Approaches to Teaching the Novels of James Fenimore Cooper

Stephen Carl Arch (Edited by), Keat Murray (Edited by)

9781603294201

Hardback, published 21 September 2022

228 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.363 kg

Brings back into view one of the most significant American authors of the nineteenth century." —Shirley Samuels, Cornell University

A cosmopolitan author who spent nearly a decade in Europe and was versed in the works of his British and French contemporaries, James Fenimore Cooper was also deeply concerned with the America of his day and its history. His works embrace themes that have dominated American literature since: the frontier; the oppression of Native Americans by Europeans; questions of race, gender, and class; and rugged individualism, as represented by figures like the pirate, the spy, the hunter, and the settler. His most memorable character, Natty Bumppo, has entered into American popular culture.

The essays in this volume offer students bridges to Cooper's novels, which grapple with complex moral issues that are still crucial today. Engaging with film adaptations, cross-culturalism, animal studies, media history, environmentalism, and Indigenous American poetics, the essays offer new ways to bring these novels to life in the classroom.