Cooper portrait by John Wesley Jarvis, 1822

James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is particularly remembered as a novelist, who wrote numerous sea-stories as well as the historical romances known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Among his most famous works is the novel The Last of the Mohicans, which many people consider his masterpiece. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (592x717, 187 KB)James Fenimore Cooper portrait by John Wesley Jarvis, 1822, New York State Historical Association File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (592x717, 187 KB)James Fenimore Cooper portrait by John Wesley Jarvis, 1822, New York State Historical Association File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... John Wesley Jarvis (1780-1840), American painter, nephew of the great John Wesley, was born at South Shields, England, and was taken to the United States at the age of five. ... Jump to: navigation, search September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the hero Natty Bumppo, otherwise known as Leatherstocking, Pathfinder, Deerslayer, or Hawkeye. ... The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the hero Natty Bumppo, otherwise known as Leatherstocking, Pathfinder, Deerslayer, or Hawkeye. ... Jump to: navigation, search ...

His daughter, Susan Fenimore Cooper (1813—1894), was known as an author and philanthropist. Susan Augusta Fenimore Cooper (April 17, 1813 - December 31, 1894) was a noted author. ...

Early life

Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, on the 15th of September 1789, the eleventh of William and Elizabeth Cooper's twelve children. When James was one year old, his family moved to the frontier of Otsego Lake, New York, where his father established a settlement on his yet unsettled estates which became modern-day Cooperstown, New York. His father was a judge and member of Congress. James was sent to school at Albany and at New Haven, and entered Yale at fourteen, remaining for some time the youngest student on the rolls. See also: Burlington Township, New Jersey The City of Burlington highlighted in Burlington County. ... Jump to: navigation, search September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Judge William Cooper ( December 2, 1754 – December 22, 1809 ) was the founder of Cooperstown, New York and father of writer James Fenimore Cooper, who apparently used his father as the pattern for the Judge Marmaduke Temple character in the his book The Pioneers. ... Otsego Lake is a small lake located in Otsego County, New York in the USA and is a source of the Susquehanna River. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: The Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² or 54,556 square miles (27th)  - Land... Jump to: navigation, search Cooperstown is a village located in Otsego County, New York and is the County Seat. ... The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ... Jump to: navigation, search Location in New York Founded Incorporated 1614 1686  County Albany County Mayor Gerald D. Jennings Area  - Total  - Water 56. ... This article is about the city in Connecticut. ... Yale can refer to: Yale University, one of the United States oldest and most famous universities. ...

Three years afterwards he joined the United States Navy; but after making a voyage or two in a merchant vessel, to perfect himself in seamanship, and obtaining his lieutenancy, he married and resigned his commission (1811). Jump to: navigation, search The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...

Literary career

James Fenimore Cooper

He settled in Westchester County, New York, the “Neutral Ground” of his earliest American romance, and produced anonymously (1820) his first book, Precaution, a novel of the fashionable school. This was followed (1821) by The Spy, which was very successful at the date of issue; The Pioneers (1823), the first of the Leatherstocking series; and The Pilot (1824), a bold and dashing sea-story. The next was Lionel Lincoln (1825), a feeble and unattractive work; and this was succeeded in 1826 by the famous Last of the Mohicans, a book that is often quoted as its author's masterpiece. Quitting America for Europe he published at Paris The Prairie (1826), the best of his books in nearly all respects, and The Red Rover, (1828), by no means his worst. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (606x852, 297 KB)James Fenimore Cooper engraved by J.C. Buttre File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (606x852, 297 KB)James Fenimore Cooper engraved by J.C. Buttre File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Jump to: navigation, search Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. ... The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the hero Natty Bumppo, otherwise known as Leatherstocking, Pathfinder, Deerslayer, or Hawkeye. ... The Last of the Mohicans is an epic novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in January 1826. ... World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

At this period the unequal and uncertain talent of Cooper would seem to have been at its best. These excellent novels were, however, succeeded by one very inferior, The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish (1829); by The Notions of a Travelling Bachelor (1828); and by The Waterwitch (1830), one of his many sea-stories. In 1830 he entered the lists as a party writer, defending in a series of letters to the National, a Parisian journal, the United States against a string of charges brought against them by the Revue Britannique; and for the rest of his life he continued skirmishing in print, sometimes for the national interest, sometimes for that of the individual, and not infrequently for both at once.

This opportunity of making a political confession of faith appears not only to have fortified him in his own convictions, but to have inspired him with the idea of elucidating them for the public through the medium of his art. His next three novels, The Bravo (1831), The Heidenmaue (1832) and The Headsman: or the Abbaye of Vigneron (1833), were expressions of Cooper's republican convictions. The Bravo depicted Venice as a place where a ruthless oligarchy lurks behind the mask the "serene republic." All were widely read on both sides of the Atlantic,though The Bravo was a critical failure in the United States.[1] Jump to: navigation, search In a broad definition a republic is a state whose political organization rests on the principle that the citizens or electorate constitute the ultimate root of legitimacy and sovereignty. ... Jump to: navigation, search It has been suggested that Bride of the Sea be merged into this article or section. ... Oligarchy is a Political regime where most political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). ...

