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''The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea'' is a
''The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea'' is a historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...
by American author James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840
Events
January–March
* January 3 – One of the predecessor papers of the ''Herald Sun'' of Melbourne, Australia, ''The Port Phillip Herald'', is founded.
* January 10 – Uniform Penny Post is introduced in the United Kingdom.
* Janu ...
. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the '' Leatherstocking Tales''. The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
.
Composition
''The Pathfinder'' was written 13 years after Natty Bumppo had ended his career in '' The Prairie''. Cooper had questioned the wisdom of reviving this hero, and he was at the time engaged in fierce litigations with newspapers. The adventures of the plot on the water take authority from the fact that Cooper had as midshipman actually seen service on Lake Ontario.Plot
''The Pathfinder'' shows Natty at his old trick of guiding tender damsels through the dangerous woods, and the siege at the blockhouse and the storm on Lake Ontario are considerably like other of Cooper's sieges and storms. Natty, in this novel commonly called the Pathfinder, keeps in a hardymiddle age
Middle age (or middle adulthood) is the age range of the years halfway between childhood and old age. The exact range is subject to public debate, but the term is commonly used to denote the age range from 45 to 65 years.
Overall
This time span ...
his simple and honest nature, which is severely tested by his love for a nineteen-year-old young woman, Mabel Dunham. She is a conventional heroine of romance. A certain soft amiability about her turns for a time all the thoughts of the scout to the world of domestic affections. More talkative than ever before, he reveals new mental and moral traits. With the same touch of realism which had kept Uncas and Cora apart in '' The Last of the Mohicans'', Cooper separates these lovers, and sends Natty's romantic interest to the arms of a younger suitor, restoring the hero to his home in the wilderness.
Distinctions
It is the only book in the ''Leatherstocking'' series to show Natty Bumppo in love, and the first of Cooper's books which made important imaginative use of theGreat Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
. The sobriquet "The Pathfinder" was subsequently attached to explorer John C. Frémont.
References
Further reading
*External links
* 1840 American novels Historical novels Novels by James Fenimore Cooper Novels set in the American colonial era Novels set in the 18th century Leatherstocking Tales {{1840s-hist-novel-stub