History Literature / TheLeatherstockingTales

The Leatherstocking Tales are one of the first literary appearances of the NobleSavage. (Montaigne was the first to apply this trope to the North American Indians, and the trope itself is OlderThanFeudalism--Classical Greek writers spoke of the Gauls this way.) Anyway, back then it was a [[FairForItsDay very progressive]] portrayal of Native Americans, and he was congratulated for presenting Chingachgook and his son Uncas as ''heroes'' (as opposed to thieving, cunning, drunken, heathen assholes). Of course, now we see it as just another stereotype--but Cooper ''was'' the [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny first to use this in a novel]]. In many ways, his noble savages exemplify a way that European-descended North Americans made sense of the values dissonance between their society and that of the Native Americans, who from their point of view simultaneously and most irritatingly embodied both extremely repulsive (cruelty, vengefulness etc.) and attractive (hospitality, courage etc.) qualities. A constant theme in the novels is that Indians, while noble and eloquent [[note]]TruthInTelevision; the consensus nature of tribal government required leaders to be great public speakers to attain positions of influence[[/note]], are [[YourDaysAreNumbered doomed to be eclipsed]] by the technologically superior white man and fade away. Though real life has disproved this belief, Cooper had some justification for it- he lived in New York, a state whose Native American population really did dwindle dramatically during his lifetime.

They're probably most famous these days for [[TropeCodifier codifying]] the romantic concept of the [[MagicalNativeAmerican Native]] [[{{Eagleland}} American]] [[TheWildWest Frontier]], and for their [[HeroicFantasy heroic]], [[KnightInShiningArmor chivalrous]] [[PurpleProse prose]] being [[Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffenses relentlessly mocked]] by Creator/MarkTwain. (Incidentally, the Defenses are [[http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/articles/other/1988other-schachterle.html here]].) Nonetheless, Cooper became the father of the American novel and wrote the first real ''American'' adventure stories. He followed the lead of [[Creator/WalterScott Sir Walter Scott]], adapting it to an American environment and democratizing it: where Scott (like Shakespeare) limited his lower-class characters to comic relief roles, Cooper made commoners like Natty Bumppo central characters of the work they appeared in. He also instituted an American archetype, that of the misfit or outsider hero at odds with society. The Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841) are the ancestors of the {{Western}}. During his lifetime Cooper was the first American writer to achieve worldwide renown and commercial success, and also the first one to impress and influence European writers. Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe reread ''The Pioneers'' before describing a tiger hunt in his ''Novelle'' (1826).

* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Taken almost to [[ButNotTooBlack parody]] with Alice (Light Feminine, all the way to golden hair and utter helplessness) and Cora (Dark Feminine, at least as far as her looks and refusal to be anyone's doormat) Munro in "The Last of the Mohicans".

* VillainHasAPoint: Magua is the main villain of ''The Last of the Mohicans'', but he is on point in his [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech oration to the Huron elders]] where he expounds on the sufferings of black slaves and the [[TakeThatAudience the insatiable greed for land of the whites]]. However since he wishes to make Cora, who has black ancestry, his wife and treat her like a slave he comes across as hypocritical at that point.

The Leatherstocking Tales are one of the first literary appearances of the NobleSavage. (Montaigne was the first to apply this trope to the North American Indians, and the trope itself is OlderThanFeudalism--Classical Greek writers spoke of the Gauls this way.) Anyway, back then it was a [[FairForItsDay very progressive]] portrayal of Native Americans, and he was congratulated for presenting Chingachgook and his son Uncas as ''heroes'' (as opposed to thieving, cunning, drunken, heathen assholes). Of course, now we see it as just another stereotype--but Cooper ''was'' the [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny first to use this in a novel]]. In many ways, his noble savages exemplify a way European-descended North Americans made sense of the values dissonance between their society and that of the Native Americans, who from their point of view simultaneously and most irritatingly embodied both extremely repulsive (cruelty, vengefulness etc.) and attractive (hospitality, courage etc.) qualities.

The main concern Natives have vis-a-vis Cooper is not so much the romantic portrayal of [[NobleSavage Stoic, slender and superior warriors]], nor the prose; Native warriors were renowned as orators throughout the Indian wars and are still quoted today in Military History and Political Science classes.[[note]]Due to the consensus nature of tribal government, they were required to be great public speakers to attain positions of influence.[[/note]] But the enduring stereotype is that Indians, while [[NobleSavage noble]], are [[YourDaysAreNumbered doomed to be eclipsed]] by the technologically superior white man and [[EverythingFades fade away]]. Although it was a common belief in Cooper's day, even among Indian rights advocates, this has become a bit of an UndeadHorseTrope (pun intended) and native tribesmen (including the Mohicans themselves) are quick to note that [[NotQuiteDead reports of their death are greatly exaggerated]]. But that may overlook that in the 19th century for many observers the "fading away" primarily referred to the Native American nations' ability (or lack of it) to preserve their traditional societies and way of life. Also, one has to remember that Cooper wrote from a New York perspective and in that state the number of Native Americans really did dwindle dramatically during his lifetime. Here for instance the last existing community of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahican Mahicans ("Mohicans")]] at Stockbridge, NY, was relocated to Wisconsin in the 1820s and 1830s under the U. S. government's policy of Indian removal, where they merged with a Lenape community to form the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockbridge-Munsee_Community Stockbridge-Munsee community]].

They're probably most famous these days for [[TropeCodifier codifying]] the romantic concept of the [[MagicalNativeAmerican Native]] [[{{Eagleland}} American]] [[TheWildWest Frontier]], and for their [[HeroicFantasy heroic]], [[KnightInShiningArmor chivalrous]] [[PurpleProse prose]] being [[Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffences relentlessly mocked]] by Creator/MarkTwain. (Incidentally, the Defenses are [[http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/articles/other/1988other-schachterle.html here]].) Nonetheless, Cooper became the father of the American novel and wrote the first real ''American'' adventure stories. He followed the lead of [[Creator/WalterScott Sir Walter Scott]], adapting it to an American environment and democratizing it: where Scott (like Shakespeare) limited his lower-class characters to comic relief roles, Cooper made commoners like Natty Bumppo central characters of the work they appeared in. He also instituted an American archetype, that of the misfit or outsider hero at odds with society. The Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841) are the ancestors of the {{Western}}. During his lifetime Cooper was the first American writer to achieve worldwide renown and commercial success, and also the first one to impress and influence European writers. Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe reread ''The Pioneers'' before describing a tiger hunt in his ''Novelle'' (1826).

* LostInImitation: ''The Last of the Mohicans'' has been adapted into film [[SturgeonsLaw so many times]] that the [[Film/LastOfTheMohicans 1992 film]] was explicitly based on an earlier 1936 screenplay in the credits, and [[BrokenBase praised for it]] -- due to avoiding perceived narrative pitfalls of the book. Of course, by making [[MightyWhitey Day-Lewis]] the romantic lead, the film also conveniently avoided the book's mid-19th century interracial romance subplot, although it added [[StarCrossedLovers another]].