'' The Heidenmauer; or, The Benedictines – A Story of the Rhine'' is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1832. The novel is a socio-political novel set in 16th-century Germany that focuses on the competition between various socio-political classes and the tension caused by the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. ''The Heidenmauer'' is Cooper's second novel in what one critic would call his European Trilogy, following '' The Bravo'' and preceding ''

The Headsman ''The Headsman'' (aka ''Shadow of the Sword'', Au. ''Henker'') is a 2005 film directed by Simon Aeby. Set in early 16th century Tyrol, it is set before the background of the turmoils of the Lutheran Reformation. It was filmed in Austria and Hun ...

''. Like the other novels set in Europe, ''The Heidenmauer'' is intent on showing the darker side of European institutions in favor of an American perspective.

Themes and style

Central to the themes of the book is internal class struggle for power within the Early Modern society in Germany. Each of the classes, including the Church, the Aristocracy and the rising bourgeoisie, have characters which epitomize the individual group and represent this tension. The struggle remains bitter throughout the whole novel, thus leaving all of the characters thoroughly unattractive to the reader. The aforementioned class struggle is part of a larger attempt by Cooper to inspect European society and compare it to the American ideals, trying to un-romanticize Europe's cultural institutions. In 1832 correspondence, Cooper commented that he did not think it was better than ''The Bravo'' but "it is a good book and better than two thirds of Scott's. They may say it is like his if they please; they have said so of every book I have written, even ''

The Pilot A pilot is a person who flies or navigates an aircraft. Pilot or The Pilot may also refer to: * Maritime pilot, a person who guides ships through hazardous waters * Television pilot, a television episode used to sell a series to a television netw ...

''! But ''The Heidenmauer'' is like, and was intended to be like, in order to show how differently a democrat and an aristocrat saw the same thing." Along with his deliberate presentation of themes and characters that represent the European institutions' problems, the narrator too becomes involved, pointing out the corruption of the society to the reader.Note 13 in

References

External links

First Edition on Google Books''The Heidenmauer''
at

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heidenmauer Novels by James Fenimore Cooper Novels set in the Reformation 1832 American novels American political novels Novels set in Germany