New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

James Fenimore Cooper

Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences

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Detail of a portrait of James Fenimore Cooper by John Wesley Jarvis (1822)What follows is a humorous essay by Mark Twain (1835 – 1910), written in 1895 as satire and literary criticism of the work of James Fenimore Cooper (1789 – 1851). Not included here are quotes from Yale University’s Thomas Lounsbury (1838 – 1915), Columbia University’s James Brander Matthews (1852 – 1929); and English novelist and playwright Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889) which preceded the essay and raved about Cooper as a great novelist. Note that some of the language reproduced here is offensive.

It seems to me that it was far from right for the Professor of English Literature in Yale, the Professor of English Literature in Columbia, and Wilkie Collins to deliver opinions on Cooper’s literature without having read some of it. It would have been much more decorous to keep silent and let persons talk who have read Cooper.

Cooper’s art has some defects. In one place in Deerslayer, and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.

There are nineteen rules governing literary art in the domain of romantic fiction—some say twenty-two. In Deerslayer Cooper violated eighteen of them. [Read more…] about Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences

Lake George Battlefield, More Than Just A Setting for Cooper’s ‘Last of the Mohicans’

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A scene from the film The Last of the Mohicans (1992)In February 1826 one of America’s seminal works of historical fiction, James Fenimore Cooper‘s The Last of the Mohicans, was first published.  Last of the Mohicans has also been adapted to film at least eight times, most recently in 1992 starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe. The novel is one of five Cooper wrote that make up the Leatherstocking Tales series, all of them set in Upstate New York between the years 1740 and 1804.

Warren County, NY is where many of the real-life actions of 1757 depicted in the novel occurred, including at what is now Lake George Battlefield Park, the location of several other important historical events. [Read more…] about Lake George Battlefield, More Than Just A Setting for Cooper’s ‘Last of the Mohicans’

James Fenimore Cooper: Who is the Real Natty Bumppo?

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a new york minute in history podcastThe latest episode of A New York Minute In History podcast explores the mystery of who is the inspiration for Natty Bumppo, one of the most recognizable characters from James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales series of novels.

Bumppo was described by Cooper as a rugged frontiersman who dressed in tanned leather and was a skilled hunter and scout. His character was famously ridiculed by Mark Twain. [Read more…] about James Fenimore Cooper: Who is the Real Natty Bumppo?

James Fenimore Cooper Lecture in Saratoga County

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llustration from 1896 edition, by F.T. Merrill. The drawing depicts Hawk-eye (disguised as a bear) fighting Magua in the cave where Alice is held captive.The Saratoga County Historical Society, as part of their Long Room Lecture Series, will present a program entitled “Historical Fiction and Fictional History: Translating the Past in James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans” on Thursday, November 21th at 7 PM at Brookside Museum, 6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa.

Elaina Frulla, of SUNY Albany will discuss how the time Cooper spent in Ballston Spa amidst the socio-political climate of the 1820s influenced his depiction of the heroes and villains of The Last of the Mohicans, which is set during the French and Indian War, 70 years earlier. [Read more…] about James Fenimore Cooper Lecture in Saratoga County

22nd International Fenimore Cooper Conference Call for Papers

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Apotheosis of Washington by Constantino BrumidiThe 22nd International James Fenimore Cooper/Susuan Fenimore Cooper Conference has been set for September 25-28, 2019, at SUNY Oneonta.

This years conference will examine Cooper within this tension between native purity and immigrant amalgamation.

Organizers have announced they are seeking papers that address the role of Cooper and his contemporaries in forging an American identity out of the cultural mixture of overlapping empires and immigration. [Read more…] about 22nd International Fenimore Cooper Conference Call for Papers

Cooper’s Cave: America’s First Roadside Attraction

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19th century tourists visiting Cooper’s CaveJames Fenimore Cooper’s knowledge of the French and Indian War may have been sketchy, but he was interested enough in its history to contemplate  a visit to Lake George, which he finally did with a party of Englishmen in August, 1824.

