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James Fenimore Cooper
THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA: (1954) Being those parts of THE DEERSLAYER, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE PATHFINDER, THE PIONEERS, and THE PRAIRIE which specially pertain to NATTY BUMPPO otherwise known as Pathfinder, Deerslayer, or Hawkeye; the whole arranged in chronological order from Hawkeye's youth on the New York frontier in King George's War until his death on the Western prairies in Jefferson's Administration EDITED BY Allan Nevins Illustrated by Reginald Marsh Reviewed by Patrick Killough I. For BarnesandNoble.com Title of this Review: HOW TO READ THE FIVE NOVELS AS ONE EPIC. Reviewer's Rating of THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA * * * * * FIVE STARS Between 1823, when he was 34, and 1841, when he was 52, American novelist James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851) published five novels about an illiterate, upright frontiersman named Nathaniel (Natty) Bumppo. Collectively styled THE LEATHERSTOCKING TALES, these five novels in order of their publication are THE PIONEERS, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE PRAIRIE, THE PATHFINDER and THE DEERSLAYER. Perhaps you have never read a single one. More likely you have read at least the most popular, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, but it was a long time ago. Do you want to read any of THE LEATHERSTOCKING TALES nowadays? If not why not? If you do should to read at least one, where do you start? There are four leading choices: -- (1) pick one of the five novels at random; -- (2) read them systematically in the order written (the way most scholars write about them); -- (3) read digests or selections from them -- (4) or read them chronologically as Natty Bumppo comes of age, fights and dies on the Nebraska prairies in great old age. In 1954 popular historian and biographer Allan Nevins offered a great boon to readers who lean toward two of the four options: --reading the five novels sequentially as biography of Natty Bumppo --and in a digested form between two book covers. The digest at first blush seems long -- 833 pages -- but Professor Nevins reassures us that we can always read the roughly 2,500 pages of the complete novels if and when we choose! *** Nevins digests by focusing rigorously on the life of Cooper's hero. The sequence of novels is then as follows, with dates of the principal action: DEERSLAYER (1744 -- Natty Bumppo is 23), LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1757 -- Natty is 36), PATHFINDER (1759 -- The Pathfinder is 38), PIONEERS (1797 -- Leatherstocking is 72 to 77) and PRAIRIE (1804 -- the hero is 83 or more). {We are urged by Professor Nevins not to hold Cooper too finely to his self-assigned timeline. THE PRAIRIE describes conditions out west only possible 1820 - 1825.} Many asides, deviations from the plot and sketches of lesser characters are omitted. When Nevins thinks necessary, editorial bridges connect what is left. Also of enormous value to beginning readers are his general introduction to the five novels, his tailored historical notes at the beginning of each condensed LEATHERSTOCKING text and the five maps that follow the introductions to each novel. Four maps relate to New York State and neighboring Canada. Preceding THE PRAIRIE is historian George Catlin's 1841 map of the central West out to the Rocky Mountains. The many pen and ink sketches by Reginald Marsh are also memorable. Nevins stresses Fenimore's Coopers strengths as a Romanticist writing historical novels: impressionism not detailed realism, and pioneering attention to nature, explorers and American Indians. Cooper's many faults are easily overcome, suggests the editor, by any readers willing to skim and to value colorful episodes over weak plots. THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA is a magnificent tribute to America's first historical novelist and a huge service to novice readers of Cooper. -OOO- Other suggested reading: --James Fenimore Cooper: THE SPY, THE WEPT OF WISH-TON-WISH. --Sir Walter Scott: WAVERLEY, ROB ROY, OLD MORTALITY, THE LADY OF THE LAKE, MARMION. --George Dekker: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER--THE AMERICAN SCOTT. Black Mountain, 2/14/2008 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= II. For amazon.com Title of this review: Six Maps Make This Edition Uniquely Valuable. THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA is a 1954 condensation by Professor Alan Nevins of Columbia University of five novels by James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851). Collectively called THE LEATHERSTOCKING TALES (Leatherstocking is one of many nicknames of Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo, the hero of the series), the SAGA consists, in the order published, of THE PIONEERS, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE PRAIRIE, THE PATHFINDER and THE DEERSLAYER. And that is the typical order in which the five tales are studied by scholars, e.g., by William P. Kelly in his 1983 PLOTTING AMERICA'S PAST: FENIMORE COOPER AND THE LEATHERSTOCKING TALES or by George Dekker's 1967 JAMES FENIMORE COOPER: THE AMERICAN SCOTT. That is, if biography determines the order of reading the five novels, it is the author's biography, not the hero's. Alan Nevins turns that procedure on its head. For Professor Nevins suggests that it is possible and very enlightening to read the LEATHERSTOCKING TALES, not as detached one from another, but as the unified biography of Natty Bumppo, from his birth in New York around 1720 or a bit later to his death in Nebraska in 1805. Nevins also condenses the five tales by about 2/3 through focusing on Natty's biography and de-emphasizing or simply summarizing himself things more about others than about Mr Bumppo. Nevins's LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA is as good a friend as there can be for a reader just beginning to read Fenimore Cooper. In one fat book between two covers a reader can skim along and quickly grasp the life of America's most famous literary frontiersman. And she can always return later for the additional 1,600 pages which Nevins has omitted or summarized. And then there are six maps: an introductory one on Northern New York called "The Iroquois and Other Tribes About 1650" and five more maps following the editor's introductory notes on each of the five novels. How or why subsequent editors dare NOT to include such maps with their editions of Cooper's individual LEATHERSTOCKING TALES is beyond my ability to explain. And the Professor's introductory notes are magnificent, both the general ones at the beginning and those preceding each novel. Those at the beginning include -- I. Cooper and the Leatherstocking Tales -- II. Cooper and the Frontier -- III. Cooper and the Indians and are completed by a one-page chronology of Cooper's life and a two-page chronology of Natty Bumppo's fictional biography. Some impressions that remain from the editorial notes: had Natty Bumppo ever married (either Judith Hutter who proposed to the youthful DEERSLAYER in 1744) or Mabel Dunham whom the PATHFINDER asks to marry him), he would of necessity have had to acquire new marketable skills. Like Daniel Boone, Natty Bumppo would have found his single-minded devotion to frontiers and wildernesses making concessions to reality. And had he actually lived as much among Indians as his fictional Natty or the later real Sam Houston, then novelist James Fenimore Cooper would have had a much sounder appreciation of Indian tribes, their social complexities and similarities to higher white culture. Cooper was the first American fiction writer to pay serious attention to forests, scouting and Indians. His was the artistry of the romantic impressionist painter, not the meticulously detailed Dutch school. In his notes to THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, editor Alan Nevins reminds us how the young George Washington accidentally launched a European world war when he ambushed and killed the French Ensign Jumonville (p. 275). Would that all editors of historical fiction would take a leaf from Professor Nevins and his forceful, credible illustrator, Reginald Marsh! Let there be maps, maps and more maps! Most of us have not been to Lake Glimmerglass or the Thousand Islands. We need a sense of place and topography which only good drawings can provide. And it is most helpful to know that the key British forts in MOHICANS are only 14 miles apart. If you know of ANY other editions of the LEATHERSTOCKING TALES with any maps or maps nearly as good as these, please spread the word. -OOO- Your Tags: james fenimore cooper, alan nevins, reginald marsh, leatherstocking, pathfinder, the last of the mohicans, the prairie =-=-=-=-=-=-= III. epinions.com Title of this Review: Popular Abbreviation of an American Classic. Reviewer's Rating of THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA: * * * * * FIVE STARS Pros Buy Nevins's edition for its maps alone. His introductory essays are a beginner's best friend. Cons At 833 pages, THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA is hefty. Chronology of Bumppo is clear but debatable. The Bottom Line The six maps are great. Why doesn't every edition of an historical novel have maps? The abbreviated text saves you 1,600 pages of reading materials not salient to the hero. Full Review {PRELIMINARY NOTE: The edition of Cooper's
THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA that I have read is probably the same one
carried by epinions.com but I am not quite sure. I have the 1954
abbreviation and edition by Professor Allan Nevins, Pantheon, New York,
in the series CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. It is 833 pages
long. Allan Nevins assures us, however, that his LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA
has about 1,600 fewer pages than the five LEATHERSTOCKING novels read
individually. END PRELIMINARY NOTE.}
It is rare in a scholarly edition of an historical novel for a reader to find maps. There are five Leatherstocking novels and Nevins has a separate map for each, four focusing on different parts of New York and one on the western prairies. Each is almost essential to follow the life and times of Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo from his birth around 1720 to his death in Nebraska in 1805. A sixth map is part of the general introduction of the book and is styled "The Iroquois and Other Tribes About 1630." When fleshed out by the editor's text on "Cooper and the Indians," this map proves a useful prism for much of the history and topography embedded in THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA. Nathaniel Bumppo has been described as the greatest American fictional folk hero. To Allan Nevins, Natty is what Daniel Boone would have resembled had he not married and sired sons. Both men were wise, rational, balanced, professional problem solvers and keen observers of man and nature. Also great fighters, explorers and marksmen. But the celibate Bumppo was less broad-visioned and socially practiced than Boone was forced to make himself (as surveyor, immigrant guide and such like) to support a large family. Fenimore Cooper was the first great American novelist to notice with considerable care -- through his creature, the Pathfinder -- wilderness, environment, the social challenges of the frontier and Indians. Natty is not taciturn or shy about expressing his views in the five novels: THE PIONEERS, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE PRAIRIE, THE PATHFINDER and THE DEERSLAYER. In earliest youth he was an orphan, illiterate, but religiously educated by Moravian missionaries. Like the real Sam Houston, the fictional Natty Bumppo then spent his teen years living with Indians. As time goes on, Natty learned many native American languages. A typical Leatherstocking tale involves a wilderness journey, encounters with Indians, protection of young white women, capture, escape and pursuit. Professor Nevins recommends that we read Leatherstocking novels rapidly, putting up with their weak plots to enjoy their many, memorable scenes which rapidly succeed one another. Could the white and red races have understood each other better than they actually did? The inter-racial friendships of white Natty and red Chingachgook (the Great Serpent) and his son Uncas -- the last of the Mohicans -- are as memorable as anything in world literature. And Natty is also a good friend to Chingachgook's wife Hist-Oh-Hist. Uncas and a white woman fall in love. But something in English mores meant that miscegenation would never become socially acceptable in North America, as it was, for instance, in Brazil. Perhaps if the British had not captured Quebec in 1759, inter-racial understanding might have taken a different direction on the North American content. Nevins's notes and reflections give much food for thought and are aptly seconded by the pen and ink illustrations of Reginald Marsh. All in all, THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA is a beginner's best friend for first looking into James Fenimore Cooper and the frontier world of early America. Allan Nevins was a journalist and biographer before he was a professor or editor. And it shows to his advantage. He writes with color and verve and his prose is devoid of the jargon of academia. This book is a model of a reader-friendly edition. Would that more schlolars would at least embed maps in their critical apparatus! -OOO- Recommended: Yes =-==-=-=-= Black Mountain 02/14/2008 Saint Valentine's Day http://www.patrickkillough.com/books/cooper_leathersaga.html |