The Last of the Mohicans

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The Last of the Mohicans

Author	James Fenimore Cooper
Country	USA
Language	English
Series	Leatherstocking
Genre(s)	Historical novel
Publisher	H.C. Carey & I. Lea
Publication date	January 1826
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	2 vol.
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	The Pioneers (1823)
Followed by	The Prairie (1827)

For other uses, see The Last of the Mohicans (disambiguation).

The Last of the Mohicans is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in January 1826.

It was one of the most popular English-language novels of its time, and helped establish Cooper as one of the first world-famous American writers. Its narrative flaws were criticized from the start, and its length and elaborately formal prose style have reduced its appeal to later readers. Regardless, The Last of the Mohicans remains on the syllabi of most American literature courses. This second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy is the best known. The Pathfinder, written 14 years later in 1840, is its sequel.^[1]

Cooper named a principal character Uncas after the most famous of the Mohegans. The real Uncas lived in the colony of Connecticut in the mid seventeenth century, and not in the New York frontier a century later. Uncas was a Mohegan, not a Mohican, and Cooper's usage has helped to confuse the names of two tribes to the present day. When John Uncas, his last surviving male descendant died in 1842, the Newark Daily Advertiser wrote "Last of the Mohegans Gone" lamenting the extinction of the tribe.^[2] He was not aware that Mohegans still existed then and to the present day.

The story takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and the Kingdom of Great Britain battled for control of the American and Canadian colonies. During this war, the French often allied themselves with Native American tribes in order to gain an advantage over the British, with unpredictable and often tragic results.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Film, television, theatrical, and other adaptations
4 Footnotes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

The story is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War, and concerns a Huron massacre (with passive French acquiescence) of from 500 to 1,500 unarmed Anglo-American troops, who had honorably surrendered at Fort William Henry, plus some women and servants; the kidnapping of two sisters, daughters of the British commander; and their rescue by Hawkeye, the last two Mohicans, and others. Parts of the story may have been derived from the capture and death of Jane McCrea in July 1777 near Fort Edward, New York, by members of an Algonquian tribe.

The title of the book comes from a quote by Tamanend, "I have lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans".^[3]

[edit] Characters

Magua (ma-gwah)– the villain of the piece; the chief driven from his tribe for drunkenness and later whipped by the British Army (also for drunkenness), for which he blames Colonel Munro. Also known as "Sly Fox."
Chingachgook – last chief of the Mohican tribe; escort to the traveling Munro sisters, father to Uncas
Uncas – second-to-last of the Mohican tribe; escort to the traveling Munro sisters.
Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo, known as "Hawkeye" – the "American hero" and escort to the Munro sisters, long-time friend of Chingachgook
Cora Munro – dark-haired daughter of Colonel Munro; her mother (who died young) was half-white half-black, which means that Cora is a quadroon (one-fourth black)
Alice Munro – Cora's younger, blond half-sister. She and Duncan Heyward fall in love and ultimately marry.^[4] Their grandson, Captain Duncan Uncas Middleton appears in The Prairie.
Colonel Munro – the sisters' father, a British army colonel in command of Fort William Henry
Duncan Heyward – a British army major from Virginia who falls in love with Alice Munro.^[4]
David Gamut – a psalmodist (teacher of psalm singing) also known as "the singing master" due to the fact that he sung for every event.
General Daniel Webb – Colonel Munro's commanding officer, originally stationed at Albany, who later takes command at Fort Edward (whence he either cannot or will not come to Colonel Munro's aid when Fort William Henry is besieged by the French)
General the Marquis de Montcalm – the French commander-in-chief, referred to by the Hurons and other Indian allies of the French as "The great white father of the Canadas"
Tamenund – An ancient, wise, and revered Delaware Indian sage who has outlived three generations of warriors. He is the "Sachem" of the Delaware.

[edit] Film, television, theatrical, and other adaptations

A number of films have been based on the lengthy book, with numerous cuts, compressions, and distortions occurring in the story. The adaptations include The Last of the Mohicans (1920 film), The Last of the Mohicans (serial), The Last of the Mohicans (1936 film), and The Last of the Mohicans (1992 film). The 1920 version directed by Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur is well regarded, as is George Brackett Seitz's 1936 starring Randolph Scott as "Hawk-eye". The 1920 film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The 1992 film by Michael Mann starring Daniel Day-Lewis as "Nathaniel Poe", Madeleine Stowe as "Cora Munro", Russell Means as "Chingachgook", Wes Studi as "Magua" and Eric Schweig as "Uncas" was, according to Mann, based more on the 1936 film version than on Cooper's book. Many of the scenes from the 1992 movie did not follow the book.

A number of television movies and serials have also been made, including the 1932 12-chapter motion picture serial starring Harry Carey as "Hawkeye", the 1957 ITC Entertainment series Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans starring John Hart as "Nat 'Hawkeye' Cutler" and Lon Chaney Jr. as "Chingachgook", and a 1977 made-for-TV version starring Steve Forrest as "Hawkeye", Ned Romero as "Chingachgook" and Don Shanks as "Uncas".

The British Broadcasting Corporation made an eight chapter TV serial of the book in 1971, which had notable performances from Philip Madoc as "Magua", Kenneth Ives as "Hawkeye", John Abineri as "Chingachgook" and Patricia Maynard as "Cora Munro". This serial popularized the term "Mohican hairstyle" in Britain for what is known as a Mohawk hairstyle in the US, although this hairstyle was actually worn by the Hurons, not the Mohicans, in the serial.

The usual deletions from cinematic versions of The Last of the Mohicans are the extensive sections about the Indians themselves, thus confounding Cooper's purpose. Further, romantic relationships, non-existent or minimal in the novel, are generated between the principal characters, and the roles of some characters are reversed or altered, as are the events.

A children's edition was published in 1962 with illustrations by René Follet.

In 1977, Lake George Opera presented an opera version The Last of the Mohicans by composer Alva Henderson.^[5]

Marvel Comics has published two versions of the story: in 1976 a one-issue version as part of their Marvel Classics Comics series (issue #13); and in 2007 a six-issue mini-series to start off the new Marvel Illustrated series..

[edit] Footnotes

^ Cf. the Leatherstocking Tales for a chart showing both the chronological order and the order of publication of the five novels.
^ Oberg, pg. 7
^ Last of the Mohicans (1968 paperback edition), Chapter 33, pg. 600
^ ^a ^b "My request, as you know, sir, went so far as to presume to the honor of being your son" ... "And to marry whom, then, did you wish my consent, Major Heyward?" demanded the old soldier, erecting himself in the dignity of offended feeling. "You have another and not less lovely child." "Alice!" exclaimed the father, in an astonishment equal to that with which Duncan had just repeated the name of her sister. "Such was the direction of my wishes, sir" {from Chapter XVI in James Fenimore Cooper, Works of J. Fenimore Cooper, 10 vols., (New York: P.F. Collier, Pub., 1892) 2:95}. See also the James Fenimore Cooper Society's plot summary for The Last of the Mohicans at the paragraph beginning with the chapter number: [16] [1].
^ http://www.lakegeorgeopera.org/