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The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is an 1826 historical romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. [ 2 ]
- James Fenimore Cooper
- 1826
- Overview
- Brief overview
- Summary and analysis
The Last of the Mohicans, the second and most popular novel of the five-volume Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in two volumes in 1826. In terms of narrative order, it is also the second novel in the series, taking place in 1757 during the French and Indian War.
The principal character of The Last of the Mohicans is Natty Bumppo, also called Hawkeye, now in middle life and at the height of his powers. The story tells of brutal battles with the Iroquois and their French allies, cruel captures, narrow escapes, and revenge. The beauty of the unspoiled wilderness and sorrow at its disappearance, symbolized in Hawkeye’s Mohican friends, the last of their tribe, are important themes of the novel.
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The pivotal set piece of The Last of the Mohicans is the massacre at Fort William Henry during the internecine French and Indian War, as the North American portion of the worldwide Seven Years’ War was known. This is the “factual” event around which Cooper, the first internationally renowned American novelist, builds a compelling tale of wilderness adventure.
Drawing heavily on the American genre of the Native American captivity narrative, he created a template for much American popular fiction, particularly the western. Frontiersman Natty Bumppo, whom the French call La Longue Carabine (the long rifle), had already been introduced as an old man in Cooper’s The Pioneers (1823); here he appears in middle age, as Hawkeye, a scout working for the British, along with Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, two respected members of the Mohican tribe of the Hudson River valley in the British colony of New York who become his companions. Having crossed paths with Cora and Alice Munro, the daughters of a British colonel who are betrayed by their Huron guide, a wily warrior named Magua, Bumppo and friends spend the rest of the novel rescuing them from captivity, escorting them to safety, or pursuing them through the wilderness.
Cooper’s racial politics are conservative; though the novel raises the possibility of interracial romance between Uncas and the genteel Cora (who has a Black mother), the prospect is quashed. Cooper laments the destruction of the wilderness, and of the Native peoples who inhabit it, but all are shown to succumb inevitably to progress, typical of the ideology of 19th-century America.
Cooper’s The Prairie, published in 1827, depicts Bumppo at the end of his life. The prequel to The Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer, was published in 1841. Like the rest of the Leatherstocking Tales, The Last of the Mohicans proved immensely popular in the United States and Europe, where it was widely translated. Although Cooper’s literary style was lampooned by none other than Mark Twain, and although Cooper, with his aristocratic leanings, came under criticism for seeming to look down his nose at the bumptious ways of frontier settlers, The Last of the Mohicans is full of action-packed set pieces, moments of tender romance, and memorable descriptions of both people and places.
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- Rowland Hughes
The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 American epic historical drama film produced and directed by Michael Mann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher Crowe, based on the 1826 novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper and its 1936 film adaptation.
Author James Fenimore Cooper. Type of work Novel. Genre Sentimental novel, adventure novel, frontier romance. Language English. Time and place written 1826, Europe. Date of first publication 1826. Publisher Carey & Lea of Philadelphia. In-depth Facts: Narrator Anonymous. Point of view Third person.
He is best known for his historical novel The Last of the Mohicans, one of the Leatherstocking Tales stories, and he also wrote political fiction, maritime fiction, travelogues, and essays on the American politics of the time.
- (130.8K)
- September 14, 1851
- September 15, 1789
When The Last of the Mohicans was published in 1826, James Fenimore Cooper was riding a growing wave of fame and critical acceptance. Following on the success of his last two books, The Last of the Mohicans was praised at the time for its nonstop adventure, realism, and intricate plotting.
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The Last of the Mohicans was written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826, and is set in 1757 during the French-Indian wars. It is a fascinating time period in history and I felt like Cooper would have had a unique insight into this world as he was a part of it.
