The Deerslayer
| The Deerslayer | |
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 First edition title page |
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| Author(s) | James Fenimore Cooper |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Leatherstocking Tales |
| Genre(s) | Adventure novel, Historical novel |
| Publisher | Lea & Blanchard: Philadelphia |
| Publication date | 1985 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 560 pp in two volumes |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea (1840) |
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The Deerslayer, or The First Warpath (1841) was the last of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking tales to be written. Its 1740-1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the Leatherstocking tales, Natty Bumppo. The novel's setting on Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, is the same as that of The Pioneers, the first of the Leatherstocking tales to be published (1823). The Deerslayer is considered to be the prequel to the rest of the Leatherstocking tales. Fenimore Cooper begins his work by relating the astonishing advance of civilization in New York State, which is the setting of four of his five Leatherstocking tales.
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[edit] Plot
This novel introduces Natty Bumppo as "Deerslayer", a young frontiersman in early 18th-century New York. He is contrasted to other frontiersmen and settlers in the novel who have no compunctions in taking scalps in that his natural philosophy is that every living thing should follow "the gifts" of its nature—which would keep European Americans from taking scalps. Two such characters in the work who actually seek to take scalps are Henry March ("Hurry Harry") and floating Tom Hutter.
In the dead of night Hutter and March sneak into the camp of the besieging members of the Huron tribe in order to kill and scalp as many as they can. Their plan fails, and Tom Hutter and March are captured. They are later ransomed by Bumppo, his lifelong friend Chingachgook, and Hutter's daughters, Judith and Hetty. Bumppo and Chingachgook come up with a plan to rescue Chingachgook's kidnapped betrothed Wah-ta!-Wah from the Hurons; but, in rescuing her, Bumppo is captured. In his absence, the Hurons invade Hutter's home, and Hutter is mortally wounded and scalped. After the death of Hutter his supposed daughters find out that they were not his natural daughters and he had been a notorious pirate. Bumppo's remaining allies and friends plan how to aid his escape from his Huron captors.
[edit] Criticism
The brunt of Mark Twain's Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses (1895) fell on The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder. Twain wrote at the beginning of the essay: "In one place in Deerslayer, and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record."[1] He then lists 18 out of 19 rules "governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction" that Cooper violates in The Deerslayer.
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] Film
The novel was first adapted to the big screen in 1913. However, the first major adaptation of the novel was in Germany, The Deerslayer and Chingachgook, with Béla Lugosi as Chingachgook. This was the first part of the two-part Lederstrumpf silent film released in 1920. The novel was adapted to film three other times, two American versions in 1943 and 1957 as well as a Soviet version in 1990.
[edit] Radio
In 1932, the Leatherstocking tales were adapted as a thirteen-part serial radio drama. It is directed and performed by Charles Fredrick Lindsay and contains both Deerslayer and Last of the Mohicans.
[edit] TV
A made-for-television film was released in 1978. The film was directed by Richard Friedenberg and starred Steve Forrest as Hawkeye.
