The Pilot

by James Fenimore Cooper

Overview

Having drawn on local knowledge and private information for The Spy and on his own boyhood experiences for The Pioneers, it was inevitable that Cooper would seek a way to convert yet another area of his special knowledge into art. His first choice of career had been the U.S. Navy, in which he served as a midshipman from 1808 to 1810.

In 1823, Cooper began writing The Pilot, which he saw as a sea novel that seamen would appreciate for its fidelity and yet one that landsmen could understand.

"Cooper's poetic power is reserved for the sea, which is no backdrop but a separate world with forces and laws of its own. The individuation of the ships, particularly the personification of the Ariel, contributes to the magic, but the exhilaration of the book comes from the triumph of human skill and intelligence over the uncertainties and downright hostilities of a world of waves, winds, and hidden reefs. The land offers neither a comparable challenge nor so heady a victory." — from the Introduction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781985620100
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	02/28/2018
Pages:	404
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 - September 14, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Native American life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. He lived most of his life in Cooperstown, New York, which was founded by his father William on property that he owned. Cooper was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church and, in his later years, contributed generously to it.

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)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Illustrations

Historical Introduction

Dedication [1823]

Preface [1823]

Preface [1849]

The Pilot

Explanatory Notes

Textual Commentary

Textual Notes

Emendations

Rejected Readings

Word-Division