Afloat and Ashore

by James Fenimore Cooper

Overview

The definitive edition of American writer Cooper's 1844 seafaring novel is supported by a 37-page historical introduction that places it in the contexts both of his writing career and the literary milieu of the middle 19th century, examines the style and strategy of the first-person narrative, and teases out some of the sources he used to make his account credible to his readers. Each volume contains one of the two parts Cooper originally intended the novel to appear in. For each part, explanatory and textual notes, emendations, rejected readings, and word-divisions are provided. The second part is also followed by textual commentary and a note on the manuscript and proof sheets. The two volumes are paged separately. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

BN ID:	2940000735442
Publisher:	B&R Samizdat Express
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

James Fenimore Cooper was born in 1789 in New Jersey, the son of a wealthy land agent who founded Cooperstown in New York State. Cooper attended Yale, but was expelled in 1805 and spent five years at sea on merchant then naval ships. He married in 1811, and eventually settled in New York. Precaution, Cooper's first novel, was written in 1820 as a study of English manners; its successors, The Spy and The Pilot, written within the next three years, were more characteristic of the vein of military or seagoing romance that was to become typical of him. In 1823 he began the Leatherstocking Tales series of novels, centred on a shared Native American character at different periods of his life, for which he is chiefly remembered. Cooper's reputation as one of America's leading authors was quickly established, and spread to Europe by a long stay there from 1826, making him one of the first American writers popular beyond that country. After his return to America in 1832, however, conservative political essays and novels dramatising similar views, as well as critiques of American society and abuses of democracy, led to a decline in his popularity. James Fenimore Cooper died in 1851.

Date of Birth:

September 15, 1789

Date of Death:

September 14, 1851

Place of Birth:

Burlington, New Jersey

Place of Death:

Cooperstown, New York

Education:

Yale University (expelled in 1805)