Lord Edward Stanley,  who would later become the 14th Earl of Derby and  Great Britain’s Prime Minister during the reign of Queen Victoria, was a member of the party. As they crossed the Hudson River at Glens Falls on the return trip to Saratoga, Stanley noted in his journal, “Cooper… was much struck with the scenery which he had not before seen; and exclaimed, ‘I must place one of my old Indians here.” [Read more…] about Cooper’s Cave: America’s First Roadside Attraction

Last of the Mohicans: Fiction Trumps History

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First edition Last of the mohicansIn early February 1826, Carey & Lea, one of the nation’s most prominent and successful publishers, announced the publication of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757. Cooper was already a best-selling author, widely hailed for presenting non-stop, exciting adventures set in the wilderness, wartime, or other bracing settings. Carey & Lea, hoping that his new book would do as well as his previous ones, had paid the author a $5,000 advance.

They were not to be disappointed. The Last of the Mohicans was an instant best-seller, reprinted many times, made into movies a number of times, and became one of the most important books in American literary history. [Read more…] about Last of the Mohicans: Fiction Trumps History

CFP: James Fenimore Cooper and Politics

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James Fenimore CooperThe James Fenimore Cooper Society is seeking papers for a panel on James Fenimore Cooper and Politics at the 25rd Annual Conference of the American Literature Association, to be held in Washington DC at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill from May 22-25th, 2014.

Throughout his full range of writings, James Fenimore Cooper was a keen observer of national politics and government. The panel will consider issues of government, governance, and/or politics in Cooper’s fictional and non-fictional writings and/or Cooper’s own engagement with the political. [Read more…] about CFP: James Fenimore Cooper and Politics

New Exhibit Focuses on Picturing Women in American Art

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The Fenimore Art Museum has opened a new exhibition titled Picturing Women: American Art from the Permanent Collections. These images of women, assembled from the Museum’s extensive collection of American art, are distinct from the mainstream European portraiture of the upper class and aristocracy that we have become accustomed to. The rise of the United States’ middle class created a demand for all manner of paintings of the people who were settling the countryside and forming the social, commercial and religious communities that are still with us to this day.

Picturing Women: American Art from the Permanent Collections offers a selection of works that illustrates not only the appearances of these women, but also symbolizes the lives and contributions of these women to American culture. The exhibition is on view through December 31.

Other exhibitions currently on view at Fenimore Art Museum include John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women (through December 31, 2010), Empire Waists, Bustles and Lace: A Century of New York Fashion (through December 31, 2010), Watermark: Michele Harvey & Glimmerglass (through December 31, 2010), Virtual Folk: A Blog Readers’ Choice (through December 31, 2010). Ongoing Exhibitions include Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, The Coopers of Cooperstown, Genre Paintings from the Permanent Collection, and American Memory: Recalling the Past in Folk Art.

Museum hours: through October 11 (10 am – 5 pm), October 12 – December 31 (10 am – 4 pm) Adult admission (13-64) is $12.00 and senior admission (65 and up) is $10.50. Children 12 and under are free as well as NYSHA members, active military, and retired career military. Visit their website for more information at www.fenimoreartmuseum.org.

Illustration: Mrs. George Hyde Clarke (Ann Low Cary, widow of Richard Fenimore Cooper), 1835, by Charles Cromwell Ingham (1796-1863). Oil on canvas.

Experience War of 1812 Sinking of Hamilton & Scourge

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Thursday, July 16, 2009, at 6 pm, War of 1812 sailor Ned Myers will be telling his lively tale of the sinking of the Hamilton & the Scourge at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, N.Y. To be completely accurate, an authentically costumed James H. Fischer will relate the story of the famous shipwrecks’ survivor in this presentation for the 2009 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Experience Series. Fischer’s presentation will also include a series of Jacques Cousteau slides of lake bottom vessels.


Seaman Myers lived to tell his story to noted American author James Fenimore Cooper. Fischer, a marine consultant who has studied the underwater history of Lake Ontario for 22 years, draws on Myers’ narrative as told to Cooper for A Life Before the Mast. Fischer shares fascinating details of the moments before a squall surprised captain and crew.

The wrecks of the two merchant ships – Hamilton, built as Diana in Oswego, NY, and the Scourge, originally Lord Nelson, were discovered in 1973 and are considered to have national historic significance to both the U.S. and Canada.

The $5 program fee benefits educational programming at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center, Ray and West Main Streets, Sackets Harbor, NY. For more information, visit www.seawaytrail.com or call 315-646-1000.

Photo: James H. Fischer in 19th century sailor’s dress is seen below the bust of U.S. merchant ship Diana purchased in Oswego and converted in Sacketts Harbour in 1812 as the US naval warship Hamilton.