With the publication of “The Spy” in 1821, James Fenimore Cooper became an international figure and the first authentic American novelist, free of the forms and conventions of the British fiction of the day. With “The Leatherstocking Tales” he became the first great interpreter of the American experience, chronicling the adventures of the indomitable Natty Bumppo, known variously as “Hawkeye,” “Deerslayer,” “Pathfinder,” “Leatherstocking” and other names, from the colonial Indian wars through the early expansion into the vast western plains.
Published between 1823 and 1841, beginning with “The Pioneers” and ending with “The Deerslayer”, the tales are set against historical events ranging from 1740 to 1804, with Cooper taking some literary license with the actual chronology of events, probably to avoid having Bumppo ranging the Great Plains at over 90 years of age.
The Deerslayer
“The Deerslayer” was published in 1841, the last published of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales” saga. Chronologically, it is set before the other tales and thus first in the series. In recent years it has been viewed as the “prequel” to the Leatherstocking Tales.
“The Deerslayer” is of course Cooper’s indomitable frontier hero, Natty Bumppo, sometimes called “Hawkeye”, “Pathfinder”, “Leatherstocking” or “the Scout”, seen here as a young frontiersman in the vicinity of New York’s Lake Otsego, barely staying ahead of the advance of the British colonial settlements. Against the background of Cooper’s vivid descriptions of the frontier and the wilderness, the Deerslayer and his loyal friend Chingachgook become embroiled in the conflict between the Huron tribe and Tom Hutter, the keeper of a deep secret, and his two daughters, Judith and Hetty, living on a houseboat on the lake, and Henry “Hurry Harry” March. Through a series of forest skirmishes, flights, escapes, and rescues, Cooper creates a complex picture of the inhabitants of the frontier, red and white.
Although criticized many years after the fact for his “stereotypical” characters, clearly Chingachgook is a more noble figure than either Hutter or March, and Bumppo explains that some of the conduct of the Indians regarded by whites as “savage” or “brutal”, such as scalp taking, is part of the cultural “natural gifts” of the red man, but does in fact constitute unwarranted savagery when practiced by whites such as Hutter and March, as their culture has no such history.
The Last of the Mohicans
“The Last of the Mohicans” was published in 1826, the second published of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales” saga. Chronologically, it is set after “The Deerslayer” and before “The Pathfinder”.
Widely regarded as the masterpiece of a writing career spanning thirty years, over thirty novels and an extensive body of lesser works, “The Last of the Mohicans” was James Fenimore Cooper’s sixth novel and the second in the Leatherstocking Tales saga.
Set in 1757 during the Seven Years’ War (The French and Indian War in America) between Britain and France, the tale recounts the exploits of Natty Bumppo, called Hawkeye in this story, and his companions Chingachgook and Uncas against the backdrop of a French siege of British-held Fort William Henry. Crossing paths with a relief column also escorting the daughters of the British garrison commander, the three companions become embroiled in a series of frontier adventures involving forest battles, captures, rescues, flights and pursuits through the wilderness.
The Pathfinder
“The Pathfinder” was published in 1840, the fourth published of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales” saga. Chronologically, it is set after “The Last of the Mohicans” and before “The Pioneers” and thus third in the series.
Sent on a secret mission to a British fortress hidden among the Thousand Islands of Canadian Lake Ontario, Cooper’s indomitable frontier hero, Natty Bumppo, sometimes called Hawkeye or Deerslayer, is known in this tale as the Pathfinder, guiding his companions on the perilous journey to Lake Ontario, “inland sea” of the novel’s subtitle.
Against the background of Cooper’s vivid descriptions of the frontier and the wilderness, the Pathfinder and his loyal friend Chingachgook protect the lovely Mabel Dunham, lead the party through a series of forest skirmishes, flights and escapes, and ferret out a traitor. Along the way the Pathfinder and his party ride out a storm on the lake, battle Iroquois on the Oswego River, and navigate a birch-bark canoe over a waterfall. As in many of Cooper’s historical novels, a subplot of the book is a romance, this time involving the Pathfinder, Mabel and a handsome young lake captain, Jasper Western.
The Pioneers
“The Pioneers,” published in 1823, was the first of James Fenimore Cooper’s five novels comprising the “Leatherstocking Tales” saga, although the time period in which the story is set makes it the fourth chronologically.
Set in 1793, the tale opens with a dispute between an elderly Natty Bumppo, called Leatherstocking in this story, and Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton over who killed a buck. Perhaps ahead of his time, Cooper explores the complex themes of land use and stewardship along the rapidly receding frontier in the vicinity of Lake Otsego, New York, and the relationship between the residents of the growing town and the earlier inhabitants of the frontier. This building conflict between Leatherstocking and his close friend, the Mohican Indian Chingachgook, and Judge Temple and the growing settlement provides the impetus for the story, which moves forward to its sadly inevitable conclusion against the backdrop of Cooper’s vivid depictions of a frontier which he personally saw vanishing in his youth.
Cooper in fact grew up in Cooperstown, New York, founded by his father, a New Jersey congressman, and many have suggested that this tale is at least partially autobiographical, with the Judge and the character Elizabeth patterned after Cooper’s father and a sister. Cooper himself denied these assertions, stating that while the setting reflected his boyhood home the characters were fictional. He seems to have particularly resented the idea that Elizabeth was based on a favorite sister who died young, saying that patterning a fictional character after her would denigrate her memory.
The Prairie
“The Prairie,” published in 1827, was the third of James Fenimore Cooper’s five novels comprising the “Leatherstocking Tales” saga, although the time period in which the story is set makes it the fifth and last chronologically.
Set in 1804, the tale follows the adventures of Natty Bumppo, over 80 years of age and ranging the plains, having departed his home along the now-vanished New York frontier in search of open country. Called “the trapper” or “the old man” and never referred to by name, numerous references to the previous two novels, as well as the stories and characters in the two which would not be written until years later, leave no doubt that the old trapper is the “Leatherstocking.” Happening upon a party of settlers heading across the plains, the resourceful old trapper leads his companions through a series of harrowing adventures involving the hostile Teton tribe, the friendly Pawnees, led by the noble warrior Hard Heart, the shiftless settlers Ishmael Bush and Abiram White, the honorable Captain Duncan Uncas Middleton and the bee-hunter, Paul Hover. As in many of Cooper’s tales, a romance lies near the center of the story but, as is typical with Cooper, it is secondary to the adventure in his story telling.
While criticized in later years for the use of oversimplified or stereotypical characters, as in his other works Cooper often explores complex themes and values through the juxtaposition of these characters, such as the contrast between the “book smart” Hover and the experienced but under-educated Bumppo, and the relationship of the characters to their environment and their reactions to situations. While Cooper seems inclined to the “noble savage” view of American Indians, they are among the most complex characters in his books, not simply pigeonholed as “good” or “bad”. And Cooper’s view of the expansion of civilization often seems ambivalent, recognizing the advantages and values of progress, but questioning whether some of the aspects of settling the wilderness really constitute “progress” at all.
Less well-known than “The Last of the Mohicans” or “The Deerslayer”, “The Prairie” is an admirable winding-up of the Leatherstocking Tales saga.
Commentary (c) Owen R. Howell, Used by permission.