The Two Admirals

by James Fenimore Cooper

Overview

Reproduction of the original: The Two Admirals by James Fenimore Cooper

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783734027055
Publisher:	Outlook Verlag
Publication date:	09/20/2018
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

James Fenimore Cooper was born in 1789 in New Jersey, the son of a wealthy land agent who founded Cooperstown in New York State. Cooper attended Yale, but was expelled in 1805 and spent five years at sea on merchant then naval ships. He married in 1811, and eventually settled in New York. Precaution, Cooper's first novel, was written in 1820 as a study of English manners; its successors, The Spy and The Pilot, written within the next three years, were more characteristic of the vein of military or seagoing romance that was to become typical of him. In 1823 he began the Leatherstocking Tales series of novels, centred on a shared Native American character at different periods of his life, for which he is chiefly remembered. Cooper's reputation as one of America's leading authors was quickly established, and spread to Europe by a long stay there from 1826, making him one of the first American writers popular beyond that country. After his return to America in 1832, however, conservative political essays and novels dramatising similar views, as well as critiques of American society and abuses of democracy, led to a decline in his popularity. James Fenimore Cooper died in 1851.

Date of Birth:

September 15, 1789

Date of Death:

September 14, 1851

Place of Birth:

Burlington, New Jersey

Place of Death:

Cooperstown, New York

Education:

Yale University (expelled in 1805)

Read an Excerpt

baronet returned to his residence, a sincere mourner for the loss of an only brother. A more unfortunate selection of an heir could not have been made, as Tom Wychecombe was, in reality, the son of a barrister in the Temple; the fancied likeness to the reputed father existing only in the imagination of his credulous uncle. CHAPTER II. " How fearful And dizzy 't is, to cast one's eyes so low! The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air, Show scarce so gross as beetles! Half-way down Hangs one that gathers samphire! dreadful trade!" King Lear. This digression on the family of Wychecombe has led U3 far from the signal-station, the headland, and the fog, with which the tale opened. The little dwelling connected with the station stood at a short distance from the staff, sheltered, by the formation of the ground, from the bleak winds of the channel, and fairly embowered in shrubs and flowers. It was an humble cottage, that had been ornamented with more taste than was usual in England at that day. Its whitened walls, thatched roof, picketed garden, and trellised porch bespoke care and a mental improvement in the inmates, that were scarcely to be expected in persons so humbly employed as the keeper of the signal-staff, and his family. All near the house, too, was in the same excellent condition: for while the headland itself lay in common, this portion of it was enclosed in two or three pretty little fields, that weregrazedbya single horse, and a couple of cows. There were no hedges, however, the thorn not growing willingly in a situation so exposed; but the fields were divided by fences, neatly enough made of wood, that declared its own origin, having in fact been part of thetimbers and planks of a wreck. As the whole was white-washed, it had a rustic, and in a clim...

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Illustrations

Historical Introduction

Preface [1842]

Preface to The Two Admirals [1851]

The Two Admirals

Explanatory Notes

Textual Commentary

Note on the Manuscript

Textual Notes

Emendations

Rejected Readings

Word-Division

Editorial Reviews

This collection of 20 popular folktales, with historical and linguistics details, is a storyteller's guide. It explains how to best relate the tales and involve young listeners in creative activities that can enhance retention and inspire creativity. No index. Cooper's novel is based on the Jacobite War of 1745 when the great British and French fleets contested in the English Channel. This edition wisely places the scholarly appurtenances (notes, commentary, and emendations) after the text, thus preserving the textual integrity and readability. The historical introduction is by Donald Ringe of the U. of Kentucky. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

In outline, The Two Admirals...is as romantic as The Pilot or Red Rover...The details, however, are in large part solid and real, and events are so handled that they raise philosophical questions—the more interesting because Cooper keeps personally aloof and neither asks nor answers them directly—about the notion of legitimacy in government and the conventions of loyalty and obedience.” — James Grossman, James Fenimore Cooper (William Sloane Associates, The American Men of Letters Series, pp. 157-58).

From the Publisher