love in early 19th Century Manhattan. Temptations overcome. Virtue rewarded. CONS: A young author still feeling his way. Deliberately imitative. A misleading book cover. BOTTOM LINE: To students out to understand the evolution of James Fenimore Cooper, TALES FOR FIFTEEN is a pleasant duty. Otherwise, should someone give you a copy, open it, enjoy it. TALES FOR FIFTEEN is one of James Fenimore Cooper's first seven (of scores) of published books. It contains two long short stories, "Imagination" and "Heart." The author is young and desperate to find paying readers who will relieve him of inherited debts. In the early 1820s, before he leaves America for a nearly eight year stay in Europe, Cooper experiments feverishly. He is gothic, historical and pro-British in LIONEL LINCOLN. He enters frontiers and wildernesses in THE PIONEERS and THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. He is an American patriot in THE SPY. Provoked by the allegedly poor seamanship of Sir Walter Scott's THE PIRATE, James Cooper dashes off a sea adventure tale of John Paul Jones, THE PILOT. He also publishes two books after the manner of Mrs Amelia Opie (1769-1853), an English Quaker novelist who loves to make her readers weep and to teach young, emotionally insecure girls how to overcome the temptations of puppy love. Cooper's first book was a novel, PRECAUTION, which owes a debt to Jane Austen as well as to Amelia Opie. Allegedly, while reading aloud to his grieving wife a novel by Mrs Opie or one of her imitators, young Cooper said that even he could write a better book. His wife Susan then challenged him to do so. The result was a tale of aristocratic English families in the time of Napoleon busily making good marriages for their youngsters. In 1823 Cooper issued as TALES FOR FIFTEEN "Imagination" and "Heart," after the manner of Mrs Opie. The market for teen romances was hot and Cooper was filling a lucrative market niche. In "Imagination," set not long after the War of 1812, young Anna manipulates from afar her best friend, orphaned Julia, left behind in glitzy Manhattan. Anna's financially stressed father has taken his large brood of children to the wilds of western New York State to carve out a new life. Emotion-drenched Julia, through exchanges of passionate letters, comes to put far away Anna on a pedestal which the little schemer does not deserve. Eventually Julia's uneducated but canny and loving aunt Margaret convinces her ward that there are both boys and girls near at hand to whom distant Anna cannot hold a candle when it comes to solid virtue and generosity. "Heart" shows Manhattan's richest bachelor, suave, calculating Seymour in pursuit of gorgeous, saintly, retiring Charlotte. When Charlotte's secret love, George, overtaxes his already consumptive constitution by giving his coat to a man he encounters having a fit on a bitter winter's day, George begins a final slide toward early death. Seymour had witnessed the stricken man writhing on the sidewalk but did nothing to help. He was too busy falling in love at first sight with teen-aged Charlotte, who was entering upon the near tragic scene with her best friend Maria. Over the next few weeks Seymour senses Charlotte's love for the dying George but is oblivious to Maria's growing infatuation with himself. He concentrates instead on breaking Charlotte's attachment to a dying rival. All the other wealthy debutantes in Manhattan, after all, are throwing themselves at Seymour. Why isn't Charlotte? And then one fine day, baffled at length by Charlotte, Seymour looks around and notices Maria, who never says him nay and turns out to be not so bad after all. Admiringly, he remarks to her: "Surely,
you intend to marry?"
In "Imagination," one girl's best friend is imagined into sainthood. In "Heart," another girl's best friend is a true, loyal saint. Cooper probes the reasons for the differences. Let me offer a remark in passing: in the scene of the stricken epileptic, the author contributes to an early national stereotype of the denizens of Manhattan Island as indifferent to human suffering just under their noses. The two short stories of TALES FOR FIFTEEN ("fifteen," meaning for boys and girls aged 15 wrestling with newly powerful and badly understood emotions) are darn good yarns. They are not in a class with the best of Runyon or Poe or Maupassant, but are worth an undemanding reading for their own sake. More important however is their contribution to the literary history of the rapidly evolving mind and writing style of America's first great novelist, James Fenimore Cooper. He will never again write anything quite like "Imagination" and "Heart." But Cooper never stops innovating and pioneering. He goes from weakness to strength, from imitation to originality. TALES FOR FIFTEEN accesses an early stage of "the artist as a young man." Finally, an aside on the 2008 book cover of the Indian publisher's paperback reprint of a non-scholarly text of TALES FOR FIFTEEN. It shows the back of a young boy sitting on a summer's day on a pier, staring at a quiet body of water. The time suggested may be nearly 200 years later than Cooper's stories being told. And the boy is closer to age nine than age 15. On the other hand, the Indian edition offers succinct, informative notes, albeit clumsily embedded in the narrative, rather than as footnotes or endnotes. This paperback edition is affordable and rescues from a certain oblivion two moderately important short stories from the pen of James Fenimore Cooper. -OOO- http://www.epinions.com/reviews/James_Fenimore_Cooper_Imagination_and_Heart _Tales_for_Fifteen_epi =-=-=-=--= Black Mountain Saturday 09/12/2009 |