The Pathfinder: Or, the Inland Sea (World's Classics) - Softcover

Cooper, James Fenimore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192829564 ISBN 13: 9780192829566

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1992

Synopsis

"The Pathfinder" (1840), the fourth of Cooper's five "Leather-Stocking Tales", is a naval story set on the Great Lakes of the 1750s. Based upon his own experience as midshipman on Lake Ontario in 1808-9, the novel revives Natty Bumppo - who had died in "The Prairie" - and casts him, with his friend, the Mohican chief Chingachgook, among Tuscarora and Iroquois Indians, and into conflicts over land and love. Natty's courtship of Mabel Denham aligns Cooper's interest in American history with his concern for social development. An account of Europeans, Indians and colonials on the American frontier, the novel is also a critique of Jacksonian democracy and a meditation on the course of American civilization. Together with "The Deerslayer" (1841), this novel summarizes Cooper's evolving view of his culture. The text of this edition is that established by Richard Dilworth Rust, and this annotated volume includes both a critical introduction and an historical essay by Marybeth McMahon which places the novel in the context of the French and Indian War.

About this title

Review

"Excellent edition for class use, what with both of Cooper's prefaces and the series in general. AND an essay to provide historical context, a chronology, a bibliography--and still more. This should be the edition of choice for the classroom."--Cameron C. Nnickels, James Madison University"Clearly and carefully edited, this volume is a very useful addition to your excellent series."--E.N. Feltskog, University of Wisconsin

About the Author

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) grew up at Otsego Hall, his father's manorial estate near Lake Otsego in upstate New York. Educated at Yale, he spent five years at sea, as a foremast hand and then as a midshipman in the navy. At thirty he was suddenly plunged into a literary career when his wife challenged his claim that he could write a better book that the English novel he was reading to her. The result was Precaution (1820), a novel of manners. His second book, The Spy (1821), was an immediate success, and with The Pioneers (1823) he began his series of Leatherstocking Tales. By 1826 when The Last of the Mohicans appeared, his standing as a major novelist was clearly established. From 1826 to 1833 Cooper and his family lived and traveled in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Two of his most successful works, The Prairie and The Red Rover, were published in 1827. He returned to Otsego Hall in 1834, and after a series of relatively unsuccessful books of essays, travel sketches, and history, he returned to fiction - and to Leatherstocking - with The Pathfinder (1840) and The Deerslayer (1841). In his last decade he faced declining popularity brought on in part by his waspish attacks on critics and political opponents. Just before his death in 1851 an edition of his works led to a reappraisal of his fiction and somewhat restored his reputation as the first of American writers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192829564
• ISBN 13: 9780192829566
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 521