Every night after I finish work, I sit down to write this essay, and every night I fail. And failure, believe it or not, is one of the best things...
Continue »
Though The Deerslayer (1841) was the last of Cooper's five Leather-stocking tales to be written, it is the first in the chronology of Natty Bumppo's life. Set in the 1740s before the start of the French and Indian War, when Cooper's rugged frontiersman is in his twenties, Cooper's novel shows us how "Deerslayer" becomes "Hawkeye." It remains the best point of entry into the series for modern readers.
In his introduction, Ezra Tawil examines Cooper's motivations in writing The Deerslayer, the static nature of Natty, and Cooper's vexed racial politics. The John Harvard Library edition reproduces the authoritative text of The Deerslayer in The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper (State University of New York Press).
Since 1959 The John Harvard Library has been instrumental in publishing essential American writings in authoritative editions.
Synopsis:
Set in the 1740s, when Natty Bumppo is in his twenties, J. F. Cooper's last leather-stocking tale shows us how "Deerslayer" becomes "Hawkeye." For modern readers, it remains the best entry point into the series. Ezra Tawil's introduction examines the static nature of Natty, Cooper's motivations in writing the novel, and his vexed racial politics.
Ezra Tawil is Associate Professor of English at the University of Rochester. He is the author of The Making of Racial Sentiment: Slavery and the Birth of the Frontier Romance.
"Synopsis"
by Harvard,
Set in the 1740s, when Natty Bumppo is in his twenties, J. F. Cooper's last leather-stocking tale shows us how "Deerslayer" becomes "Hawkeye." For modern readers, it remains the best entry point into the series. Ezra Tawil's introduction examines the static nature of Natty, Cooper's motivations in writing the novel, and his vexed racial politics.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
