Been a long time since I read this. It was definitely worth
rereading, especially after just finishing Cooper's Last of
the Mohicans, which helped establish a certain context to it.
There's a whopping big irony in the relationship between
Twain and Cooper. Twain despised Cooper's writing but he
follows closely in Cooper's footsteps. Cooper's Last of the
Mohicans portrays a man, Hawkeye, who demonstrates a fierce
independence, a concern for others, and a firm belief in a
code of behavior all his own. Huckleberry Finn portrays a boy
developing the traits that the mature Hawkeye personifies.
Cooper's Last of the Mohicans contrasts the civilized world
with that of the frontier. So does Huckleberry Finn. Cooper
employs some ridiculous disguises. Perhaps more believable,
Twain employs disguises, too. And a theme that was near and
dear to Leslie Fiedler, Cooper and Twain explore an
interracial friendship between two guys.
Hemingway asserted that American writing began with
Huckleberry Finn. Why not Cooper who came before him?
With quotes from Shakespeare introducing some of the
chapters, it was Cooper's intention to mark Last of the
Mohicans as a great work of literature. The Shakespeare
connection goes beyond the introductory quotes. Cooper
appears to mimic Shakespeare with his characters' long and
flowery speeches. Cooper attempted the colloquial, and he
deserves credit for trying, even if the results were uneven
at best. Where Cooper failed, Twain succeeded. Twain wrote in
a straightforward and clean style that Hemingway declared
truly American.
He laid the groundwork for the hardboiled genre.
miker
____________________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers,
not web links.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 16 Jun 2007 EDT