The Prairie - James Fenimore Cooper

"His dress was chiefly of skins, worn with the hair to the weather; a pouch and horn were suspended from his shoulder and he leaned on a rifle of uncommon length, but which, like its owner exhibited the wear of long and hard service."

I have returned, fell readers, and am now more master of one trade rather than merely jack of all. It has been a busy month but I am happy to say that I have successfully completed my M.A. degree at Cal State Long Beach. How does this affect you, you ask? Well now I have the time and motivation to consistently entertain you once again! So keep your eyeballs glued to your screen, keep your asses installed in your chairs, and don't touch that 'home' button!

I must apologize in advance for my over-excitement above since the text I will discuss today probably excites me as much as cold quiche. My introduction to James Fenimore Cooper took place in the context of two important influences: First I had been particularly familiar with Mark Twain's satiric essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" and with my veneration of Twain's wit and narrative genius, I could not help but approach the novelist of the American frontier with some skepticism. Second I first read The Prairie in an American literature class that had just finished delving into the macabre hypnogogic psychology of E.A. Poe, an author whom most if not all will agree far outstrips the genius of the former.

The Prairie was an interesting choice for Dr. Desaegher to study in a survey course since it is the third and final installment in what is known as the Leatherstocking Series, Fenimore Cooper's trilogy surrounding the enigmatic and highly criticized grizzled white man Natty Bumppo. The novel itself is tragically aware of the popularity of this character and suffers terribly from what I call "The Leonard Nimoy Reveal."

Star Trek fans or pretty much anyone who knows who Spock is and has seen the most recent installment of the popular Sci-fi franchise will know what I mean. In an attempt to cross temporal boundaries and offer an alternative explanation for a different direction in the franchise J.J. Abrams managed to insert the old Spock, played by an aged Leonard Nimoy, into the film. In a moment of abject suspense undoubtedly designed to induce nerdgasm in overstimulated Trekkies the introduction of Old Spock was designed to prolong the moment between his entrance and the actual presentation of his instantly recognizable visage, at which point I'm sure most of the aforementioned Trekkies likely fainted in their seats. A similar moment occurs in the final episode of the X-files inspired show Fringe which reveals a mysterious character over the span of about thirty seconds of said character talking from the shadows before he is revealed to be portrayed by none other than Leonard Nimoy. Though this show was in no way connected to the Star Trek universe its audience is similar causing the significance of the character's revelation to be underscored by the cultural significance of the actor himself.

I include this illustration at length not to suggest that either film is faulty (since I like them both) but to show that posterity is likely negatively affected by such a temporal 'playing to the crowd.' Natty Bumppo is a character who had (despite Twain's distaste) excited and titillated the 18th century American audience and Fenimore Cooper, perhaps far too conscious of such an impact allows his narrative to make the same mistake that future generations of science fiction fans might find in Star Trek or Fringe. Though most Leatherstocking fans would be capable of assuming that the softspoken, wrinkled and aged rider in leather chaps was Natty Bumppo, Fenimore Cooper makes an overt effort to confirm the readers suspicions. Undoubtedly this technique would have been so very exciting to fans of the series but to a new reader with no context to the character and attempting to analyze the novel's literary value the technique makes the narrative hollow and contrived. No doubt it still chronicles a significant idealization of the American frontier but at the same time calling attention to just how idealized the concept had become.
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Fenimore Cooper, James. The Prairie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.