Satanstoe, or the Littlepage Manuscripts
(August 1990)
A Tale of the Colony James Fenimore Cooper - Author Kay Seymour House - Historical introduction Constance Ayers Denne - Text established by
Though Satanstoe has been too much neglected by readers of Cooper's time and ours, it is one of his most interesting books, combining nostalgic autobiographical recollections, pictures of manners, action and adventure, and social philosophy in one of the author's happiest experiments in fiction. Ostensibly, it gives a comprehensive view of colonial life and society in New York State in the middle of the eighteenth century, blending all these ...(Read More)
Gleanings in Europe
(June 1983)
France James Fenimore Cooper - Author Thomas Philbrick - Historical introduction and notes Constance Ayers Denne - Text established by Thomas Philbrick - Text established by
France (1837) was the third volume published in Cooper's Gleanings in Europe series, but first in the chronology of his European experience. Less sequential than his other travel narratives, France distills his impressions of French and European culture during his first two years abroad. Exhibiting many qualities of the familiar essay, it considers a wide range of topics of interest to Cooper, his friends, and potential readers i...(Read More)
Gleanings in Europe
(June 1981)
Italy James Fenimore Cooper - Author Constance Ayers Denne - Text established by John Conron - Historical introduction and notes Constance Ayers Denne - Historical introduction and notes
Describing Italy as "the only region of the earth that I truly love," James Fenimore Cooper used the style of picturesque impressionism to convey his vision of Italy as the microcosm of an ordered and a beautiful world.
In theory, the picturesque style of writing could produce verbal sketches that embodied a visual complexity similar to that of the great Baroque and Romantic landscape paintings. In practice, the hundreds of travel books writ...(Read More)