Photograph by Matthew Brady c.1850

Engraving by F.O.C. Darley

In 1833 Cooper returned to America, and immediately published A Letter to my Countrymen, in which he gave his own version of the controversy he had been engaged in, and passed some sharp censure on his compatriots for their share in it. This attack he followed up with The Monikins (1835) and The American Democrat (1835); with several sets of notes on his travels and experiences in Europe, among which may be remarked his England (1837), in. three volumes, a burst of vanity and illtemper; and with Homeward Bound, and Home as Found (1838), noticeable as containing a highly idealized portrait of himself. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x764, 123 KB)Photograph of James Fenimore Cooper by Matthew Brady c. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x764, 123 KB)Photograph of James Fenimore Cooper by Matthew Brady c. ... Mathew B. Brady (ca. ... Image File history File links James Fenimore Cooper illustration by F.O.C. Darley File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links James Fenimore Cooper illustration by F.O.C. Darley File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Felix Octavius Carr Darley ( 1821 – 1888 ) was an American illustrator, known for his illustrations in works by well-known 19th century authors, including: James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving, and Edgar Allan Poe. ...

All these books tended to increase the ill-feeling between author and public; the Whig press was virulent and scandalous in its comments, and Cooper plunged into a series of actions for libel. Victorious in all of them, he returned to his old occupation with something of his old vigour and success. A History of the Navy of the United States (1839), supplemented (1846) by a set of Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers, was succeeded by The Pathfinder (1840), a good “Leatherstocking” novel; by Mercedes of Castile (1840); The Deerslayer (1841); by The Two Admirals and by Wing and Wing (1842); by Wyandotte, The History of a Pocket Handkerchief, and Ned Myers (1843); and by Afloat and Ashore, or the Adventures of Miles Wallingford (1844). The United States Whig Party was a political party of the United States. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...

From pure fiction, however, he turned again to the combination of art and controversy in which he had achieved distinction, and in the two Littlepage Manuscripts (1845—1846) he wrote with a great deal of vigour. His next novel was The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak (1847), in which he attempted to introduce supernatural machinery; and this was succeeded by Oak Openings and Jack Tier (1848), the latter a curious rifacimento of The Red Rover; by The Sea Lions (1849); and finally by The Ways of the Hour (1850), another novel with a purpose, and his last book.

Last years and legacy

James Fenimore Cooper statue

Cooper spent the last years of his life in Cooperstown, New York (named for his father). He died of dropsy on the 14th of September 1851 and a statue was later erected in his honor. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (796x1097, 361 KB)Statue of James Fenimore Cooper in Cooperstown, New York. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (796x1097, 361 KB)Statue of James Fenimore Cooper in Cooperstown, New York. ... For a list of other places, see Cooperstown (disambiguation). ... Edema (BE: oedema, formerly known as dropsy) is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess fluid. ...

Cooper was certainly one of the most popular 19th century American authors. His stories have been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe and into some of those of Asia. Balzac admired him greatly, but with discrimination; Victor Hugo pronounced him greater than the great master of modern romance, and this verdict was echoed by a multitude of inferior readers, who were satisfied with no title for their favourite less than that of “the American Scott.” As a satirist and observer he is simply the “Cooper who's written six volumes to prove he's as good as a Lord” of Lowell's clever portrait; his enormous vanity and his irritability find vent in a sort of dull violence, which is exceedingly tiresome. He was most memorably criticised by Mark Twain whose vicious and amusing "The Literary Offenses of James Fenimore Cooper" is still read widely in academic circles. It is only as a novelist that he deserves consideration. His qualities are not those of the great masters of fiction; but he had an inexhaustible imagination, some faculty for simple combination of incident, a homely tragic force which is very genuine and effective, and up to a certain point a fine narrative power. Jump to: navigation, search World map showing Asia (geographically) Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia and worlds largest continent. ... Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac (May 20, 1799 - August 18, 1850), was a French novelist. ... Jump to: navigation, search Victor Hugo Novelist, poet, playwright, dramatist, essayist and statesman, Victor-Marie Hugo (February 26, 1802–May 22, 1885) is recognized as one of the most influential French Romantic writers of the 19th century. ... Sir Walter Scott, Bart. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a famous and popular American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer. ...

His literary training was inadequate; his vocabulary is limited and his style awkward and pretentious; and he had a fondness for moralizing tritely and obviously, which mars his best passages. In point of conception, each of his three-and-thirty novels is either absolutely good or is possessed of a certain amount of merit; but hitches occur in all, so that every one of them is remarkable rather in its episodes than as a whole. Nothing can be more vividly told than the escape of the Yankee man-of-war through the shoals and from the English cruisers in The Pilot, but there are few things flatter in the range of fiction than the other incidents of the novel.

It is therefore with some show of reason that The Last of the Mohicans, which as a chain of brilliantly narrated episodes is certainly the least faulty in this matter of sustained excellence of execution, should be held to be the best of his works. This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Jump to: navigation, search Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

Cooper's writings

Sources for this table include: The Pioneers: The Sources of the Susquehanna is one of the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of five novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper. ... The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the hero Natty Bumppo, otherwise known as Leatherstocking, Pathfinder, Deerslayer, or Hawkeye. ... Dukes County, New York was formed on November 1, 1683 by New York from the Elizabeth Islands, Marthas Vineyard, and Nantucket Island, all beyond the eastern end of Long Island in the Province of New York. ...

• http://www.oneonta.edu/external/cooper/bibliography/works.html
• http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jfcooper.htm
• http://www.jamesfenimorecooper.com/
• http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl310/cooper.htm
• http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

James Fenimore Cooper

• James Fenimore Cooper Society Website
• Thomas R. Lounsbury: James Fenimore Cooper. 6th Edition. Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886 (American Men of Letters). PDF in the Arno Schmidt Reference Library
• The Cambridge History of American Literature, Fiction I: Brown, Cooper