1. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) 詹姆斯 · 费尼莫尔 · 库柏  Life  Born into a rich land-holding family of New Jersey, Cooper was one of the new American authors who did not have to worry about money.  He was sent to Yale at 14, but was expelled in his junior year because of improper behavior.  He went and spent five years at sea; then, while still in his early twenties, he inherited his father’s vast fortune and settled down to a life of comfort and even luxury.

3.  the first major American novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories as well as historical romances known as the “Leatherstocking Tales,” a series of frontier adventure novels featuring fictional character Natty Bumppo who lives free, close to nature while the settlers bring civilization that destroys the wilderness.  “The Last of the Mohicans” an adventure story set in the Lake Champlain area is considered the centerpiece of the series and is the best known having been made into a number of movies while television has utilized the story in numerous programs.

4. Works.  Leatherstocking Tales 《皮袜子的故事》  The Pioneers 1823 《开拓者》（ frontier adventure)  The Last of the Mohicans 《最后的莫希干人》 1826  The Prairie 1827 《草原》  The Pathfinder 1840 《探路者》  The Deerslayer 1841 《杀鹿者》  The Spy 1821 《间谍》 (Revolutionary Historical)  The Pilot 1823 《领航人》 (sea adventure)  Precaution 1820 《戒备》

5. Evaluation  Leatherstocking Tales is a series of five novels about the frontier of American settlers.  The Pioneers was probably the first true romance of the frontier in American literature.  Natty Bumppo （纳提邦波） represents the ideal American, living a virtuous and free life in God’s world. To him and to Cooper, the wilderness is good, pure, perfect, where there is freedom not tainted and fettered by any forms of human institutions.

6.  Natty Bumppo is a true embodiment of human virtues like innocence, simplicity, honesty and generosity, a man born with an immaculate[ ɪ ’mækj ə l ɪ t] （无污迹的） sense of good and evil and right and wrong.  Washington Irving  Rip Van Winkle 瑞普 · 凡 · 温克

7. Natty Bumppo  Natty Bumppo is the hero of the Leatherstocking Tales (The Last of the Mohicans. )  Natty Bumppo is known throughout this novel as Hawkeye （ ['h ɔ :kai] 衣阿华州的人） Hawkeye acts as guide and protector, rescuing half-sisters Cora and Alice Munro from Magua and his band of Huron （休伦族） Indians twice, and leading Major( 少校） Heyward and Colonel( 上校 ) Munro on several occasions. In the end, he shoots and kills Magua, who had killed Uncas, son of Chingachgook. This cements the bond of Hawkeye and Chingachgook’s friendship, and at the end they wander off together.

8. Chingachgook Vs Magua  Good Indian Vs bad Indian  Twisted together, like twinning serpents in pliant and subtle folds.  Magua may be like Satan, use truth for falsehood, good for evil.  He is the victim of both a real personal wrong (Colonel Munro’s whipping) and a general racial wrong (the white man's manipulation of the red.)

9. 2016-7-99  Natty represents the frontier in conflict with civilization and the law.  Living on the literal edge of society in Deleware Indian country, Natty is both frontiersman and Native American; part of both the white world and the land of savages.

10. Natty Bumppo  the archetype (pilot) of the American frontier hero. Scout, tracker, marksman 神枪手, he embodies the spirit of the West — the capable man.  not without his flaws.  He is always quick to point out his "blood without a cross," making sure that none mistake him for an Indian or even someone of mixed heritage.  He is also prejudiced — quick to pass judgment on the Indians of the tribes other than the one with which he is allied.

11. Themes 1 ） Heredity  A recurring theme of The Last of the Mohicans is that of personal lineage and its inescapable effects. The idea of lineage is illustrated in several ways, most obviously in the hereditary title of chief that is passed from father to son.

12. 2 ） Cultural Destruction  Though The Last of the Mohicans is clearly a historical novel, it can also be read as a long essay about the destruction of cultures. Most obviously, the death of the Mohican tribe, embodied by the murder of Uncas, last son of the last chief, acts as a microcosm of the destruction of Native American culture.

13. 3 ） Opposing Forces  Cooper makes wide and varied uses of opposites as a major theme. These range from the obvious — French versus English armies, and Indians against whites —  character-based oppositions.  Hawkeye is a man of the woods, a native in his own environment, and he is revealed through his juxtaposition with a variety of "civilized" and "rude" men.

14. Foreshadowing of the revival of red culture  The last words of the aged Patriarch  The time of the red-man will come again upon the white world, whether it be in worldly vengeance or in otherworldly reconciliation.

15. Style  The Last of the Mohicans is told from a third person limited point of view. The narration of the story explains the events and actions of the novel, but does not give insight into the characters‘ thoughts or motivations. The only way to gain this information is by interpreting what the dramatis personae （ [dræm ə tis p ə :s ə unai] 剧中人） do and say.  This perspective is further limited by the centrality of Hawkeye to the narrative.

16. The Historical Romance  Set in the third year of the French and Indian War, The Last of the Mohicans is a historical novel, but does not attempt to provide a straight telling of any recorded events of the time.

17. Cooper’s Heroes  Vanishing, uncorrupted Indians who lament but do not openly resist Anglo-American supremacy.

18. Problems of accessibility  Non-European Language  The fragmentary nature of almost vanished heroic narratives sung by defeated peoples.