The ''Leatherstocking Tales'' is a series of five novels by American writer

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

, set in the eighteenth-century era of development in the primarily former Iroquois areas in central New York. Each novel features Natty Bumppo, a frontiersman known to European-American settlers as "Leatherstocking", "The Pathfinder", and "the trapper". Native Americans call him "Deerslayer", "''La Longue Carabine''" ("Long Rifle" in French), and "Hawkeye".

Publication history

The story dates are derived from dates given in the tales and span the period roughly of 1740–1806. They do not necessarily correspond with the actual dates of the historical events described in the series, which discrepancies Cooper likely introduced for the sake of convenience. For instance, Cooper manipulated time to avoid making Leatherstocking 100 years old when he traveled to the

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

plains in ''The Prairie''. The Natty Bumppo character is generally believed to be inspired, at least in part, by the historic explorer

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the w ...

or the lesser known David Shipman. Critic Georg Lukacs likened Bumppo to

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

's "middling characters; because they do not represent the extremes of society, these figures can serve as tools for the social and cultural exploration of historical events, without directly portraying the history itself.Lukacs 69-72

Characters

* Natty Bumppo is the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the series: an Anglo-American raised in part by Native Americans, and later a near-fearless warrior (his chief weapon is the

long rifle The long rifle, also known as the longrifle, Kentucky rifle, Pennsylvania rifle, or American longrifle, a muzzle-loading firearm used for hunting and warfare, was one of the first commonly-used rifles. The American rifle was characterized by a ...

). He and his Mohican "brother" Chingachgook are constant companions. He is known as "Deerslayer" in ''The Deerslayer'', "Hawkeye" and "''La Longue Carabine''" in ''The Last of the Mohicans'', "Pathfinder" in ''The Pathfinder'', "Leatherstocking" in ''The Pioneers'', and "the trapper" in ''The Prairie''. The novels recount significant events in Natty Bumppo's life from 1740-1806. * Chingachgook is a Mohican chief and companion of Bumppo. He is present in all the books except for ''The Prairie'', as he dies of old age after narrowly escaping a forest fire in ''The Pioneers''. *Uncas, son of Chingachgook, "last of the Mohicans", grew to manhood, but was killed in a battle with the hostile scout Magua. In actual history, a man named

Uncas Uncas () was a ''sachem'' of the Mohegans who made the Mohegans the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut, through his alliance with the New England colonists against other Indian tribes. Early life and family Uncas was born n ...

was a chief of the Mohegan in the 1600s. Though a prominent figure only in ''The Last of the Mohicans'', he is mentioned as a boy at the very end of ''The Deerslayer'', only once by name in ''The Pathfinder'', and several times in ''The Prairie''.

Adaptations

Several films have been adapted from one or more of this series of Cooper's novels. Some used one of Bumppo's nicknames, most often Hawkeye, to identify this character, e.g., in: * ''Lederstrumpf'' / ''Leatherstocking'' (1920 German silent film) co-starred

Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in '' ...

as Chingachgook * The serial film ''Leatherstocking'' (1924) * ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1936), the 1992 film is based on the screenplay of this film. * '' Chingachgook, die große Schlange'' (1967), an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

film, co-starred Gojko Mitić as Chingachgook * ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1992), in which Hawkeye's surname was changed from Bumppo to Poe * '' The Pathfinder'' (1996), where he is known chiefly as Pathfinder, but his birth name of Nathaniel is also mentioned Two Canadian TV series were based on the character of Leatherstocking: * In '' Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans'' (1957), Natty Bumppo's name was changed to Nat Cutler, but he was usually referred to as Hawkeye * The series ''Hawkeye'' (1994) is mostly set around the fictional Fort Bennington during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

WQED (TV) Pittsburgh's ''Once Upon A Classic'' children's television series produced a four-episode adaptation entitled ''Leatherstocking Tales'' (1979), which won one

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Outstanding Children's Series and was nominated for another for writing. The main character's name is Natty Bumppo, though other nicknames appear.

In popular culture

*Bumppo is featured in the comic book series '' Jack of Fables'' (2006-2011), along with Slue-Foot Sue, as trackers hired to capture other "Fables". *In Alan Moore's comic series ''

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'' (1999-2007), Natty Bumppo is featured as a member of the group assembled by Lemuel Gulliver, alongside other literary characters including

Dr Syn The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. The first book, ''Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh'' was published in 1915. The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th-century Romn ...

Fanny Hill ''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure''—popularly known as ''Fanny Hill''—is an erotic novel by English novelist John Cleland first published in London in 1748. Written while the author was in debtors' prison in London,Wagner, "Introduction" ...

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...

, and

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. *In J.R. Moehringer, ''The Tender Bar: A Memoir'' (2005), among the men Moehringer gets to know is Bud, who refers to Bumppo in the following quote: "Don't think of fear as the villain. Think of fear as your guide, your pathfinder – your Natty Bumppo." *In the

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker (auth ...

franchise, the central character Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce was nicknamed this by his father, citing ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfind ...

'' as "the only book my father ever read".

References

Works cited

Original works

* * *

External links

Mark Twain, "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences"
a satiric essay about Cooper's prose and Natty Bumppo {{Authority control Novel series Novels by James Fenimore Cooper American historical novels