|
James
Fenimore Cooper
THE
SPY:
A TALE OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND (1821) Reviewed by Patrick Killough
I. barnesandnoble.com
TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: A Patriotic, Scorned American Double Agent and his Famous Spy Master REVIEWER'S RATING OF THE SPY: * * * * * FIVE STARS I have one word of advice for someone about to read Fenimore Cooper's THE SPY for the first time. Just open it. Start reading. Above all: do not peruse any scholarly prefaces or notes before you unravel the yarn for yourself. Why not first read scholarly secondary literature? Because THE SPY is a darn good thriller with some hidden identities and obscure motivations which you can figure out for yourself and have fun doing so. Wayne Franklin's INTRODUCTION to this edition of THE SPY is masterly and should be tackled -- but only after you have first read the book. It has too many 'spoilers' of the plot, reveals too many secrets and dilutes a first-time reader's fun in discovery. THE SPY begins: "It was near the close
of the year 1780, that a solitary traveller was seen pursuing his way
through one of the numerous little valleys of West- Chester."
Who that solitary traveller is makes up much of what this book is about. He calls himself 'Mr. Harper.' But is that his real name? James Fenimore Cooper, in this his second novel, made his mark as a writer of romantic fiction. How many such novels before and since begin with a mysterious lone rider! Cooper wrote to be understood both in the still young USA and in Great Britain. He chose his words with considerable care. He supplied enough geography and history both in text and in footnotes for you not to require any outside help during a first reading. Who is that man -- Mr. Harper? My only complaint about this Penguin Classic Book is that it has no maps. I have never been to Westchester County. I do not know the distances from Long Island Sound to the Hudson. One or two maps would have been invaluable. -OOO- Also recommended: --James Fenimore Cooper: THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA, THE WEPT OF WISH-TON-WISH, LIONEL LINCOLN. -- Sir Walter Scott: WAVERLEY, GUY MANNERING, A LEGEND OF MONTROSE, THE TALISMAN. -- George Dekker: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER -- THE AMERICAN SCOTT. 02/15/2008 =-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= II. amazon.com Title of this review: "Harvey Birch ... a faithful and unrequited servant of his country." Reviewer's Rating of THE SPY * * * * * FIVE STARS THE SPY, America's first historical novel, is set in late 1780. It plays out in New York's Westchester County, "the neutral ground" between the British forces occupying Manhattan and the American rebels further up the Hudson River. It is not long after the capture and execution under order of General George Washington of out-of-uniform British officer Major John Andre. It is a tough time to be a spy -- for either side. The novel has two principal characters: an American double-agent and his handler. The former is Harvey Birch, a wandering peddler, suspected far and wide of being a British agent. He lives in Westchester County with his ancient father, John Birch, and their housekeeper. American forces have arrested him more than once, but he has escaped, perhaps under command influence. He is under a death warrant, if caught by the Americans. The latter lead character calls himself Mr. Harper. He is tall and has the upper classes about him though he does not wear a wig. Harper looks about fifty. We meet Harper in THE SPY'S first sentence: "It was near the close
of the year 1780, that a solitary traveller was seen pursuing his way
through one of the numerous little valleys of West-Chester."
He is dressed as a civilian and sits astride on a mighty horse. He takes shelter from a raging storm in "The Locusts," country home of Mr. Wharton, a man somewhat older than Harper. Wharton is wealthy, pro-British, but a political trimmer who hopes (for the sake of not losing his extensive holdings) to seem at least politically neutral to the Americans, in case they ultimately win. There are also two Wharton daughters on hand that evening. A son, Henry, a British officer based in Manhattan, visits his family in disguise carrying a forged pass from George Washington. The peddler Harvey Birch arrives with goods to tempt the ladies. One of the daughters is pro-American and is in love with handsome Major Dunwoodie of the Virginia forces. The older girl loves a rascally British Colonel, whom she does not know to be an intending bigamist. All the elements of the novel are in place that evening. The characters go on with their lives, harried by two irregular armed forces: pro-British Cow-Boys and pro-American Skinners. The story is about the American revolutionary patriotism of Birch and Harper. Over time we learn Harper's real identity and see his national reputation grow until by the time of the War of 1812 when he is dead and gone, he almost equals the gods. Harvey Birch is equally the American patriot but is, by contrast with Harper, condemned forever to hide his true identity as a loyal American who only betrayed to the British what Harper ordered him to reveal. When the ancient Harvey Birch falls after being drawn into a fight against the British near Niagara Falls on July 25, 1814, he had just made the acquaintance of two young American officers. One is Captain Wharton Dunwoodie, son of the pro-American Wharton daughter of 1780. Harvey recalls her to her son as "an angel." Harvey's corpse is found after the fight by Captain Dunwoodie. A bullet had pierced a tin container under Birch's clothing en route to his heart. In the case is an aging testament from none less than George Washington to "Harvey Birch ... for many years a
faithful and unrequited servant of his country. Though man does not,
may God reward him for his conduct!" (Ch. xxxv)
