James Fenimore Cooper
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century
- Categories: Literature, Publishing
- Subcategories: Authors, Writers, Novelists, Short Story Writers
- Curriculum: American History 1816-1855, American Early National History (1789-1815)
Article abstract: Cooper pioneered the historical novel based on American themes and characters. He also wrote the first sea novel. In his fiction and nonfiction, he proved himself an astute social critic of the excesses of democracy.
Early Life
The eleventh child of William Cooper and Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, James Cooper—he was to add the Fenimore in 1826—was born in Burlington, New Jersey, on September 15, 1789. When Cooper was thirteen months old, the family left the urban Burlington for the wilderness at the southern shore of Ostego Lake. Here...
[The entire page is 3066 words long]
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