READING THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

Practical matters first: Though the Penguin edition is a good edition, many copies of it have some confusing printing errors. Before you start reading, take a look at the Table of Contents on page v. This is, as far as I can tell, an accurate list of the contents of the volume. But the various sections are not accurately marked in the text. Thus, on page ix, Richard Slotkin’s very fine 1986 introduction is mislabeled "Introduction to the 1831 Edition." In fact, the "Introduction to the 1831 Edition" by Cooper is on page 5, where it is mislabeled "Introduction to the First Edition [1831]." Also, in many copies, pages xxviii and xxvii (the final two pages of Slotkin’s introduction) are reversed. Watch for these errors and don’t let them confuse you as you read.

These errors matter because I’d like you to read both of Cooper’s introductions: the "Preface to the First Edition [1826]" and the "Introduction to the 1831 Edition" (found on pages 1-8 of the Penguin edition). If you’re using a different edition of the text, check out the preface and introduction on reserve, as they’ll be important in our discussions. For Wednesday, read as far as you can into the novel, and try to have it finished by Monday’s class meeting.

Now, to more substantive issues. Many people don’t like reading Cooper, associating him with rather drawn-out narratives of war and forest survival. Most famously, Mark Twain was extremely impatient with what he called "Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses," which he catalogued in humorous detail. And I confess that when I finished my first round of graduate school qualifying exams, one of my happy thoughts was "Now I’ll never have to read Cooper again." But Cooper turns out to be pretty interesting. As you read, consider the following issues, and see whether they make The Last of the Mohicans a more interesting novel.

First of all, Cooper is interesting in his representation of race. This may seem obvious, but it’s actually rather complicated. As you read, think about how Cooper represents people of various races and the relationships between them. Think specifically about his approach to racial mixing. For example, what do you make of Natty’s repeated insistence that he is "a man without a cross"? You’ll also want to think carefully about Cooper’s representation of Native Americans. How similar is his approach to Irving’s in The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.?

Cooper’s representation of gender is also surprisingly interesting. As you read, consider not only his representation of Alice and Cora, but also the degree to which male characters are represented as more or less masculine. What constitutes masculinity for Cooper?

These questions are related as well to Cooper’s sense of literature and the novel. How is reading treated within the novel, and how does Cooper position himself in his preface and introduction? Does he seem to perceive novel-writing as a gendered activity?

We’ll also be talking on Monday about Cooper’s use of history. Notice that he sets this novel in the years before the American Revolution, putting its events in the relatively distant past. What aspects of that past seem most important to him? Note also that in the 1820s, the American government was embarking on a large-scale program of what they called "Indian Removal," about which we’ll talk more in class. We’ll be considering how Cooper’s mythic version of the past reflects the events of the 1820s and 1830s, and looking at how some of Cooper’s rhetoric resembles some of the political rhetoric of the era.