Cooper James Fenimore

Cooper, James Fenimore, the son of a judge in New York, U.S.A., was born at Burlington, New Jersey, in 1789. Having been educated at Yale College he entered the U.S.A. navy, but retired and married in 1811. He published anonymously in 1819 Precaution, a fashionable novel, which was hardly a success. In 1821 appeared The Spy, a far more popular effort, and this was followed by The Pioneers, The Pilot, and The Last of the Mohicans. His fame was becoming widespread, when in 1826 he passed over to Europe, and produced The Prairie and The Red Rover, two of his most vigorous works, with others that hardly enhanced his reputation. Whilst living in Paris he was drawn into a controversy as to the political constitution of the United States, and after writing numberless letters in the Press, he wrote three novels - The Bravo (1831), The Heidenmauer (1832), and The Headsman of Berne (1833), with the avowed intention of decrying aristocratic institutions. Returning to America he carried his polemics with him, and for some years was engaged in acrimonious disputes, in which his vanity and bad temper were more conspicuous than his talent. To this period belong Manikins, The American Democrat, England, Homeward Bound, and Home as Found. The severe handling which he received from the critics provoked him to bring a series of actions for libel, and in these he came off with flying colours. He then recovered public favour by reverting to his early style in The Pathfinder (1840), The Deer Slayer (1841), The Two Admirals (1842), Wyandotte (1843), Afloat and Ashore, and Miles Wallingford (1844). From his facile pen, however, came several more solid compositions, such as A Naval History of the United States, and Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers, with several books recording his European experiences. He resumed his controversial tone in The Littlepage Stories (1845-6). Oak Openings, Jack Tier, The Sea Lions, and The Ways of the Hour, occupied the closing years of his life. He died in 1851 at Cooperstown, a village founded by his father on Lake Otsego.