Finally, paper numero uno is completed for my damned American Lit course, a paper gently mocking James Fenimore Cooper’s American masculine sublime as symbolized by Natty Bumppo and Major Duncan Heyward.
I swear, Cooper would have bumped uglies with Hawkeye if he could figure out how to get it on with one of his own literary characters.
Never read Cooper except for one short story back in 11th grade English. I know he is great American literature and all, but I’m not sure how much I’d like his books.
This was a really painful trip into unnecessarily formal, heavy-handed, hit-you-over-the-head-with-symbolism literature, and I do not recommend it to anyone other than scholars. It’s definitely not a book you want to relax on the beach with unless you hate relaxation, beaches, and yourself.
This is your area of expertise, Lauren, so I’ll heed your recommendation.
Of course Natty Bumppo is also the current name of the former non-famous John Dean – the Indiana reporter/attorney who wrote the definitive book on the Sylvia Likens case
Given that everyone hates Cooper, why haven’t we dumped him from the canon yet? Is there anything he did that we can’t get out of Melville or Hawthorne or even Sedgwick?
Besides suicidal ideation at the thought of reading more.
Mark Twain is is also quite wonderful in his gentle mockery of Cooper.