There is a view among scholars that celibate or childless heroes of Fenimore Cooper stand outside, even above time. They beget no sons to bind their generation to the next. George Washington and Harvey Birch were two such men. History, however goes forward dialectically through the marriage of the slave-holding Virginian Dunwoodie to the daughter of a wavering New York Tory. Their son, Captain Wharton Dunwoodie, representing, America's unique future, is the first to learn the patriotic truth about a master spy who had long before done much to make his parents' wedding possible. This review offers a little bit about THE SPY's beginning and end. There is much, much more in between, including other characters, black and white, whom you will enjoy meeting. And you may also find yourself asking more than once: "Just who is this mysterious Mr. Harper?" -OOO- Your Tags: james fenimore cooper, john birch, harvey birch, george washington, captain wharton dunwoodie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= III. epinions.com TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: "The bruised reed ... will never rise." Pros America's first historical novel. A tale of spying, disguises, love, greed, but above all patriotism. Cons The Penguin Classics edition has no maps of Manhattan and the Hudson in 1780. The Bottom Line Read THE SPY without preconceptions. Breathe in the landscape, the winds, the weather. Ask what makes bad men loyal to a strong cause and good men support a weaker one. Full Review You just might ask: how many reasons, can you give me for reading James Fenimore Cooper's 1821 novel THE SPY? Here are the first few reasons that pop uninvited into my mind: --(1) This is a spy novel. The plot of General Benedict Arnold to betray West Point has just been foiled. The British spy Major Andre has been executed. Harvey Birch, son of old John Birch, is a lower-class American peddler and also a spy. John and Harvey and their housekeeper live in a stout little house in Westchester County, New York. In late 1780 this county is called a "neutral ground" between British regular troops and loyalists occupying Manhattan island and American rebels further up the Hudson river. Harvey Birch is in the confidence, however, of the highest British authorities and is thought by most Americans to be a traitor to the cause of American independence. But Birch has a secret American spymaster, Mr. Harper, a man of aristocratic bearing. Harper is close to General George Washington and is the conduit between spy and the American leader. Birch reveals to the British nothing unless Washington orders it revealed. --(2) THE SPY is a detective story. There is something mighty mysterious about Mr. Harper. Is he a soldier? Is he civilian? Just how close is he to General Washington? The art of Fenimore Cooper makes a reader demand that this puzzle be unraveled. --(3) This is a thriller, an adventure story. It has ambushes, chases, escapes, rescues, plots, battles. --(4) THE SPY is a romance. It has two beautiful young sisters, children of rich, pro-British political trimmer Mr. Wharton. One girl loves a rebel officer from Virginia, Major Peyton Dunwoodie. The other loves a British colonel based in Manhattan. Their brother is a British captain who visits them one stormy evening in civilian clothes using a forged pass from George Washington. --(5) THE SPY is the first American HISTORICAL novel. If you are or ever were an English major, that is all the reason you need to read the book. Its publication caused reviewers to name Fenimore Cooper the American Walter Scott. Indeed, Cooper's indebtedness to Sir Walter's WAVERLEY, ROB ROY, GUY MANNERING and other historical novels is in no way hidden. America did not yet have a natural, convincing, purely American way of writing English. See early American imaginative English in the hands of a great novelist groping his way towards writing classics. I could say more. This novel is about what it was like during a Revolution to be an American patriot, to put your fortune and life on the line for independence from a government widely considered the fairest, most tolerant in Europe. Cooper shows how even little people like Harvey Birch can step out beyond their normal, pre-ordained limits of achievement when serving an exalted cause like the independence of their native land. Cooper's novels have also begotten libraries of learned commentary by Hegelians, Marxists, psychologists, historical determinists and other eggheads. THE SPY's themes, metaphors and characters are a rich pantry for the intellectually hungry and creative. If you love secondary literature, THE SPY is a great launching pad into a teeming mass of it. Cooper the author was vastly popular in his lifetime and later. His master, Sir Walter Scott, called him a genius. Honore Balzac came under Cooper's spell. Fenimore Cooper also intrigued Joseph Conrad. Even a member of the later realist school of writing, Mark Twain, felt that his own approach to writing was not safe until he had satirized Cooper's hero The Pathfinder/Deerslayer, his incompetent Indian foes and his unbelievable feats with his long rifle, Killdeer. Can a little man like Harvey Birch, who must never reveal to a world (that would surely reward him) that he had rendered mighty service as a spy for Washington, hope to achieve a tiny fraction of the public honor and fame of men like his spymaster when they openly "come in from the cold?" Harvey's dying father thinks not. Here are some of his parting words to his son: "God is as merciful as he is just ... In a
little while, my child, you will be alone. I know you too well not to
foresee you will be a pilgrim through life. The bruised reed may
endure, but it will never rise." (Ch. X)
On the very last page of the novel Harvey Birch is killed in great old age on July 25, 1814 during an American-British skirmish near Niagara Falls. He had just met and begun to reveal himself to a young American captain, grandson of old Mr.Wharton of the 1780 Neutral Ground of Westchester County. On the old patriot's body Captain Wharton Dunwoodie finds proof of the peddler's never dying patriotism. And we readers have meanwhile learned that, without the long ago interventions of a despised peddler at great peril to himself, Captain Dunwoodie's parents would have found their marriage made politically, morally and emotionally impossible. There is a lot of puffed up, clumsy writing in THE SPY. But there are also more than a handful of nuggets of pure gold: plot twists, insights into patriotism, unease at the long injustice done to the memory of a self-effacing American spy, meditations on America's past and possible futures and more. Trust me. There between THE SPY's two covers is something you will like very much. -OOO- Recommended: Yes =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 1821 THE SPY: A TALE OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND. New York. Penguin Classics. 1997. Introduction and Notes by Wayne Franklin. xxxiii. 412 pp. paper. ISBN: 0 14 04.3628 6 (pbk). 2/17/08 Black Mountain |