The Last of the MohicansThe second of Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales, this is the one which has consistently captured the imagination of generations since it was first published in 1826. It's success lies partly in the historical role Cooper gives to his Indian characters, against the grain of accumulated racialhostility, and partly in his evocation of the wild beautiful landscapes of North America which the French and the British fought to control throughout the eighteenth century. At the centre of the novel is the celebrated `Massacre' of British troops and their families by Indian allies of the French at Fort William Henry in 1757. Around this historical event, Cooper built a romantic fiction of captivity, sexuality, and heroism, in which the destiny of the MohicansChingachgook and his son Uncas is inseparable from the lives of Alice and Cora Munro and of Hawkeye the frontier scout. The controlled, elaborate writing gives natural pace to the violence of the novel's action: like the nature whose plundering Copper laments, the books placid surfaces concealinexplicable and deathly forces. |
Contents
Preface 1826 | 4 |
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS | 94 |
Preface to the Leatherstocking Tales 1850 | 395 |
Explanatory Notes | 426 |
Common terms and phrases
Alice American appeared arms beast believe blood bosom canoe captive cavern chief Chingachgook colour companions Cooper Cora countenance cunning danger dark David deer Delawares Duncan ears enemy English exclaimed eyes father feet fierce fire followed forest Fort Edward Fort William Henry French glance hand Hawk-eye head heard honour Horican Huron Indian instant interrupted Iroquois James Fenimore Cooper knew lake Lake George language Leatherstocking Leatherstocking Tales leave Lenape light listened lodge look Magua Major Heyward Manitto manner Maquas Mingo Mohawks Mohegans Montcalm Munro Narraganset nation native nature never Oneida pale-faces party passed path pause Renard returned the scout rifle river rock Sagamore savage scalp scene seemed seen side silent Sir William Johnson sisters soon sounds speak spirit spoke spot stood Tamenund tomahawk trail trees tribe turned Uncas uttered voice warriors wigwam William Henry woods words yell youth